Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Refreshing Breathing

"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 bod...

"So learn to be a good friend with the breath, and the breath will become your friend as well. And as Ajaan Lee said, you won’t be lonely. Everywhere you go, you have friends going along with you. All the parts of the body become your friends because you’re on more intimate terms with them through the breath energy. You understand them better. You’re better at creating a sense of ease and well-being in the body. When you’ve got this stable center, then the issue friends outside becomes less desperate. And when you’re not desperate for friends, you find you get better ones, more reliable ones — because you’ve become more reliable as well. So it’s important that you take some time to develop this skill. Do what you can to become interested in the breath and you’ll find that it pays you back many times over." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Friendship"

"When you’re focused on the breath, it’s good not to hold anything back. Just think of yourself plunging into the breath and the body, totally. The reward is that you develop an all-around experience of ease and refreshment. If part of you is pulled back, there’s a part of you that’s not sharing in this, that’s not gaining anything of real value. So try to come to the practice with the attitude that it’s all about giving." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Better to Give than Consume" (Meditations6)

"So now it’s time to bring the mind into line, keeping it with the breath. Wherever it branches out, you just have to cut off that branch and come right back to the breath. Actually, you don’t have to cut it. You just let it go and don’t pay any attention to it, don’t follow it, and it’ll die on its own. Just keep coming back to the breath, back to the breath. Each time you come back, reward yourself with a good, comfortable breath, something that feels really good deep down inside. If there’s any part of the body that seems to be deprived of breath energy, think of opening it up and the breath penetrating in, so that you can touch the Dhamma with the body. That’s an expression the Buddha uses to describe the mind in concentration: the sense of well-being that’s not just in your head. It’s throughout the body. You develop alertness, watching what’s going on, to check and make sure that everything is where you want it. If it’s not, you can change. This way, the mind develops concen...

"Try to stay focused on the breath, wherever you feel it most vividly. If you don’t know where it’s most vivid, take a couple of good, long, deep in-and-out breaths. Let it calm down until it feels just right — not too heavy to be comfortable, but not so light that you can’t follow it. And don’t put too much pressure on it; don’t put too little pressure on it. The Buddha’s image is of a person holding a baby chick in his hand. If you squeeze the chick too tightly, it’s going to die. If you hold it too loosely, it’s going to fly away. So try to keep tabs on the breath with just the right amount of pressure. If you catch the mind wandering off, just bring it back. No matter how many times it’s going to wander off in the course of the hour, bring it back, bring it back. Each time you come back, reward yourself with a breath that feels really gratifying, because you want to get the mind to feel good about being here so it’ll be more likely to settle in and wander off less. The less th...

"This is one of the most common problems everybody encounters. You sit down to meditate and all of a sudden you find yourself someplace else, and you don’t know how you got there. You’re supposed to be focusing on your breath, but suddenly you find yourself mulling over something that happened three or four months ago. Well, you drop that. Come back to the breath. And each time you come back, don’t berate yourself. Just reward yourself with a good breath so that it feels good to come back. But be alert. The mind is going to go wander off again. You can’t be the type of addict who says, “Okay, I’ve given up that bad habit, and it’s never going to happen again. I’m going to be solid and sure and never change.” You’re just setting yourself up for a fall. You’ve got to realize: Okay, there will be a tendency to go back to, if not that distraction, then something else. So you have to be alert to detect the warning signs that the mind is about to leave the breath: Part of the mind is w...

"Focus your attention on the breath. Take a couple of good long, deep in-and-out breaths. And notice where you feel the sensation of breathing in the body. Focus your attention there. And then ask yourself if it’s comfortable. If long breathing feels good, keep it up. If not, you can change. Make it shorter, deeper, more shallow, heavier, lighter, faster, slower. Or you can try in-long and out-short, or in-short and out-long. See what kind of breathing feels good. If you find something that feels good, stick with it for a while until it doesn’t feel so good anymore, then you can change again. The needs of the body will change as your mind begins to settle down. If your thoughts begin to wander off to something else, remind yourself that you’re not there for that. You’re here to develop some concentration. So you drop those thoughts and you’re back at the breath. No matter how many times you wander off, you just keep coming back to the breath. When you do come back, reward yourself...

"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 ...

"Each time you wander off, try to catch yourself as quickly as you can and come right back to the breath. Do it in a friendly but a firm way. It’s often wise to reward yourself with a particularly nice breath when you come back. If it feels really good coming back, the mind will be more and more inclined to want to come back. If you yell at it and get really upset, it’s not going to want to come back. It’ll wander off and want to stay away. So try to catch it each time, and try to catch it more and more quickly, and give yourself rewards." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Directed Thoughts, Random Thoughts"

"If the mind slips off, just drop whatever it is that it slipped after, and you’ll be right back at the breath. If it does it again, bring it back again. Each time you come back, try to reward yourself with a breath that feels especially good. Think of some part of the body that needs a little extra energy, and provide that. Think of the breath going there immediately as you breathe in. It might be down in the middle of the brain, in the area of the heart, the area of the stomach, or some of the more outer parts of the body that need to be refreshed. We look for these areas and refresh them because the qualities of right concentration are pleasure and refreshment. And you can create those qualities by the way you breathe." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Noble Truths of the Breath"

"The breath is always coming in and going out. The thoughts don’t disturb the breath. Our problem is that we leave the breath to focus on the thoughts. If you find that happening, just drop the thought. Don’t try to finish it. Just let it go with its ends dangling. Come right back to the breath. No matter how many times you wander off, just keep coming back, coming back. Each time you come back, reward yourself with a breath that feels especially good. That way, the mind will be more and more inclined to want to come back and settle in." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Nuts & Bolts"