Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Refreshing Breathing

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"So breathe in a way that feels good, deep down inside. Think of the breath as a whole-body process. It goes through all the nerves in the nervous system, all the vessels in the circulatory system — out to the tips of the fingers, out to the tips of the toes. You have to think of yourself not sitting here looking at the breath but wearing the breath: surrounded by the breath, bathed in the breath, immersed in the breath, with the breath all around you, flowing smoothly. It soothes the body and it can also soothe the mind." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Economy of Goodness"

"You try to learn which ways of breathing feel good for the body. I’ve had people ask me what kind of breathing is best, and the answer is that you have to figure out for yourself what your body needs right now. What it needs right now may not be what it needs tomorrow, or even at the end of the hour. You have to be on top of what kind of breathing feels good each time you breathe: what kind of feelings you can create by the way you breathe, different feelings of pleasure in different parts of the body. When you have a feeling of pleasure, how do you spread it around? Think of the image of the bathman kneading water through the dough of the bath powder he’s trying to create. How do you do that in a way where you’re not forcing things too much, one where you allow things to flow? When you force the breath too much — even though it starts out comfortable — the fact that you’re squeezing it too much or pushing it too much turns it into something else. This is a skill you have to lear...

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"So we respect concentration, one, by respecting it in theory, reminding ourselves that it’s something we’ve got to do. And two, while you’re doing it, you want to give yourself to it fully. Don’t hold anything back. Immerse yourself in your object. Here we’re working with the breath. When we say to focus on the breath, it’s an unfortunate image. It gives the impression that your mind is like a camera, and you’re going to focus the lens of the camera on something outside of the camera. It’d be better to say, “Wear the breath. Put it on, wear it. Think of it being all around you.” And you want to develop an all-around awareness as well. So you don’t hold anything back. If you hold anything back, you’re off to the side. Be in the middle. When you hold things back, there are big blind spots in the mind. Those blind spots are ignorance, and it’s precisely because of the ignorance that we suffer. So as you begin to settle down and the breath begins to feel good, allow you...

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"So breathe in a way that feels good, deep down inside. Think of the breath as a whole-body process. It goes through all the nerves in the nervous system, all the vessels in the circulatory system — out to the tips of the fingers, out to the tips of the toes. You have to think of yourself not sitting here looking at the breath but wearing the breath: surrounded by the breath, bathed in the breath, immersed in the breath, with the breath all around you, flowing smoothly. It soothes the body and it can also soothe the mind." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Economy of Goodness"

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"So we respect concentration, one, by respecting it in theory, reminding ourselves that it’s something we’ve got to do. And two, while you’re doing it, you want to give yourself to it fully. Don’t hold anything back. Immerse yourself in your object. Here we’re working with the breath. When we say to focus on the breath, it’s an unfortunate image. It gives the impression that your mind is like a camera, and you’re going to focus the lens of the camera on something outside of the camera. It’d be better to say, “Wear the breath. Put it on, wear it. Think of it being all around you.” And you want to develop an all-around awareness as well. So you don’t hold anything back. If you hold anything back, you’re off to the side. Be in the middle. When you hold things back, there are big blind spots in the mind. Those blind spots are ignorance, and it’s precisely because of the ignorance that we suffer. So as you begin to settle down and the breath begins to feel good, allow yourself to plun...

"Do your best to get interested in the breath. Because here it is, this element in the body. It keeps you alive. It’s the meeting place between the mind and the body. Of the different elements in the body, it’s the most responsive to the mind, and it’s the one that can be used to affect the other elements in the body, too. It’s also the closest to the mind. Without the breath, body and mind would go their separate ways, so it only stands to reason that if you can get the breath energies flowing well in the body, it’s going to be good for the body and for the mind. It’s healing for the nerves of the various organs. Think about how much you use your eyes especially, now in this age of screens, taking in all kinds of harmful information — things that are designed to give rise to greed, aversion, and delusion. Those nerves need to be rested. They need to be soothed. So here you have the chance to close your eyes, soothe those nerves, soothe all the different organs in the body. Think ...

"So breathe in a way that feels good, deep down inside. Think of the breath as a whole-body process. It goes through all the nerves in the nervous system, all the vessels in the circulatory system — out to the tips of the fingers, out to the tips of the toes. You have to think of yourself not sitting here looking at the breath but wearing the breath: surrounded by the breath, bathed in the breath, immersed in the breath, with the breath all around you, flowing smoothly. It soothes the body and it can also soothe the mind." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Economy of Goodness"

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"So breathe in a way that feels good, deep down inside. Think of the breath as a whole-body process. It goes through all the nerves in the nervous system, all the vessels in the circulatory system — out to the tips of the fingers, out to the tips of the toes. You have to think of yourself not sitting here looking at the breath but wearing the breath: surrounded by the breath, bathed in the breath, immersed in the breath, with the breath all around you, flowing smoothly. It soothes the body and it can also soothe the mind." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Economy of Goodness"

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"