April 24, 2004
It's not so much concentrating on the 'rising and falling' of the relaxed breath as
gently concentrating awareness on "where the relaxed breath arises."

And from whence doth the relaxed breath ariseth, O Sage One?
Odd that thou shouldst ask!
Is it from the diaphragm?
Nooooo.
Is it from the lower belly?
Nooooo... but getting warmer...
Not from... you couldn't mean...?
YES! Channeling a venerable source:

"Upon the expansion of the anal sphincter, you breathe in.
Upon the slight tightening of the anal sphincter, you breathe out."

Lala Zhagzhig Shortsnort

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Personally I am finding that if I place my awareness just 'AHEAD' in time of
where the breath arises, as if the breath was the foaming crest of the NOW wave
and my awareness the surfboard being pushed forward by the breath...
it also seems to place awareness before the thought-making process...
Make sense...?

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April 21, 2004

Anapanasati Sutta, MN 118
Awareness of In-&-Out Breathing
[6] "One trains oneself to breathe in, sensitive to joy (sukha),
and to breathe out, sensitive to pleasure (piiti)."
-- courtesy of Jhanananda's list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jhanas/
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn118.html

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March 30, 2004

Dr. Weil's Today's Tip: Practicing Breath Work
In Buddhist and yogic traditions, people claim to have reached an enlightened state
by doing nothing more than paying attention to the rising and falling of their breath.
What easier way could there be to reach such a state? Especially since breathing -
following the ebb and flow of your breath - is an intrinsic part of meditation.
By paying attention to your breath, you will rapidly change your state of consciousness,
begin to relax, and slowly detach from ordinary awareness.

Try to focus on the point between your inbreath and outbreath that is dimensionless,
and glimpse the elements of enlightenment in that space.

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