Meditation: Why Can't I Get Utterly Enthralled With Breath?

An exploration of the challenge to find the breath interesting then maintain such an interest to be with the breath and be the breath. We also investigate why all this is important and experience various dimensions of breath. [Some Insight Timer live participants of this 5/15/22 edited meditation from Fat Cat Longevity mentioned very low audio. I responded that if what was recorded could be salvaged I'd post the audio without it going out as a podcast but I changed my mind]

Transcript

And today we'll be focusing on our breath.

I will drop some questions in there to help facilitate this process with the mind.

And we'll probably go for somewhere between a half an hour,

A little over half an hour,

And then towards the end we'll have some time to share any experiences,

Or if there's questions,

And just kind of maybe chat about the experience too.

So if you haven't already,

You're welcome to close your eyes,

Bring the awareness and tension inward to the breath.

If you're standing,

A lot of times the instructions are to slightly keep the eyes open,

That way it doesn't become disoriented to fall down.

And if the eyes are open,

Just choose a spot maybe at a 45 degree angle,

Or wherever is comfortable,

On the floor,

Soften the gaze,

So where the eyes aren't moving around.

And let's just bring our awareness to the breath now.

If we've done the five Qigong exercises,

They ought to be fairly prominent.

We'll just do this in silence for a while to get going here,

Just kind of ride the wave of that.

And wherever the attention,

Wherever it's most noticeable with the breath,

Spend some time in silence here.

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So we can notice in the body,

The breathing body,

Where there's pleasantness,

Where there's pleasant feelings associated with the breath,

You can invite that to expand throughout the entire body.

So maybe there's a warmth,

Tingling,

Some vibration,

Or even just a lack of unpleasantness,

If it's more neutral.

The attention often is drawn to the pleasant or unpleasant,

And we can choose this wholesome pleasantness that's available in the body,

Wherever it might be available,

And inviting it,

Allowing it to expand and nourish our body.

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Knowing that this is helpful for us,

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As we recognize that we're taking the time out of our busy days and our schedules and all the things life invites us to be involved in,

That's great and this will allow us to better navigate that and better enjoy that.

For now though,

We invite to put all that on the shelf or on the table and we'll be there for us to pick up as soon as we're done here.

In this way we can allow ourself this short time to just be bathed and nourished.

The most important thing in life are breath.

We miss one half breath and all of our other troubles and challenges,

They're no longer.

So breath is important.

We can't even miss an in-breath or an out-breath.

The amazing body does this for us,

However we have a chance to tune in and see what this is all about,

This most important thing.

So,

Oftentimes the mind wants to be involved or at least wants to be active in doing something.

So,

Instead of fighting this tendency of the mind,

Because that's what minds do,

They think,

They're involved in thoughts.

We can maybe just drop this question in.

How can I get curious about how challenging it is sometimes for the mind to stay with the breath?

Why is it so challenging for the mind to become interested in the breath,

In the body breathing?

Of course,

You're welcome to engage the mind traditionally with this,

With thoughts and thinking,

Also invite us to,

What would it be like to just experience this question with the breath itself?

If the breath could do the thinking,

But without thinking,

If that makes any sense,

What would that be like?

Again,

It's okay for the mind to do what it does around this question,

But what if the breath could take charge of this question?

What would it feel like,

What would it be like to consider it?

Let's spend some time now doing that.

Why is the mind so challenged in finding the breath interesting?

We can perhaps further this by asking,

How might the mind find the breath more interesting?

How might I be more interested in the natural breath,

The natural body breathing?

Instead of me giving suggestions right away,

Just allow the mind to go to work on this question too.

How might I in the mind become more interested in the breath and the breathing body?

This happens to be helpful and fruitful,

Keep going for it.

If not,

There might be another question,

Well why might this be important?

Why might something like this be important to pay attention to?

Then it can come back to how might I be more interested in the breathing body?

That would really captivate my attention with the breath.

I'm free to use imagination obviously on this too.

Thanks.

I'll just jump in here to give some maybe illustrations of the multi-dimensional nature of the breath,

Various facets we can pay attention to with it.

With breathing,

There can be a support as we notice on the in-breath bringing in nourishment into the body,

Oxygenating the body,

The cells need for survival,

Continued growth and regeneration.

And on the out-breath,

Releasing,

Allowing what's no longer needed with the air in the body to be released.

There's pressure and pushing on the in-breath,

Often times.

Again a release,

Letting go,

Type of surrender almost on the out-breath.

Sometimes seem a pause between the in-breath and the out-breath.

It can be seen as a cycle,

Those marking transition points between in and out-breath.

You can notice how long those gaps between the in and the out-breath last.

For me at the end of the inhale,

That rest is shorter usually than the one at the end of the exhale.

The in-breath tends to be more brightening,

Energizing.

And the out-breath,

A release,

A relax.

So notice if there's a little bit less energy,

You can focus more on the in-breath.

You can do slight adjustments if that feels good too,

To bring more energy on the in-breath.

If there's too much energy,

We can focus more on the out-breath,

Make slight adjustments to the natural breath to facilitate that.

There's also the texture of the breath.

So just as if you'd run your hand over a material to get its texture,

If you could do the same with the breath,

The breathing body,

What would that feel like?

Maybe it's like sandpaper.

Maybe it's like velvet or silk.

So usually between rough and smooth,

It's kind of a sort of texture to the breath.

Whatever it is,

It's okay,

You can just notice how it is.

The energy level of the breath,

We can notice the energy,

Like we were just talking about,

Does it tend to be overall more energizing,

Brightening,

Or is the energy level more relaxed,

More useful,

More allowing?

It's okay either to notice this,

And or to make slight changes to balance,

Invite slight changes to balance the energy level.

You can also notice the dimension of the physical body with the breath.

So if the energy of the breath could penetrate,

Or if we could notice the energy of the breath penetrating throughout the entire body,

How deep and far does it go?

Does it just stay around the core,

Around the lungs,

Wherever we can notice it,

In the belly,

In the throat,

In the chest,

In the nose,

Or can we feel it deeper into the midsection and the limbs,

That energy of the breath?

How far can we notice it throughout the physical body?

Whatever that might be,

Either with slight movements,

Or any kind of physical sensations.

Maybe we might even see it with our inner eye,

Or other ways.

Noticing the breath in the physical body,

To what extent do we notice it,

Location,

Also intensity,

Or how well we can notice it,

And where it starts to fade out,

Or where we don't really have much awareness of the breath in the body,

And that's okay,

We can just notice kind of where that is.

That's okay if we can't too,

Just notice what we can notice now.

Also invited to notice the entire body breathing,

The entire physical body breathing.

Even if there's any kind of energetic feeling or sense beyond the skin of the body too,

To the space around the body.

Now on to the rhythm of the breath.

As if we're walking and getting into a rhythm of walking,

Or dancing,

Or playing an instrument,

Or listening to the rhythm of music,

The breath has its own natural rhythm.

We can tune into that to whatever degree is available now.

Noticing the timing,

The feel,

The rhythm,

The cadence of the in-and-out breath.

Getting that to soothe and nourish the body as well.

Okay,

For the last few moments here,

Gonna invite us to pay attention to the breath in any way that we'd like.

Welcome to return to this question again posed earlier about,

How can I,

Why is the mind not as interested in the breath?

How can the mind become interested in the breath,

And why is this important?

So you're welcome to drop that question in again,

And or just be with the breath,

Be the breath for a few more moments.

And when you're ready,

Begin to open your eyes if they're not already open,

Wiggle fingers and toes.

Bring the awareness back to the space you're in.

Begin to move,

However feels good,

Kind of coming out of our meditation posture.

And invite you to see if some of the same awareness and state that you're in during meditation can be transitioned into as we come out of the more formal posture,

And back to the rest of our day.

May you be blessed with an optimal and ideal day,

Evening,

Afternoon.