Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Refreshing Breathing

"So, you have an hour to get acquainted with the breath, to try to see what kind of breathing feels good right now, and then right now, right now. The needs of the body will change over time, so you have to be on top of them. Notice how they change. Make it a game. Don’t be too grim about the meditation. After all, we’re here trying to find pleasure in the breath. So treat it as a sport, something you want to learn how to enjoy. As with any sport, it takes time, it takes training, it takes discipline. But there’s also the element of enjoyment that comes when you’re doing it well. It feels good. It feels right." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)

"You don’t have to feel compelled to get the best possible breath. Don’t turn it into a chore. Make it something you enjoy. You’re here to play with the meditation. That was one of Ajaan Fuang’s instructions that always sounded the strangest. He said to meditate playfully. Not in a desultory way, but enjoy it. Think of all the different crazy ways you can breathe right now. It’s like getting a new stereo. You turn up the treble, you turn up the bass — not because you seriously want to hear your music all treble or all bass, but because it’s just fun to see what you can do with the machine. After you’ve explored some of the extremes, then you start fine-tuning it until you get it to the point where it sounds just right. The important thing is that the breath not become a chore. If breathing becomes a chore, that simply makes life that much heavier. The breath can be something you enjoy playing with. It can become your sport. Then you have something to play with all th...

"You don’t have to feel compelled to get the best possible breath. Don’t turn it into a chore. Make it something you enjoy. You’re here to play with the meditation. That was one of Ajaan Fuang’s instructions that always sounded the strangest. He said to meditate playfully. Not in a desultory way, but enjoy it. Think of all the different crazy ways you can breathe right now. It’s like getting a new stereo. You turn up the treble, you turn up the bass — not because you seriously want to hear your music all treble or all bass, but because it’s just fun to see what you can do with the machine. After you’ve explored some of the extremes, then you start fine-tuning it until you get it to the point where it sounds just right. The important thing is that the breath not become a chore. If breathing becomes a chore, that simply makes life that much heavier. The breath can be something you enjoy playing with. It can become your sport. Then you have something to play with all the time." ...

"So, you have an hour to get acquainted with the breath, to try to see what kind of breathing feels good right now, and then right now, right now. The needs of the body will change over time, so you have to be on top of them. Notice how they change. Make it a game. Don’t be too grim about the meditation. After all, we’re here trying to find pleasure in the breath. So treat it as a sport, something you want to learn how to enjoy. As with any sport, it takes time, it takes training, it takes discipline. But there’s also the element of enjoyment that comes when you’re doing it well. It feels good. It feels right." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)

"Survey how all the different parts of the body feel with the in-breath, with the out-breath, all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-. If you notice any patterns of tension, allow them to relax and keep them relaxed all the way through the breathing cycle. If you have trouble figuring out which parts of the body are more tense than others, you might compare your left to your right side, because all of us tend to hold more tension in one side of the body than in the other. Sometimes it’s counterintuitive. There may be a sense of pain or stress in one side of the body, but actually that side of the body is overcompensating for a problem in the other side. So try to explore these patterns of tension in your body. When you can sense them and relax them, make it your sport, make it a game. You’re playing at keeping those parts relaxed even as you breathe in, even as you breathe out. You’ll find that this game opens whole huge areas of the breath en...

"So, you have an hour to get acquainted with the breath, to try to see what kind of breathing feels good right now, and then right now, right now. The needs of the body will change over time, so you have to be on top of them. Notice how they change. Make it a game. Don’t be too grim about the meditation. After all, we’re here trying to find pleasure in the breath. So treat it as a sport, something you want to learn how to enjoy. As with any sport, it takes time, it takes training, it takes discipline. But there’s also the element of enjoyment that comes when you’re doing it well. It feels good. It feels right." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)

"Survey how all the different parts of the body feel with the in-breath, with the out-breath, all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-. If you notice any patterns of tension, allow them to relax and keep them relaxed all the way through the breathing cycle. If you have trouble figuring out which parts of the body are more tense than others, you might compare your left to your right side, because all of us tend to hold more tension in one side of the body than in the other. Sometimes it’s counterintuitive. There may be a sense of pain or stress in one side of the body, but actually that side of the body is overcompensating for a problem in the other side. So try to explore these patterns of tension in your body. When you can sense them and relax them, make it your sport, make it a game. You’re playing at keeping those parts relaxed even as you breathe in, even as you breathe out. You’ll find that this game opens whole huge areas of the breath en...

"So, you have an hour to get acquainted with the breath, to try to see what kind of breathing feels good right now, and then right now, right now. The needs of the body will change over time, so you have to be on top of them. Notice how they change. Make it a game. Don’t be too grim about the meditation. After all, we’re here trying to find pleasure in the breath. So treat it as a sport, something you want to learn how to enjoy. As with any sport, it takes time, it takes training, it takes discipline. But there’s also the element of enjoyment that comes when you’re doing it well. It feels good. It feels right." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)

"Survey how all the different parts of the body feel with the in-breath, with the out-breath, all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-. If you notice any patterns of tension, allow them to relax and keep them relaxed all the way through the breathing cycle. If you have trouble figuring out which parts of the body are more tense than others, you might compare your left to your right side, because all of us tend to hold more tension in one side of the body than in the other. Sometimes it’s counterintuitive. There may be a sense of pain or stress in one side of the body, but actually that side of the body is overcompensating for a problem in the other side. So try to explore these patterns of tension in your body. When you can sense them and relax them, make it your sport, make it a game. You’re playing at keeping those parts relaxed even as you breathe in, even as you breathe out. You’ll find that this game opens whole huge areas of the breath energy in the bo...

"So, you have an hour to get acquainted with the breath, to try to see what kind of breathing feels good right now, and then right now, right now. The needs of the body will change over time, so you have to be on top of them. Notice how they change. Make it a game. Don’t be too grim about the meditation. After all, we’re here trying to find pleasure in the breath. So treat it as a sport, something you want to learn how to enjoy. As with any sport, it takes time, it takes training, it takes discipline. But there’s also the element of enjoyment that comes when you’re doing it well. It feels good. It feels right." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)