Breath: Questions For Contemplation; Perceptions; And Practice Ideas

This presentation primarily addresses breath through approaches, observations, conjecture, perceptions, practice ideas, and inquiries ranging from the simple, commonplace, practical, and broad overviews to the bizarre, obscure, esoteric, and minutia while sometimes these overlap.

It is not to overwhelm, for overthinking, for comparison, or judgement. Rather, to enhance the likelihood of maintaining and/or prolonging bare awareness of breath for practices.

Transcript

Breath.

Questions for contemplation,

Perceptions,

And practice ideas.

If this is the first time listening,

If possible,

Please skip to the end for the disclaimer.

What if this was the first time noticing breath?

What is more important than breath in this moment?

What effects are the breath having right now on any and all levels you have access to inside and out?

How is your relationship with your breath?

What is the relationship between light and breath?

Instead of us being mindful of the breath,

What about the breath being mindful of us and of mindfulness itself?

What is the difference between the experience I think I'm having and the experience my breath is having?

Can your breath be stopped?

How might a true,

Authentic admiration for breath help?

What if the breath was allowed,

Permitted,

To consciously assist with anything and everything?

How might focusing on and even seeking pleasure within the breath be helpful,

Wise,

And skillful?

Can you trust that simple,

Bare awareness of breathing is sufficient and enough?

When waking back up to the breath,

Ask,

Was what took me away pleasant or unpleasant?

And whatever is woken back up to,

Is it mental or physical?

Who or what controls the breath and how?

Can breath be seen,

Looked at,

Or focused upon as a tangible,

Visible object in the mind's eye?

When conscious of breath,

What of the breath still remains unconscious?

How does breath want to be known?

Perceptions Four advantages of breath as meditation object 1.

Always available 2.

In the here and now 3.

Dynamic breath so it's easier to focus on 4.

The minimal emotional charge helps the body and mind settle There's a saying in mindfulness,

If you want to go from point A to B,

Fully inhabit A,

Being fully here with experience.

Breathing grounds and centers us in a relaxed yet alert continuity of attention in the present moment.

Instead of jumping out into the river of life to fight the rapids,

Or getting scared by the rapids,

Or getting swept away by them,

Let breathing be like being on a big stable boat in the river of life.

This is dangerous,

Though,

Causing flooding while the river of life wants to keep flowing.

This continuity of life experience to be in stay in the present moment can be experienced in various worldly ways.

In heightened states of fear like mountain climbing,

Or intense demands on attention like performing surgery,

Playing tennis,

Or absorption into books and movies.

Meditation doesn't naturally engage fear,

Entertainment,

Or interest,

So we develop this capacity to stay with experience without relying on something external or zenpitis.

Continuity of attention comes from 1.

Relaxation,

Tension can be fuel for a wandering mind.

2.

Dedication,

Engaging our intentional faculty.

3.

Strength and mindfulness.

4.

Heightened awareness to know when the mind wanders off.

Initially takes a lot of effort,

But eventually this habit can allow the mind to be more at peace.

5.

Familiarity of what it feels like to be with the breathing,

So we know what it feels like when we wander off,

Noticing a kind of loss of intimacy with parts of ourselves.

How breath can cultivate continuity of attention.

Inviting the body and breath to relax,

Especially in the belly,

Allows greater observation of breath's variations.

Like petting a cat,

Not continuously,

But stroking intermittently,

From head to tail until it's purring.

Counting breath,

Initially to learn this technique and if needed,

Then let go of counting.

Labeling the in and out breaths,

In for the in breath,

Out for the out breath.

Frozen breathing or held breathing is kind of like glue for attachment.

Breath psychology.

One Italian word for breathing,

Respirare,

Gives us the words breathing and spiritual.

We also have respiration,

Inspiration,

A gas company called Spire,

Conspiracy,

Which the roots of the word mean to breathe together.

And in psychology,

Psycho is of the mind and another meaning for psycho is breathing.

In the breath itself,

Notice changes,

Emotions,

Attitudes in psychology.

Notice where the mind wanders off.

Maybe there's fear around the in and out breath,

Not wanting to let go fully and wanting to control,

Wanting to get to the in breath.

Maybe there's reluctance to breathe out because of a tendency to hold on to things and not wanting to give things away.

Maybe there's reluctance to breathe in if the world feels oppressive,

Not wanting to take on any more burdens,

Oppression or work.

All this diminishes though with the continuity of courageously breathing through it all and by doing so without interfering with the breath,

Thus resulting in support for freedom.

Breath as a gauge.

Mindfulness of breathing is like putting a stick in a stream that you can't tell if it's moving or not.

This then shows the ripples and currents of our lives and how busy and maybe how out of control the mind is.

Not that it's wrong,

It just gives a reference point to see how strong the tendency is to be pulled into thinking,

Our concerns and emotions.

The challenge to stay with the breath is like a mirror for what's going on with the mind that makes it so challenging to stay with breathing.

The mirror of breath also allows us to see ourselves and the subtlety of what's occurring inside and out like a gauge of our internal and external world.

Mindfulness of breathing works even when it doesn't work by showing you what's taking attention away from the breath.

Mindfulness perceptions.

But whomever develops mindfulness of death thinking,

Oh that I might live for the interval that it takes to swallow having chewed up one morsel of food,

That I might live for the interval that it takes to breathe out after breathing in,

Or that I might live for the interval that it takes to breathe in after breathing out,

They are said to dwell heatfully.

What if each and every moment of each and every in-breath and out-breath was and is happening like your life depends on it?

What if it was way more of an emergency situation than any ICU or any end of the world event depicted in movies?

Because this is the way it is,

This one half-breath,

And life ceases,

But we're often oblivious mostly continuously.

Breathing in,

Life giving nourishment.

Breathing out,

A relaxing release of that which is no longer needed.

Breathing in is allowing.

Breathing out is an offering.

In life,

We must give breath to receive breath and vice versa.

Each breath is different.

Inhabit the breath,

Occupy the breath.

The breath is centeredness itself,

And you are the breath remembering your true nature.

As you breathe,

Let the experience not be a person connecting to something called breath,

But the breath being itself in momentary form.

Eliminate any degree of label suggesting something is connecting with something else called breath.

Instead,

Just let it all be breath,

Remembering and realizing itself.

When it is all the breath appearing as a phenomenon of people,

Places and things,

There is no longer anyone who is or isn't sleeping.

Instead,

Just let it all be breath,

Remembering and realizing itself.

Practice ideas,

Active,

Passive and otherwise.

Some established breath practices,

Including many types of pranayama and breathing methods.

Butekko method.

Lion's breath.

Breath of fire.

Three-part breathing.

Alternate nostril breathing.

Mellow's breath.

Bujai breath.

4-7-8 breathing.

Roll breathing.

Samavritti or equal breathing.

Abdominal and diaphragmatic breathing.

Box breathing.

Purse lip breathing.

Hummingbee breath.

Shifu Jiru's 5 Qigong breathing exercises.

These exercises sync with breath,

Act as an aid to increasing breath awareness,

Particularly helpful before more extended formal breath-centric meditation.

Please check the description for a link to the full video.

Fill the mind with the breath.

Give complete,

Entire,

Continuous,

Full attention to breath.

Invite thinking energy to soften.

Tune into the pleasure of the body.

Relax and let go into the breath.

What is more pleasurable and easy to connect with?

The in or the out breath?

What small adjustments with the natural breath can be made for greater ease?

Coast and surf the breath.

Notice the effect on the body around the breath and invite other parts of the body to feel similar.

Point your boat towards breath and let all else wash up against the boat.

Notice the parts of breath where awareness wanes.

During the in breath,

Out breath or pauses,

Then hold steady.

Let go into the out breath pause.

Rest in the simple knowing of breath.

Five dimensions of breath.

Depth,

Resistance,

Rhythm,

Texture,

Energetic tone.

One,

Depth,

How far throughout the body can breath be felt?

Two,

Resistance,

Does it feel like I'm doing all the work or does it feel like I'm being breathed or somewhere in between?

Three,

Rhythm,

What's the felt sense of duration and timing of the in and out breaths and the pauses between them?

Four,

Texture,

Does the breath feel silky,

Grainy,

Lumpy,

Feathery,

Etc.

?

Energetic tone,

Is breath relaxing,

Energizing?

Without thinking,

What's energy like in the body?

Radiating,

Frequencies,

Vibrational?

For potential external aids,

Investigate and research if occasional use of herbs acting on breath like feverfew and morn are wise.

This also goes for semi-precious air element stones like iolite and smoky quartz.

Be kindly,

Continually,

Consciously,

Tenaciously devoted and wholeheartedly dedicated to committing to an intimate full awareness of breath.

Commit to each breath and recommit after each breath,

Tuning into recalling and amplifying the intention to stay with each half breath.

And after straying,

Back to awareness of breath and back to awareness of breath,

Etc.

,

Etc.

,

With a balance of ease and effort.

Breath bridging into awareness practice,

Be aware of breath from breath.

Are you then resting as the awareness or are you the awareness that is aware?

And what is the relationship to what is moving?

Is awareness aware of itself?

As awareness,

Are you aware of the rising movement and thought and feeling?

And is awareness separate?

What is it made of?

When there's tendency to control breathing,

Bring awareness to that which is controlling breath.

Then investigate the process of controlling breath and observe subtle movements of the ribs and spine.

This concludes Part 1.

Disclaimer.

It may be wise to find a balance with this material for whatever it may bring up,

Be it intrigue,

Fear,

Relief,

Breakthrough,

Novelty,

Overwhelm,

Overkill,

Irrelevancy,

Etc.

One can pause the recording at any time for contemplation,

Or instead of listening as study and practice instructions,

Just sit back and take this in as possibilities,

Letting the material resonate with whatever strikes as vital.

However you're called to receive this presentation,

Please take what is skillful,

Wise,

And helpful,

And leave the rest.

Also,

This presentation could easily become outdated or refuted.

For any questions posed in the material,

It is encouraged to engage each question the following four ways,

Both internally to yourself and to me with any counter questions for both of our benefit.

Number 1.

Answer them directly.

Number 2.

Answer with analysis and elaboration after deconstructing.

3.

Answer by counter questions.

4.

Do not answer or give no response.

In addition to this public presentation,

The private portion may be given if working with me,

Or may be released later.

Much of what's public is aggregated from other public sources.

While the private includes material,

I'm unsure of what portion is public and what portion is not.

Both the public and private presentations primarily address the breadth through approaches,

Observations,

Conjecture,

Perceptions,

Practice ideas,

And inquiries ranging from simple,

Commonplace,

Practical,

And broad overviews to the bizarre,

Obscure,

Esoteric,

And minutiae,

While sometimes these categories overlap.

Overall,

A basic bare awareness of breath is primarily needed.

Again,

This presentation is not to overwhelm for overthinking for comparison or judgment,

Rather to enhance the likelihood of maintaining and or prolonging bare awareness of breath for breath practices.

Reviews

Questions and contemplation that made me think of this vital tool in a more serious light. Also did bring up some emotions when talking about being reserved with breath, not wanting to let it go. Great talk