Hope lies right here in this fathom-long body, as he called it, with its perceptions and intellect. That’s where the potentials lie. In the body, of course, the first thing we’ve got is the breath.

"Look at your desires and see if they’re in line with the Dhamma and if they’re in line with where the Buddha said true hope lies. Hope lies right here in this fathom-long body, as he called it, with its perceptions and intellect. That’s where the potentials lie.

In the body, of course, the first thing we’ve got is the breath. You can explore the breathing. There’s a lot more to the breath than just in and out. Try to notice, when it comes in, how does it come in? What are your subconscious actions around bringing the breath in? Do you have to tense up a part of the body? All too often, we tense up in our joints, in our extremities. It’s almost as if they act as a fulcrum so that the breath energy could be brought in, but remind yourself the breath energy is actually already there in the body. The air outside is what you bring in, but the breath energy is what flows inside and it doesn’t require any tension.

So start with the fingers and work your way up, to relax the tension. I’ve noticed that the outline of the body, especially the outline of the hands, is a good place to start to relax and to keep things relaxed as you breathe in, as you breathe out. Then do the whole outline of the arm. Start with the feet, up through the outline, around the legs, up around the torso, in the head. Then go through the inside. Try to get deeper and deeper as you work in. You’ll have a much more comfortable place to stay that way.

In this way, you’re using your intellect and the body at the same time. The intellect asks the right questions and gives you ideas. You’re using your perceptions. What is your perception of what’s necessary for the breath to come in? What’s necessary for the breath to go out? Do you have to push it out? Actually, you don’t really have to push it out. It’ll go out on its own. The question is simply: At what rate do you allow it to go out? To what extent do you want to change the rhythm to counteract any imbalance there may be in the body? Sometimes the body gets in a vicious cycle. You breathe in a weird way and it sets up patterns of tension that make you breathe continually in weirder ways. So it’s good to learn how to break the cycle."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Hope (2022)"

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