The Breath

[Korpo]

I wondered a bit about the role of the breath in meditation, what I've read, heard and experienced. I wanted to start to write this down to follow the many ways the breath can be used in meditation and to what purpose, and why the breath is so useful. I also want to learn what others think about this, and where learning about breath has led them.

If you read some books about meditation it actually seems impossible to find out what meditation is, but breathing is explained. IIRC it was a book from Jack Kornfield that made me think after reading dozens of pages whether the author had written about meditation at all. While many ways exist to meditate using the breath, it is not identical. However breath observation and meditation are used interchangeably. This is at best inaccurate, and often enough misleading.

A simple physical fact is that every cell in our body needs to be serviced with oxygen or it dies, not instantly but soon enough. Energetically we can feel this as the breath expanding and leading energy throughout our body. Breath is life is energy. And energy is awareness...

I've used the breath as tool to increase awareness. Blocked points react to breathing in several ways. Breath can be used to actively increase awareness in numb places, breathing awareness "into" them. I read the in breath is useful for this, as it transports energy into the body, and also is linked to the sympathetic system. This system is the fight-and-flight system, responsible for stress. The in breath energises, can raise (and narrow) awareness. The out breath, linked to the parasympathetic system relaxes, releases, destresses. I wonder how often heard the advice to prolong my out breath. But for the purpose of increasing awareness, "breathing into" a part of my body or a blockage is useful.

Also the continuous influx of energy through breath is like a wave hitting a shore when dealing with blockages. You can observe how breath infused by increased awareness "washes away" the blockage. First you feel it, hard as a cliff of rock sometimes, its contours, its outer shape. Then the breath helps suffuse it. Finally it is washed away, exhale by exhale.

Breath serves other purposes in becoming aware. When you concentrate on something, also observing the breath helps maintaining that awareness. I see it as a "lifeline". The rhythm of the breath helps minimising distracting thoughts, drifting off, nodding off, because the breath gives a rhythm to awareness. The breath prevents from getting lost, drifting off, losing focus, because with every breath you get reminded of your original goal. It can serve as a signal for making sure you are still aware of what you are doing. When you missed your breath you can be sure you were drifting and not paying attention. So having the breath in mind helps keeping focussed.

Breath is also one of the simplest things in bodily function we can be aware of. Really feeling the blood pump in your body, not only in constricted vessels, but generally, is considered a hard task, needing skill. Focussing on the rhythm of breath is accessible right from the beginning and for many people the only thing they are aware of. I know that I am usually not aware of my blood but its side effects. But the breath can be followed inside, it is a gateway to the energy of the body, of inner awareness, of finding the starting point to something people pay no attention to. When I don't know where to start, breath can be a reliable tool. What sensations arise with the breath. What does the breath tell me? Where does it lead me?

Breathing can be uncomfortable. Even when not sick in the breathing apparatus breath can lead us to uncomfortable sensations. Again: breath, energy, awareness are linked and in some ways virtually indiscernable. Getting aware of what is inside you reflects back on the breath. "Hitting" a blockage may make the breath tense, stutter, uneasy. One moment your breath is smooth as glas, the next moment there are ripples or even waves on the lake. The breath reflects the energy, it finds the windbreakers and shoals of your energy. And then gets uneven.

Turn this formula on the head and you will find the breath can become a tool. Smoothing an uneven breath - not forcefully, but with gentleness! - can smooth out the energy, too.

I think these are many reasons how the link breath-meditation in many cases works. We work with the underlying energy even if we don't call it energy, we deepen awareness even if we "just" observe breath, we clear blockages even if we don't know what blockages are or energy. I, however, thought I needed to understand these links and want to understand them more and more, and hope others can contribute parts to the puzzle as well.

Oliver

[ejr23116]

Breath is critical to life. Our life outside the womb begins with our first breath and ends with our last breath. While we are alive, our breath is moving (and movement is life) even without us having to think about it or observe it.

I believe that people who practice chi kung believe that our bodies take in energy from the earth on the in breath. Additionally, deep breathing (tan tien breathing) refocuses the energy to the middle of your body which is where we were nourished when in the womb.

I am just a beginner to meditation and energy work, but I believe that the breath is critical.

[Korpo]

Currently I am starting to explore the breath deeper with teachings pertaining to the Anapanasati Sutra ("The Sutra of Breathing In (ana) and Out (apana) with Mindfulness (sati)"), a Buddhist teaching going back to the Buddha himself:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html)

As reading material I use "Breath by Breath" by Larry Rosenberg and "Mindfulness With Breathing" by Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (one of Rosenberg's teachers).

In this context breathing is used as an anchor for mindfulness. You stay aware of the breathing while becoming mindful of other things - for example the body. This is different from other variants of mindfulness where you first become present through breathing, then "open your awareness" and drop the breath.

In the Anapanasati Sutra this usage of the breath as the anchor is expanded into the most subtle. It involves everything a Buddhist meditator encounters - the body, the senses, feelings, the mind, and finally the impermanence of things and emptiness. It includes the full "curriculum" of insight with a specific emphasis on breath.

What I found a very interesting thought is that during "rapture" and "pleasure" the meditator stays present and observes them, too. They are not ends, but states, and as states do, they pass away, and therefore are impermanent as anything else.

I got reminded of that in asalantu's recent link:


However, shamatha, no matter how deep, is not the ultimate goal of the Buddhist. The intensity and enrichment which habitual one-pointedness brings to daily life are but pleasant byproducts of the meditative process. Even the jhanas, though purifying and refreshing, are conditioned, impermanent and ultimately unsatisfying. They may even become a hindrance to realizing the true Buddhist goal, Nirvana. Shamatha is merely a tool which facilitates the attainment of Nirvana.(from: http://www.shinzen.org/shinsub3/artHow.htm)

I found that interesting as I saw many references to bliss lately that seem to see it as a goal in meditation rather than a stage. I was wondering how that fit into the Buddhist view.

Oliver

[Excaliber]

Hey Korpo,
reading this made me think of an old breathing technique i've used with good results that i'd like to share.
i learned about it when i took a paramahansa yogananda self-realization course where they sent you a different lesson every week.
according to what i read this is the best technique to use until you receive initiation into their more powerful Kriya Yoga technique. which you could only do after completing the course.

The Hong-sau kriya yoga mantra:

breath naturally, and do not force the breath.

breath in, using the mantra "Hong"
notice the retention of the breath the moment before the out breath
breath out, using the mantra "Sau" (rhymes with cow)
and repeat

the purpose of this mantra was for the natural increase of the retention moment after the 'in' breath. the breath would be held longer and longer without effort. eventually the breath would stop at this retention moment and this would be the dooway to samadhi.

i used this mantra a number of times and to my suprise it worked. i had stopped breathing for long periods without trying and entered a very deep meditative state. the thought of not breathing really turned me off at first, it didnt sound good to me but after experiancing it i had changed my 'mind'.

-Dave

[Nostic]

You make a lot of good points korpo.
I definitely use the breath to create new energetic pathways. But what I've realized recently was that I was not giving my outgoing breath enough attention. I would place most of my attention on the inhale, and my exhale was just a letting go- I'd just let go of the inhale. I've found that it's important to give the exhale just as much strength as the inhale.
I've also found that if you go deep enough, there's a point where the inhale and exhale meet. And when that connection is made and maintained, body awareness diminishes. For me, currently, it's difficult to maintain that connection though.

One technique I use:
On the inhale I'll bring the energy up from my base and, as well as I can, connect it to my brow chakra. On the exhale I'll move the energy from the brow back to the base. All the while using that breath energy to release tensions (clear blockages) and establish new connections.