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About Mindfulness | Master the Breath
Beginner Exercises | Creative Visualization
Sample a Chapter | Find Your Mantra
Glossary of Terms
About Mindfulness | Master the Breath
Beginner Exercises | Creative Visualization
Sample a Chapter | Find Your Mantra
Glossary of Terms
Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the only moment.
The present moment.
MASTERING THE BREATH
To start you must first master your breath. This is known as anapanasati. You can practice anapanasati while seated or standing or lying down or walking, or to alternate positions.
It may be helpful to first practice breathing. Most people don’t realize that the act of breathing is more than an unconscious and natural physical action. It is also a conscious one. Inhale deeply and feel the air fill your lungs. Hold it there a few seconds and then exhale fully until all air is released. Repeat until you master conscious breathing and then begin the exercise.
Concentrate on the breath going through your nose: the pressure in the nostrils on each inhalation, and the feeling of the breath moving along the upper lip on each exhalation.
Attend to the breath at the tanden, a point slightly below the navel and beneath the surface of the body.
You may choose to count each inhalation, "1, 2, 3,..." and so on, up to 10, and then begin from 1 again.
- Alternatively people sometimes count the exhalation, "1, 2, 3,...," on both the inhalation and exhalation.
- If the count is lost then one should start again from the beginning
The basic practice is very simple. Just sit down in a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed and spend five minutes focusing on the sensation of breathing in and breathing out.
- Pay attention to how it feels when your stomach rises and falls.
- You may notice that you’re starting to think of something else. Label these thoughts as “thinking,” and refocus your attention on your breath.
- Do this mental training daily. Every couple of weeks, increase the length of time you spend on the exercise — 10 minutes, 15, up to 20 or more if you feel you can.
- Try it throughout each day and focus on your breath for a few minutes as you walk or when you’re stopped at a red light or sitting at the computer.
Start by focusing for a few minutes and then work up to longer durations. In this form of meditation, you refocus your awareness on the object of attention each time your mind wanders. Don’t pursue random thoughts just let them go. As you repeat this exercise your concentration will improve.
The type of practice recommended in The Three Pillars of Zen is for you to count "1, 2, 3,..." on the inhalation for a while, then to eventually switch to counting on the exhalation, then eventually, once you have more consistent success in keeping track of the count, begin to pay attention to the breath without counting.
- Keep a brief daily practice of around 10 or 15 minutes a day.
- When you become distracted from the breath by a thought or something else, then simply return your attention back to the breath. It is said that important "learning" occurs at the moment when practitioners turn their attention back to the object of focus, the breath.
WHILE MASTERING THE BREATH
Train the mind to be sensitive to one or more of:
- The entire body
- Rapture
- Pleasure
- The mind itself
- Mental processes
Train the mind to be focused on one or more of:
- Inconstancy
- Dispassion
- Cessation
- Relinquishment
ANAPANASATI
Ānāpānasati or the breath is Sanskrit meaning "mindfulness of breathing" ("sati" means mindfulness; ‘ānāpāna’ describes inhalation and exhalation). This is a form of Buddhist meditation originally taught by Gautama Buddha. Simply defined, anapanasati is to feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body as is practiced in the context of mindfulness meditation. In the Tibetan Buddhist lineage, ānāpānasmṛti is done to calm the mind in order to prepare one for various other practices.
Anapanasati is a core meditation practice in traditions of Buddhism as well as a part of many mindfulness programs. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplation.
The Ānāpānasati Sutta specifically concerns mindful focus on inhalation and exhalation, as a part of paying attention to one's body, and the practice of anapanasati meditation is a means of cultivating the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. Buddha taught that with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of anapanasati would lead to a release from dukkha (suffering).
- Sati (mindfulness)
- Dhamma vicaya (analysis)
- Viriya (persistence)
- Pīti (rapture)
- Passaddhi (serenity)
- Samadhi (concentration)
- Upekkhā (equanimity)
STEPS TO ANAPANASATI
There are sixteen stages – or contemplations – of anapanasati. These are divided into sets or groups of four.
- The first set involves focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (kāya-sankhāra).
- The second set involves focusing on feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (citta-sankhāra).
- The third set involves focusing on the mind itself (citta)
- The fourth set is focusing on 'mental qualities' (dhamma).
The practice of focusing your attention changes the brain in ways that improve the ability over time. The brain learns and grows in response to meditation. Meditation can be thought of as mental training, similar to learning a new language or how to play a piano.
Meditators experienced in focused attention meditation like anapanasati show a decrease in habitual responding in a 20-minute Stroop test. This may illustrate a lessening of emotionally reactive and automatic responding behavior. It has been scientifically demonstrated that ānāpānasati enhances connectivity in the brain.
Anapanasati can also be practised with other traditional meditation subjects including the four frames of reference (Satipaṭṭhāna).
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Presented by Kairos of MindfulBell.Com and ByKairos.Com. In association with LAW publishing.
MY WRITING | MY BOOKS | MY DOWNLOADS
Copyright 2020, Kairos. www.bykairos.com