MEDITATION ON THE BREATH


The Teachings of
The Monk Suwattano
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permission. - 1996, updated March 1997 by True Freedom Cyber-Temple



The Meditation Exercise of
"the Full Awareness of Breathing"

The most widely practiced meditation is probably the Breath-Meditation, also known as Anapanasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) or Full Awareness of Breath.

To begin first assume your chosen meditation position. You may close your eyes, or leave them open and relaxed, whichever you feel most comfortable with. Take a couple of deep cleansing breaths and just relax. Beginning with the head and working downward we relax the muscles of the body.
Relax the muscles of the head and the face.
Relax the neck muscles. Relax the shoulders.
Relax the arms. Relax the hands.
Relax the chest, the back, and the abdominal muscles.
Relax the thighs of the legs, the lower legs, and the feet.
Be completely relaxed.

During this meditation time our sole duty is to observe the inhalations and exhalations of our breath. First we just follow the sensation of our ordinary breathing as the breath flows in through the nose and fills the chest and abdomen. We shouldn't force them to be any longer or shorter than normal, rather just let the breath flow naturally, relax and let go. Then try maintaining concentration at one point, either the diaphragm or at the opening of the nostrils. Thoughts about what we have done earlier or of what we will do after we finish meditating, about what may happen during the meditation, and so on may come up, but once they arise just let them cease by themselves. If we don't add anything on to these thoughts they will pass without causing any disturbances. This is letting go. Thoughts may come up, but it's not our business to make anything out of them right now, so we just let them go and return our attention to the breath. This develops mindfulness, patience and insight into the way the mind works.

It is important to understand that there is no such thing as failure here. As long as we just keep bringing the mind back to the breath when it wanders off, we are doing just fine.

Now sometimes the mind may be very agitated or restless. One common technique is to count the cycles of the breath from one to ten, and if the mind hasn't wandered by the time we get to ten then start all over with one again.

If we feel sleepy or drowsy we can put more attention into our bodily posture. Or, perhaps changing over to a walking meditation for a while.