When the breath energy feels good in your hands, feels good in your feet, feels good in your arms and legs, in all the different parts of your torso, all the different parts of your head, then it’s nicer to stay here. It’s more interesting.

"Don’t be surprised if something else will come along and push you off the breath or lead you astray, but don’t just take it lying down. Get up and focus on the breath again. Know that you’re going to have some contrary impulses, but they don’t have to have the upper hand. You just keep coming back, coming back, coming back.

Each time you come back, try to reward yourself with a really nice breath. And try to figure out ways that make it interesting to stay here. Explore the different ways that the breathing feels in the body. When you breathe in, which parts of the body are participating in the breath process? Which parts are actually doing the work? Which ones are getting some nourishment? And which parts don’t seem to be having any role at all? Can you get everybody involved?

Think of the breath not just as the air coming in and out of the lungs but also as the flow of energy in the body. You know that if the energy flows throughout the body, every part of the body is going to benefit. All the different organs are going to benefit. The mind, when it stays with the energized body like this, is more inclined to stay here. When it feels good in your hands, feels good in your feet, feels good in your arms and legs, in all the different parts of your torso, all the different parts of your head, then it’s nicer to stay here. It’s more interesting.

There develops a sense of ease. If you allow that ease to have some space, it becomes a sense of fullness, refreshment. The potential is here."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Determined to Stay with the Breath"

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