Mindfulness With Breathing: Observing Long & Short Breaths

Shaila Catherine leads you through the first step of Anapanasati, also known as mindfulness with breathing. This first step is a great way to settle yourself during a meditation session, or out in the world.
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Transcript

So to begin this meditation on mindfulness with breathing, Please allow yourself to settle into the sitting posture. Feeling the contact with the floor, Feeling the buttocks on the seat. Sensing the body in space and opening your sense doors such as the ear door to receive the experience of sound of hearing. Gently inviting yourself to simply be present, Mindful, Awake. To be present here and now. Shed the burden of the personal stories of the personal dramas. Let go of whatever thoughts might distract you that you feel you actually can let go of and rest the attention in this experience of being present with things just as they are. From this sense of presence, Of connection with our experience, You might reflect upon your intention or the purpose of practicing this meditation. You might have an altruistic aspiration to learn to grow for the benefit of all beings, To understand the causes of suffering and abandon them for the benefit of the world. You might aspire for the liberating experience of Nibbāna, Of release. And however we articulate our great purpose, The great benefit of this practice, We recognize that we have come to this place for this purpose. We've sat down. We've established a meditative posture. We've established a meditative posture. And we have established the intention to be mindful, Whatever arises. Instead of letting the mind comment on it and react to it with liking or disliking, We have made the decision in advance that we will meet experience mindfully. And as we sit ever mindful, We breathe in and mindful we breathe out. We include the breath in the field of our awareness. We recognize this moment of life and we're present, Alert, Connected with this moment of experience, Breathing in and breathing out. So so so as we develop this capacity to be mindful of present experience, Gradually the sense of agitation diminishes and gradually it seems as though both internally and externally there's increased quietude, A sense that not so much is happening. And we might find that the breath becomes more available as a meditation object, As a focus for our attention. That it feels like it would be not so difficult now to observe more details of the breath, To understand the breath more fully, To focus more closely or more consistently upon the breath. The instruction that the Buddha gives now for the first step in the 16 steps of Anapanasati, Mindfulness with breathing, Is to notice the characteristics and qualities of the breath, In particular the duration of the breath. He says, Breathing in long one understands I breathe in long or breathing out long one understands I breathe out long. Breathing in short one understands I breathe in short or breathing out short one understands I breathe out short. So is your breath long or short? Is the in-breath long or short? Is the out-breath long or short? Without trying to control the length or quality of the breath, We are simply observing what is already happening. We are understanding present phenomena. This breath that is arising right now, Is it long? Is it short? So we let go of the tendency to judge our breath. We let go of the tendency to control it. We let go of our views and opinions of how we think a good spiritual breath should be. And we simply understand and know the breath that is happening right now. This one is long and this one is short. I would encourage you to stay with the very simple observation of long and short for some time. But you might at some time also notice other qualities, Rough or smooth, Relaxed or tight. Simply to understand this present experience of breath most fully. So our mental interest begins to collect with knowing breath. So that our mind comes to meet the breath without interfering in it, But instead meeting it with the desire to understand what's happening right now. Oh this breath was long. Oh this out breath was short. We do nothing more with it. We don't say, Oh this was a really nice long breath, Now I'm going to breathe long for the rest of the meditation. We don't try to leverage some pleasant experience or compare it to something that we think some way we think we should be breathing. We simply let the body breathe and we understand. We know this breath. If something else draws your attention, Sight sounds, Thoughts, Moods, Reactions, Emotions, Whatever, We can let go of the law observing the breath at that moment and give mindful attention to whatever is pulling the attention. We don't have to fight with our experience. We meet the experience with wisdom and then we return again to the simplicity of serving long and short breath. Observing long and short breath. So please continue your meditation practice and enjoy this exploration of breath.

Reviews

I love it!

Lovely way to start the day and return to basics.

Nice!