You can breathe right through unskillful thoughts. This puts you more in control. Because you have more clarity, you’re on top of things. Which is why this pleasure is a higher form of pleasure than the pleasure of sensuality.

"As part of the concentration practice, whenever there’s a stirring in different parts of the body — a little knot of tension developing — you want to breathe right through it. You don’t want to wait to see whether it’s a good or bad thought or anything. You want to have your first line of defense that you can sense where the thought-potential is associated with the body. Then, if you breathe through that spot and allow the tension to relax, the thought doesn’t have a place to stand. You’re more on top of things.

When you’ve learned the skill of dispersing the thought in this way, then as you go through the day and thoughts come up in the mind and you see something unskillful has formed, you can breathe right through it. This puts you more in control. Because you have more clarity, you’re on top of things. Which is why this pleasure is a higher form of pleasure than the pleasure of sensuality."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Concentration & Insight"

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