following the breath

[flanneau]

I began to wonder if I am really following my breath during meditation.

 

Are there more concrete instructions instead of the abstract phrase 'follow your breath' ?

 

Cheers

 

F

[RiverSnake]

"Be aware of your breath." 

[thelerner]

Partly being aware of the many parts of breath; the crescendo's and holds.  Watching as it slides from one part to another.  Breathing in, the stop, the hold, the out breath breath, how it crescendo's toward cessation, how it stops, the period of empty holding, the trigger to breath again. 

 

Other games, focusing on an area of sensation where the breath moves past.  Or its sound.  Or the stomach or how a deep breath separates the floating ribs, fills up the chest expanding and separating clavicles and shoulders. 

 

In one practice I'll count my breaths from 1 to 100 (or 200)  to keep me focused on each as a separate unit, not easy.   For me anyway.

[joeblast]

perhaps I should have written an article

 

saying follow the breath is like saying follow your horse through the wilderness

 

mind and breath, one

 

refine the physical movements of the gut

 

cease the physical movements of the airways

 

transform the resonance of the olfactory nerve and the rest of the cranial nerves will follow

 

what that is, is enhancing the signal to noise ratio

 

with the noise low, the signal loud and clear, therein lines great stillness and enormous energy

 

get the flow of air beneath the threshold or neural detection, keep it there for an hour or two every day, and a fantastic progress will be made once the physical movements are well habituated and their signature imprinted upon the medulla. 

 

and always treat it like the exercise in awareness that it is.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

My favourite method is called listening to your breath.

Listening is done first at the level of the nostril.

Is the breath making any noise as it comes and goes?

if so, make it softer till it doesn't make noise.

The second kind of listening is internal,

use your sense of feeling to "listen" to the feeling of the breath coming and going from the lungs, opening and closing the chest and diaphragm.   This type of listening is a great way to cultivate calm during meditation, which is really the big basic that you need to master before doing anything else 

[Cheshire Cat]

Good question.

I never understood the general abstract answers that we get from traditions and parrots.

Here's my approach.

 

We perceive the breath with two of the five senses: tactile sensations and hearing impressions.

 

Rely on tactile sensations to give a location to your attention and listen to the sound (real or imagined) of the breath to stabilize concentration.

 

@joeblast, I've read your posts on breathing but everything seems so complicated and contrived in your instructions. English is not my native language: maybe it's just that.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Cheshire Cat

[joeblast]

that's probably it, because I tend to utilize the most accurate verbiage possible, and if one isnt familiar with half the words...   

 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the exact precise body mechanics and how they integrate and relate to the neural mechanics - because after all, settling xin requires settling the neurological.

 

breathe this way, breathe that way, see how one way vs another affects the neural cascades, how it affects the ongoing cyclical dynamic...

 

somewhere along the way I realized that nobody ever teaches "how to actually begin a breath," or how to roll from exhale to inhale, from an anatomical standpoint - so I wind up naming the anatomical structures along the way....

 

because if the transition from exhale to inhale isnt done properly, it is a detriment to the stability of the ongoing dynamic - the relative burst of air and attendant neural cascades, short term increase of heart rate - if one isnt doing that properly...

 

well, one probably wont notice if one hasnt been able to drop the flow of air down beneath where the nerves detect it - signal to noise ratio, if your noise level is too high then it masks the signal you are looking for.

 

like yang jwing ming I have an engineer's perspective on it, and limited exposure to other things early on left me having worked on anapanasati to quite some depth - I'm glad I didnt have those other distractions when I began.  I did simple breathing basics for almost 3 years before starting to look around the candy store

[thelerner]

A little off topic.

After years of various breathing methods, doing the Wim Hof 10 week program had me re-learning and examining what I knew about breath.  Its an extreme method, fast deep breathing, verging on hyperventilation then a deep exploration of oft forgotten empty hold, ie you hold the empty breath for ridiculous amounts of time.  

 

You experience what a full breath really is, the nature of emptiness, and an intimate awareness of what the most important thing in the world is.. the in breath.  Because you explore the reaches of emptiness, will and asphyxiation.  Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but there are benefits. 

[dwai]

A little off topic.

After years of various breathing methods, doing the Wim Hof 10 week program had me re-learning and examining what I knew about breath. Its an extreme method, fast deep breathing, verging on hyperventilation then a deep exploration of oft forgotten empty hold, ie you hold the empty breath for ridiculous amounts of time.

 

You experience what a full breath really is, the nature of emptiness, and an intimate awareness of what the most important thing in the world is.. the in breath. Because you explore the reaches of emptiness, will and asphyxiation. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but there are benefits.

That sounds a lot like Sri Sri Ravishankar's Sudarshan Kriya. Only the bahya kumbhaka happens on its own. Minutes at a time...there is no breath. Mind is still until suddenly you have to breath again... Edited August 6, 2016 by dwai

[Jim D.]

From what I understand of meditation all one needs to do is focus on breathing in and breathing out.

[Gerard]

Hi friend,

 

You may find the following eBook helpful:

 

Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samadhi by Ajahn Lee

 

This legendary forest monk was a highly accomplished meditation master. I wish he was still alive and teaching, I would not hesitate to go to Thailand and learn formal meditation practice from him.

 

Good luck

[Jim D.]

Good luck is not an outcome for a Taoist.   I believe that behaviors can be made to more complicated then they have to be. If my intention is to slow down the rumination than doing a full body relaxation and following up with a guided meditation will work well.

 

My personal experience in developing higher consciousness and self awareness has been through self monitoring, realty testing, prayer and meditation and service work. Attraction rather than promotion is a good principle to live by. When I watch, read, or listen to self acclaimed Shamans, or Masters of Chi Gong or Neigong, I am not seeing a person that has anything different than you or I. I just see an average guy there doing his thing, and getting paid for it.

 

But that is just me, and I offer it as a controversial point. Not a critism of those that have commented here.

[Cheshire Cat]

[...]

well, one probably wont notice if one hasnt been able to drop the flow of air down beneath where the nerves detect it - signal to noise ratio, if your noise level is too high then it masks the signal you are looking for.

[...]

 

Is there an effort to drop the breath rate in all of that?

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi friend,

 

You may find the following eBook helpful:

 

Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samadhi by Ajahn Lee

 

This legendary forest monk was a highly accomplished meditation master. I wish he was still alive and teaching, I would not hesitate to go to Thailand and learn formal meditation practice from him.

 

Good luck

 

 

Thank you!

 

This one is much more interesting for daoist people

 

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Taoism-Thomas-Cleary/dp/1570622000

[Jim D.]

Is there an effort to drop the breath rate in all of that?

 

If there is "static in the Attic," then dropping your heart rate will be very difficult unless you take a Rx Sedative-Hypnotic. But if you can go to sleep at night with a clear conscious, I mean there are not any held resentments, or apologies to be made, a anything left undone than all you need to do is sit still and know, take a breath in and see it as filtering thorugh out your body system. And then exhale the old breath, and imagine all the anxieties of the day, the stress, the fears are being exhaled into the atmosphere, going toward the Sun, burning up, becoming a cloud and then dissipating into nothingness. Now take another breath in, and hold it. Imagine how clear the breath is, how refreshing, life giving it is. Now let it out and image that every cell that is holding toxic energy is being cleansed by your exhalation. Watch it pass through your lungs, out into the Uniiverse, towards the nearest Sun, dissipating, becoming a formless cloud of nothingness....

 

Now let me take you to an open field...

 

You don't have to be a Master of meditation, and you don't have to sell it like on Youtube. You just have to do it. Nothing magical about it. Don't be impressed. They are just regular guys working for a buck who want to sell you on that they are different then the rest of us. A person does not have to promote the truth, and the truth is not for sale.

[joeblast]

Is there an effort to drop the breath rate in all of that?

absolutely, but it is not a primary concern, it is entirely secondary to the regulation.  regulate until non regulation, e.g. pedal the bike and coast, the heartmind is the landscape you are biking over.  if one tries to lengthen before enough regulation has taken place, then its unstable and   one winds up being more likely to bump into the body's feedback mechanisms that will trigger faster heartbeat and desire to breathe.

 

If there is "static in the Attic," then dropping your heart rate will be very difficult unless you take a Rx Sedative-Hypnotic. But if you can go to sleep at night with a clear conscious, I mean there are not any held resentments, or apologies to be made, a anything left undone than all you need to do is sit still and know, take a breath in and see it as filtering thorugh out your body system. And then exhale the old breath, and imagine all the anxieties of the day, the stress, the fears are being exhaled into the atmosphere, going toward the Sun, burning up, becoming a cloud and then dissipating into nothingness. Now take another breath in, and hold it. Imagine how clear the breath is, how refreshing, life giving it is. Now let it out and image that every cell that is holding toxic energy is being cleansed by your exhalation. Watch it pass through your lungs, out into the Uniiverse, towards the nearest Sun, dissipating, becoming a formless cloud of nothingness....

 

Now let me take you to an open field...

 

You don't have to be a Master of meditation, and you don't have to sell it like on Youtube. You just have to do it. Nothing magical about it. Don't be impressed. They are just regular guys working for a buck who want to sell you on that they are different then the rest of us. A person does not have to promote the truth, and the truth is not for sale.

static in the attic = thoughtform energy that arises out of neural feedback loops, of which there are many in the midbrain - it simply helps with the decision making process.  but thoughtform energy is a potential that arises out of excess of stimuli and will keep running unless the awareness is focused.

 

so focus the awareness on entraining the correct breath sequence for the involved structures, yin and yang, dont use that which is not necessary, and use that which is necessary in the correct order.

 

keeping the focus of awareness on doing this will directly lead to a quieter mind - every time you have a moment, return the focus of awareness to training the breath protocol, and when in meditation, keep it going and return, return, return, as often as you catch the thoughform energy activated.  just turn the volume knob down by returning the focus to the breath protocol and feelings thereof.

 

include lengthening breath in this, disappearance of feeling of breath by having the gut do everything and sinuses, airways do nothing.

 

once that is all habituated then you will absolutely have a calm, clear mind that has a very low tendency for those little bubbles of random thoughtform energy to percolate.  (but then again, it is still a useful mechanism at times, so one can simply take that as far as one desires.)

 

achieving that will see the imprint of the protocol burned by awareness gongfu onto the medulla and the protocol will be present even while sleeping.

[Gerard]

I forgot to add that Ajahn Lee was a wandering monk, so change his advice to focus your attention on parts of the head while breathing and thinking of "bu" (in-breath) "ddho" (out-breath).

 

I recommend instead the approach taken by the Burmese monk Mahasi Sadaw:

 

http://www.buddhanet.net/m_part1.htm

 

Focus your attention on the abdomen.

 

Also I was taught to divide practice between walking and sitting meditation: 50/50.

 

Why?

 

WARNING

 

We are not wandering monks walking around everywhere (some even barefeet) and sitting on the floor all the time, most of us are sedentary individuals sitting on chairs and facing computers most of the time. Hence bring your attention down, not up to your head, or you'll be calling for serious and irreparable trouble. .

 

Even further

 

1. Focus on Kidney if you suffer from Liver and Kidney Yin deficiency (also Kidney Yang deficiency)

2. Focus on your toes, especially the big toe, if you are quite ungrounded and with limited time or space to do moving work. This will bring you to a state of Yin and Yang balance

 

 

Happy breathing meditation.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Gerard

[qijack]

[silent thunder]

such a potent threshold I repeatedly resonate with upon the very depth of exhalation in the extreme

 

it's something of an obsession for the present, but that won't last and transition will flow...

but wow, the resonance of it!

[doc benway]

I began to wonder if I am really following my breath during meditation.

 

Are there more concrete instructions instead of the abstract phrase 'follow your breath' ?

 

Cheers

 

F

 

While there may be many ways to 'follow your breath,' simple is often better.

The more we complicate things, the more opportunity for the mind to distract us from the simple task of being aware.

Here's a beautiful brief teaching on breath awareness by Mingyur Rinpoche:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUBNLC3JfMw

[Daeluin]

Great advice in this thread.

 

Something I found was that I'd been focusing too much on breathing into my lower abdomen, and not actually opening my chest and filling my lungs. All related to bad posture and spending too much time in front of the computer - I hadn't even realized how my chest was deflated. Some focus on breathing more fully into my lungs and CV15, SP21, GB22, has really been helpful.

[Lao Sun Tao]

Quick question, what if you mess up your breathing while focusing on your breath? Sometimes I try to be aware of my breath but end up change the flow of my breathing because I accidentally control it. Any tips on how to avoid that?

[silent thunder]

sink the body on exhale

release on the inhale

[joeblast]

Great advice in this thread.

 

Something I found was that I'd been focusing too much on breathing into my lower abdomen, and not actually opening my chest and filling my lungs. All related to bad posture and spending too much time in front of the computer - I hadn't even realized how my chest was deflated. Some focus on breathing more fully into my lungs and CV15, SP21, GB22, has really been helpful.

my .02, I would assert that your abdominal breathing was focusing too much on "the abdomen" and you forgot about your diaphragm, exacerbated by improper posture - and by "focusing more on the lugs" you re-engaged the diaphragm the a more proper extent.  the lugs, in the area of the chest, consist of a relative small portion of the overall volume to be filled as compared to the diaphragm.

 

pull down from the diaphragm's attachment at L3-4-5 and "pull all the way down to the dantien" - this should utilize the diaphragm more thoroughly

 

Quick question, what if you mess up your breathing while focusing on your breath? Sometimes I try to be aware of my breath but end up change the flow of my breathing because I accidentally control it. Any tips on how to avoid that?

 that's why I developed a specific, anatomical protocol.  being aware is one thing, fine tuning is another, and it requires being aware.   the diaphragm is pulled down from its lumbar attachment on the inhale, the exhale is supported by huiyin and qihai.

[Tibetan_Ice]

Not all breath meditation is about breathing, breathing into something tan tien, or manipulating the breath.

The reason the breath is used, as in Buddhist anapanasati, is because there is a connection between the breath and the movements in the mind (thought and thinking).

 

When the breathing stops, the movements stop.

When the movements stop, the breathing stops.

 

So, the breath is a great feedback loop.

 

The purpose of jhanic breath meditation is to become aware of these components of attention:

1) Directed attention

2) Sustained attention

3) That which watches whether or not the sustained attention has drifted off the target.

 

The next step is to train those three components.

 

Once you gain control over the three components of attention, that is when things start to happen.

 

You might/will experience great bliss, better than sex

You might see nimittas (mental mind objects or lights)

You might see inwardly with the third eye with tremendous clarity.

 

Two books which I have studied in depth are

 

https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Bliss-Beyond-Meditators-Handbook/dp/0861712757

 

And

 

https://www.amazon.com/Attention-Revolution-Unlocking-Power-Focused-ebook/dp/B003WJR60I

 

 

The thing that I will say about controlled (not passive watching) breath meditation is that there is a natural built in function that if you do it for a few minutes, will help clear thoughts and emotions out from the mind.

 

It is called the sighing exhale. If you've ever watched the tv show called BlueBloods, you would see that Tom Selleck, the chief of police, is a great practitioner of the sighing exhale. Whenever he hears of some disastrous event or some potentially frustrating situation, first he listens, then he takes a short inhale and then exhales. It is this exhale that clears the mind.

 

If you don't believe me, just watch yourself and your behaviors for the sighing exhale. Or watch other people during a conversation. Watch for that sighing exhale. It is a natural method of releasing a mental or emotional buildup.

 

Repeated over and over again for a few minutes will clear the mind. You will start to see white light in the mind's eye and a space will open up inside your head behind your eyes.

 

Just recently I found mention of that technique in a book called

"Roaring Silence" DISCOVERING THE MIND OF DZOGCHEN Ngakpa Chögyam & Khandro Déchen

 

It is not identical to the "sighing exhale" but it is darn close...and uses the same principles...

 

Here it is:

 

EXERCISE 4

Sit in a posture of comfort and alertness. Find the presence of your awareness only in your exhalation. Allow your inhalation merely to happen. Allow yourself to dissolve your experience into emptiness with each exhalation. If you find that you have drifted from presence, simply return to presence and remain. If thoughts arise, allow them to dissolve into emptiness with each exhalation. Try this for thirty minutes. See how it goes. If you are used to sitting for longer, sit for as long as you would usually sit. See how it goes.

 

 

Edited August 18, 2016 by Tibetan_Ice