Letting the breath breathe itself

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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SpanishForest
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Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 3:50 pm

Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by SpanishForest »

Generally speaking, I tend to be someone who tries to keep things under control, mainly due to fear. Today I had an experience in the practice in which I realized that I also tend to control the breath. I try to make it long and short, relaxing. But then I felt, for the first time, that there was tension and that the suffering increases when I do this. So I let go of the breath and let it breathe itself.

Now, the interesting thing was that the breath started to be much shorter, and I probably had more breaths per minute, almost as if the breath was reflecting how the body was really feeling. After a few minutes, the tension in my chest and abdomen areas, which tend to be very tense due to past trauma and anxiety, started to relax for the first time that I can remember of. And then the breath started to go slower, by itself. It's almost as if I trusted that the breathing would do it's thing, that I didn't have to be in control of it.

I just wanted to share this experience and see what others thought of it. :anjali:
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JamesTheGiant
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Location: New Zealand

Re: Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by JamesTheGiant »

Yes, isn't it interesting!
It's what my teacher Ajahn Brahm teaches, to let go of controlling the breath and just let it do whatever.
Srilankaputra
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Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:56 am
Location: Sri Lanka

Re: Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by Srilankaputra »

These little moments of grace, can teach, more than reading a hundred books.

In language I am more familiar with,
the nature of the obstructing qualities(nivaranas) is, obsession (pariyutthana). Their subsiding, even in part, is experienced as a 'letting go'. Lightening of the heart.

Wish you all success in all your endeavours. Goodbye!
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Kim OHara
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Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by Kim OHara »

SpanishForest wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 6:46 am Generally speaking, I tend to be someone who tries to keep things under control, mainly due to fear. Today I had an experience in the practice in which I realized that I also tend to control the breath. ...
This sort of thing is quite common, I think. We are told to "observe the breath", not to control it, but observing slips very easily into controlling. Of course you're still observing it when you're controlling it, but you are now doing something, not just watching something, and that is a different kind of activity.
The breath is a standard object of meditation because it's always there, always available to us. The fact that it is something we can control might be a disadvantage. Using (e.g.) a candle flame or a flower (something we can't control) as the meditation object for a while might help us to be aware of the kind of attention we're supposed to give the breath. Then we can go back to the breath with the right attention.

:namaste:
Kim
bodhifollower
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Re: Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by bodhifollower »

You cant let go of the breath if you are in fear. You must control it. Whether it is rough or subtle. The Buddha made no rule against controlling the breath. It would therefore be correct to say that you can control it and still get concentrated. Personally I have done this. Once you have no more fear, more specifically restlessness, then the breath will be natural.
Nobodyisspecial
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Joined: Sat May 08, 2021 1:43 am

Re: Letting the breath breathe itself

Post by Nobodyisspecial »

Deep states of relaxation definitely affect the breath.

The more relaxed the person is in meditation the more subtle the breathe will be.

There comes a point when the breathe is so subtle that one faces his own mortality. I am serious, you must over come your own fear of death because the breath is so subtle it seems like You could die. You must let the breath, breathe itself. In sleep people breath, you let the breath breathe itself in sleep. The same in meditation of letting the breath breathe itself.

Right? Forget breathing just be a being.
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