Can't Meditate? Is meditation hard?
 

Hi

Lately I have seen a few threads about can't meditate or hard to meditate, so I figured I would talk about that.

I'm going to speak to breath awareness because it's what I know.

The main reason I speak to breath awareness is it applies universally. Everyone is breathing and it can be done anywhere, anytime, in any posture, and I don't think there is a better foundation than breath awareness.

Before we jump the gun, it needs a bit of background because meditation exists within the broader context of your life and everything in your life impacts meditation. Unfinished business is going to play on your mind, so if you can start clearing things up, you'll lighten the load and have less to think about. You'll feel freer, life will be better, and meditation will improve.

As your external life is sorted out, your internal world becomes more orderly. Things also play on our minds internally and in relationships, so what ever plays on your mind internally or externally, try to resolve it and free up some space.

Free yourself up a bit and make meditation a part of organising your life. Improving your life will improve meditation because meditation is part of everything in your life. This way of looking at your life, externally and internally, is the essence of meditation.

Make a meditation time and stick to it. 'Whenever I feel like it' sounds nice, but it depends if meditation is something you work on or something you play at. Like learning the piano, if you have a daily hour for practice you improve progressively and yesterday's work flows into today's. If you are like 'I don't feel like it', I'm sorry to say, you suck at piano. It's fine to play at it and have some fun if you aren't aspiring to become good at it, but if you want to do well, schedule your practice and persist.

Before I get into the practice itself I have to address virtue. A virtuous heart keeps one true on the path. Whatever your moral values are, live up to them. Don't have ill-will or become harshly judgmental, and resolve any grudges as best you can. Meditation is a purification, and all nature of acrimony is counterproductive. Always be truthful with others and yourself and don't gossip, lie or speak ill. Always do what is beneficial and do no harm. Make a conscious intention to be wholesome in everything you do. Put a note on your mirror if it helps, and whatever it takes, be attentive to what you're thinking and doing so you don't waver from pure-heartedness.

If these the above are incorporated into your life, your mind will already become more settled as meditation is already blending into a more aware way of living.

Breath awareness meditation is very simple. In a quiet place, close your eyes and pay attention what your breathing feels like. That's it.

For most of us, the mind will wander away within a minute, so however long your attention span lasts, consider that to be good. It doesn't matter if attention span is long or short. Pay attention as best you can, and when you notice mind has wandered away, simply resume feeling what your breathing is like. With practice, attention span increases and distraction time decreases.

It's best to set a time rather than quitting whenever you feel like it. Having a timer is a good idea and I highly recommend it. If you decide to make your meditation session 1/2 hour, lets say - be determined do at least half an hour. You can go longer if you feel like it, but don't give up early because you don't feel like it. Whatever duration seems 'doable' to you is fine. Twice a day is better than once, and you can increase your meditation time whenever you want.

Posture would ideally be sitting upright, and cross legged on the floor or sitting in a chair is fine. Laying down is not very good for a formal practice, but extra practice can be done lying in bed, and additional practice can be done standing in line, on the bus, or whenever you are able to pay attention to how your breathing feels. As much as possible whenever possible is the way to think about it. Doing it here and there during the day will help keep the mind from running too wild, which helps your formal practice session.

That's as much as I can say. Comments please and please ask questions.

Thank you, Gem. That is certainly helpful advice. I would like to add to something to what you said about sorting out your external life, values, etc. in the context of meditation.

While I'm not suggesting that one should always take this approach, meditation can also be used as a tool to do the mentioned "sorting out of your external life." Since meditation naturally builds our awareness, we become much more acutely aware of the aspects of our life and mind that are blocking or holding back our inner peace and love. This awareness of the issues is itself a first great step to letting go of them.

We can further use meditation as a tool to explore the roots and truth of the thoughts and emotions that surround our issues and suffering. As we reveal and explore the truth of these blocks, we can begin to let them go. With this letting go, the mind naturally becomes more peaceful in meditation and life outside of meditation. Eventually, life itself becomes a meditation.

Another "do-it-yourself" method is to use stream of consciousness writing or spiritual journaling. This can be quite meditative, but it is done outside of a formal / traditional meditation practice. For this process, when we are feeling painful emotions, we write down the thoughts that arise from those emotions, and again sincerely explore their roots and validity. This is another way to help us let them go.

One other thing that can be of value to explore as we evolve with meditation is what is actually aware of the breath, thoughts, and emotions. Becoming aware of awareness itself can help us see that we are not the thoughts that cause suffering. When we see that there is something much more fundamental and powerful innately within us (i.e. our awareness) which is persistent no matter what situations, thoughts and emotions arise, this can help us to let go of them.

From the perspective of sorting out your life, if this do-it-yourself approach does not resonate, then certainly seeking psychological or spiritual help from others who are qualified can help to achieve the same goal.

As you seemed to describe, starting with the breath is very fundamental, helpful, and ideal as a starting point. I have personally experienced the process over the years (i.e. over the span of a given meditation, and as phases over the span of life) as starting with the breath, then self exploration and letting go, and then a shift to abiding in awareness - not always linearly, of course.

I hope this adds to the conversation in a useful way, and glad to clarify or elaborate if needed.

Great post 4existence :smile:

Indeed "Free yourself up a bit and make meditation a part of organising your life... This way of looking at your life, externally and internally, is the essence of meditation." Tru dat Good idea. It could be helpful for some, but I'd discourage dwelling on emotional things, and it's possible the journal could become a clinging thing, so I like it in some scenarios, but it's a complicated one which could backfire a bit. I think if emotional contents are obsessive, it's good to write rants or fake letters to people that hurt you to get the knots to unwind a bit until things are vented out and quiet down a little, but don't keep them. Throw them away to indicate you are not attached to it anymore. I think keeping a journal might be giving too much importance to emotional content, so it's a tricky one... More for a psychologist to talk to someone about. True. I wasn't really going to go into anything complicated on this thread, so I figured simple breath awareness would be enough, but you'll find when you sit to observe breath you'll start noticing what the mind is doing, wandering, reacting, generating negativity, running self-narratives and so on... which is no problem... just keep feeling your breathing. I think that's going a bit beyond the scope of this thread, and it's probably best to have the one thing - just feel your breathing. People will start to be like 'oh I have to watch my mind, I have to do emotional work, I have to aware awareness, which are all relevant things, but since this is just about having trouble meditating, a lot of stuff isn't going to make things any easier. Feeling breathing is simple, and no matter what mind and emotion does, just feel breathing. I don't think people are that reliant generally speaking and can sort out a lot of things on their own, but if a person needs psychological help they might decide it's a good idea to see someone about that. It's beyond my scope and I'm not advising it.Absolutely. Please come back again and say some more. The breath meditation is a good starting point, but it's not a beginner meditation. It's something anyone can do.

thanks for these posts :)

Why meditate?
 

Mindfulness, such as observing breath or being aware of thoughts and feelings, moment to moment induces single pointed attention, relaxes us, centres us but for the duration we are consciously undertaking that activity. If we substitute breath meditation with any other subject-object relationship, in my view it would be the same, although no doubt, breath is immediate and continuous.

Taking a step backwards, let’s play the devil’s advocate and question the need to meditate at all. What’s the motive and objective? Now, if we are stressed out and want to relax, to detox, fine … that’s a reasonable goal. However, going in deeper, there is a recognition that our innate awareness is unchanging, even though body ages and our understanding of the world around and within shifts over time. So what is this awareness or consciousness, as the screen upon which flow of life is experienced in linear time?

We may give it any name, how does it matter, God, soul, spirit. Essentially, if the objective of the search is to rekindle our innate divinity within, we simply acknowledge that it is evident that it is there but is yet veiled from our active cognition.

Observing breath or let’s simply say, mindfulness, wherein we choose to be aware rather than stuporous, we see that thought is an instrument. A useful instrument, it helps us get things done in the external world but cannot address issues which lack support of direct experience in lived reality. Furthermore, on reviewing thoughts, we find that they are mostly related to fears and desires rooted in attachments arising from mind-body vessel. A vessel we ensoul, no doubt, we don’t negate this. What is negation but another act of fanciful doership? However, we also realise that we are not only the mind-body. Ramana’s inquiry reinforces our ignorance: Who am I?

So, we simply delink our innate aliveness, awareness or consciousness … whatever we wish to label it as from thought forms. Thoughts arise, we look at them with nonchalance, curiosity, laughter even. They shouldn’t be there but yet they are! That sort of attitude.

In time, we abide in a continuum of stillness, in silence. Thoughts are employed when needed and that too by resonance, as a reflex, if you will.

Now, all of this goes hand in hand with our burning yearning to search for the underlying truth of our existence. We search but without thought. Thought is limited, we don’t want to go with limited.

At an optimal time, when residual fears and desires rooted in mind-body attachment recede, the emptiness within may be equated to a cleansing or purification of this earth vessel we ensoul. This activates our innate magnetism, drawing in the divine energy, which then pervades form, resulting in an explosion of ineffable bliss pervading our form in permanence. We are in the void. Love in love with love for love alone is our quest until we be to become love itself.

Obviously, we need to prioritise this shift. We are exhausted chasing illusions. We need to see God face to face, nothing less will do. Or if we drop the concept of God, that’s ok too, we want the veil of ignorance to drop and to see the source from which our awareness, our aliveness springs and flows. Or if we prefer, breath watching is fine but then how are we being breathed? What is the source of it’s power?

What I’m getting at is that no practice is needed, rather an orientation shift is required. We wish to know but don’t know how to go about it. We surrender doership, we cease thought, we are poised in animated attention, moment to moment to moment. Metaphorically speaking, we vaporise.

Let’s call this the practice of no-practice. No doubt, lower mind or ego or whatever we wish to label it as, it will ask questions, will have doubts. Again thought associated with mind-body. What if we don’t see the light? What if Kundalini doesn’t get activated? If it does, then to what degree and what thereafter? Again narrow goals seeking a ‘higher attribute’ for this here transient form. In time, we realise that doubts are essentially fears arising from ignorance. Our ego pursues us into subtle layers of awareness, congratulating itself on every wisdom download, every lively experience, every divine attribute ingrained or felt.

Once we internalise attention and let go of all knowing, all so called enableabilities of mind-body, this act of surrender, it empties us, purifies us, cleanses us. Then, with the dirt removed, magnetic currents flow and are cognised by our eternal awareness. The veils thin. All is as it is and we are one with it, without inner conflict. There is no seeking but we are as we are since yearning has replaced desire; the yearning to feel complete, unbound, blissful, luminous.

Each ascent, if we wish to use that word, marks a new beginning. There is no doing, save choosing to be aware in an orientation of agendalessness. We are in the stream, we do not resist, the currents carry us.

Essentially, we are so accustomed to striving to attain our earthy goals that we find it difficult to adopt a relaxed, non-doer meditational orientation as opposed to ritualistic meditation. Why all this needless effort? The delusion that we are only mind-body builds a complex script around our assumed identity. It is a bubble of ignorance. Once we burst the bubble, then we find that there is no one here.

The purpose of sharing all of this is not to argue about this vs that but merely to offer that any act of doership related to meditation is limited. Practice is alright to start with, to quieten lower mind. However, when we let go, so to speak, abiding in a continuum of thought rested silence and stillness, we find that the vibrant void is boundaryless. It is present in each half breath pause, in the gap between two thought trains, in the gap between perceiving and recognising, between intent and action … it is everywhere. All that is, is vibration, a dance of polarities, differentiated in space-time over a cognisable bandwidth.

To be still in the void is ego death. We don’t want to die. So the mind games continue, under a new label.

I'd suggest not being concerned with Gods or anything else that is not actual in your lived experience as it is for you right now. Spiritual notions will tend to occupy the mind, as will yearnings for special spiritual experiences, but there is a single minded objective here - be aware of what your breathing feels like. Nothing else. Just that.

Of course the mind will get up to all sorts, wandering away, spinning stories, going into the past, projecting into the future, imagining conversations with people, obsessing about work, reacting, getting bored, becoming impatient and the rest of it, but none of this is a problem. Your task is to be aware of what your breathing feels like. Nothing else but that.

People are going to tell you what should be and what is required, but you have your own thing. Things are the way they are for you; not as they are for me or anyone else. Your time on the cushion is totally reserved for knowing in complete immediacy what it feels like to be breathing right now.

No matter what else happens internally or externally, it is irrelevant to your task. You are perfectly clear about what to do.

Thank you Gem and Unseeking Seeker.

Gem, you mentioned:


This is something I nearly left out of my post for the reason of scope, but I included it because I think there is relevance toward "sorting out life", which as you described, is a big part of why meditation can be difficult.

Related to some of what Unseeking Seeker described, I think a lot of people eventually get caught up in meditation (especially in the early stages) as a rigid practice, which can stunt personal growth toward self-realization.

People are initially drawn to meditation for a wide range of reasons, but as we continue with it, awareness naturally begins to move to the forefront of experience, opening the lid on the jar of emotions and thoughts that we weren't otherwise aware of. This can be very challenging to handle whether or not you know what's happening with the process. However, if you have some understanding of what's going on, you may be able to more skillfully navigate it. This is why a practice of becoming aware of awareness itself can be a meditative tool. You can see that these thoughts and emotions do not have to define you or drive you, and this can be very valuable toward letting them go so they no longer overwhelm or control you.

I agree, breath as a focus of meditation is not just for beginners. I mentioned it is a great starting point, but it certainly can also be of value at any stage. However, if used rigidly, there could be suppressive effects. While it is part of the one "perfectly clear" task, the act of returning to the breath after mind distraction could be misunderstood for ignoring and pushing away thoughts and emotions that need to be expressed. Additionally, it may also be possible to become so attached to the breath and practices around it, that we may not realize that it is something that also will inevitably need to be let go.

You also mentioned that emotional exploration through journaling can become obsessive. I agree, but what I was trying to communicate is that spiritual journaling should be used not to ruminate, but to assist with finding truth. Asking yourself what is the truth behind this emotion, what is its root, what is the truth in that root - this can do wonders for letting it go. However, like a rigid practice of focus on the breath, it could also backfire if there is not a fuller understanding of how to integrate it with your journey, and that it must also be let go.

The reason I included the breath, emotional exploration, and awareness of awareness in my post was to communicate that these all come into play and can be valuable tools. If nothing else, the mention of each may plant a seed, consciously or subconsciously, as something that can be kept in mind as one starts their journey with meditation and inner exploration.

It seems the purpose of your thread was to give those interested a simple way to start and help them understand what to expect in relation to their own life conditioning. My post was simply to add a couple other tools that may come in handy along the way as the life conditioning part becomes more apparent. Different things work for different people, so perhaps it will be of value to some depending on where it meets them. There may be value for people to know a bigger picture of what they are starting so simply.

This has been a good discussion…..mainly about techniques that are beneficial and instructive. I will digress some from this tenor and respond to what I highlighted. Perhaps everything, including techniques, flows from 2 basic questions: Why meditate ? …..and….What is meditation ? FYI I come from a Christian perspective. My answer for the ‘why’ was the perception that something was missing in my life. Initially perhaps I was drawn to the shiny objects….peace, visions, dramatic and surreal experiences, etc. This changed over time. Now I can better answer the ‘what’.

Now my simple answer for the ‘what’ is to say that meditation is a spiritual operation. The Spirit is the doctor. The doctor must be able to work unimpeded. For this to be possible self-sedation is necessary. For me this means total surrender…..thoughts, emotions, feelings, experiences, etc. I approach the operation not as one seeking to be repaired to any former state but, rather, as one seeking to become a new man. It is the anticipation and hope for a spiritual birth.

This ‘operation’ can be deemed successful to the extent that I can begin to receive the blessings of the Beatitudes. This can only be a gradual process that manifests over time. The ‘old man’ was a result of many things: culture, experiences, thoughts, desires, emotions, abilities…whatever….:). The new will be a composite of these same influences….but they will be new…..ergo the new man. With new eyes and new senses a new world becomes visible. Personally for me intuition(Spirit) has become a regular companion. This is my experience….others can be much different….:)

In regards to the OP’s question: Trust the doctor…..:)

I love that analogy[/quote] As one seeking to become a new man. It will be very tempting to step in and try to do things, and one will notice this compulsion during the sessions. The urge to 'make something happen' is a huge temptation. The breathing is already happening as nature has it, and the spiritual operation proceeds by the same flow which moves your breath. By observing the feeling of your air, you withdraw your will from the process, and enable that which moves the universe to do what it does.

We will find that we have a lot going on inside ourselves... and these goings on are what makes it hard to meditate... but we can relegate all such goings on to the irrelevant basket and be steadfast on the one thing we determined to do: feel our breathing. As we withdraw importance from everything else, it doesn't matter if the mind does all the things it has a habit off doing. Persistently returning to task will effectively break those habits, and you can rest assured, these things which disturb you have no chance against your determination and persistence. Hence you can be certain, have no doubt, be relieved and relax in the surity that you can very easily resume feeling the air each time you notice your mind has wandered away.

I know you said pretty much the same thing, trust is a biggie, and I'm really only elaborating, being inspired by what you said.

In my training we had to practice breath awareness all day, day after day, for days on end, and I can only suggest as much as is realistically possible. The things you only cast doubt over what you determined to do. Yep. True. 2 points: As the thoughts and emotions will arise, like I say, there's no problem, they can be there, but they aren't relevant to your task. When we feel the breathing we have ceased to do things and started watching. Hence we have stopped the activities that avoid, repress along with activities that 'make something happen', so rather than this being used to repress anything, it is actually the cessation of the activity of repression. Hence, such things that have hitherto been repressed will loosen from their binds and start moving through. When that starts to happen, don't make it important and let it become your object of attention. Your meditation was the means of it coming unstuck, so keep going. As it comes through, keep breathing. These emotions don't need to be expressed, but they have to be felt. It's there and you feel it. It isn't a problem. It can't hurt, distract or or disturb you as you keep breathing. It is possible that people might conceptualise the breath as an object which could be clung to, but it is better to look at the reality, this breath is coming in - enough, no desire for more - now it's going out, and there is no clinging. This is beyond my scope, so I can't say anything reasonable. I'm more inclined in the context of this thread toward thinking it could be giving undue importance things that aren't actually of great concern, but for those who are really quite overwhelmed, it could be good within a more holistic therapy. I have no idea.

Since Thich Nhat Hanh passed through death's door, I was thinking about the things he said. He was into mindfulness and was famous for applying mindfulness to breath and walking meditation. Walking meditation is a practice in which each conscious step brings you here, to the reality of this moment (different to how we usually walk toward a future destination).

Most of us have been told that meditation helps us toward a future destination, so we try and expect to experience spiritual states. However, breath awareness is to be conscious the real-lived experience just as it is now. Since you can't possibly feel your future breath, or the breath you took a few seconds ago, the current breath, indeed this very moment, is the only one you can experience.

This is the moment in which existence lives.

You are aware of how your breathing feels, as it is, in the way it is experienced by you, in this living moment.

Only right now you can feel what your breathing is like. Fully focusing to know the intricacy its feeling, paying close attention, curious about what it really feels like, awareness of its details, examining closely the intimate experience of what it is really like.

Just one inhale, nothing more, paying full attention while it comes in. And, All the while it goes out, paying attention to only this exhale. Just for this inhale I'm aware. This exhale I'm aware.

Examining with close attention; not for a long duration for many breaths. Only for this inhale. Only this exhale. I know this complete inhale. I know this complete exhale. Paying careful attention to the subtlest aspects of your real-living experience.

It makes the mind quieter because you stopped to look. It makes the mind concentrated because you have to focus so as to feel the subtle reality of what it's actually like.

Not for a long time. One inhale. One exhale. One inhale. One exhale. A single moment of knowing - this is the reality of what it's like for me.

If you start to notice during the day how often you're distracted from the real-lived experience as it is, you can start to be more deliberate about being conscious of the moment in which you exist.

For example, when walking you can pay attention to what your feet feel like. When eating pay attention to flavour, texture and what if feels like to chew and swallow. If sitting on the bus or something, feel yourself breathing. Whatever it applies to, showering, housework, chopping food, doing dishes or whatever, pay attention to the reality of it as it actually is.

Of course the mind will wander off, but that's ok. That doesn't matter at all. It's just that you'd want to be conscious of your living moment rather than missing out on real-life as it happens or you. At some point, when you notice you're distracted, just resume paying attention to the actuality of your real-lived experience. You'll likely realise that you are distracted just about all the time, but over time you realise a bit more frequently, and become distracted a bit less often and for shorter periods of time.

Since you keep returning to the actuality of being through mindful living, the mind is less prone to getting too carried away, so when you get your meditation practice time, you start of a bit more settled. This also take the practice off the cushion into all the other aspects of your life.

Not to get in a fluff with all the things that people say. This your life, the truth about you, the way it is for you, and if that happens to be super-spiritual, good, but a completely mundane and ordinary experience is equally good.

'This is what's like for you'. Be more aware of that and notice more about it.

On the meditation mat you feel your breathing. As long you can feel yourself breathing it is working. It is the reality of your experience and you know what it's like. But also examine more closely the way it feels. With closer attention, feel it in more detail and be more acutely aware of the subtler nuances of what it is like.

I understand that this thread is not super advanced and it lacks mystical tones, but since this focuses on the reality of your life, it's only the reality as experienced by you - the ways of attentive breathing and how that pertains to the reality of your own life.

The reason I talk about breath is breathing is universal. Everyone is breathing. Anyone can feel what it's like to breathe. And everyone can pay close attention to what breathing feels like. Thus, everyone can meditate with breath no matter who they are.

Another reason is, the breath happens automatically. You do not have to do your breathing. It's a 'happening' flow, so you can be the pure observer of breath (and stop trying to make something happen).

Another reason is, the breathing is operating at a very deep level of consciousness. Even when you're blacked out, unconscious or in deep sleep, breathing is still going. However, you can also purposely speed up or slow breathing, or make it deeper or shallower. Thus it is a surface conscious activity as well as a deeply unconscious one; so it serves as a bridge that crosses from the surface to the deepest depths of conscious awareness.

Another reason is, breathing keeps every cell alive. Hence, the feeling of breath exists from a mundane, dull level all the way through to being extremely refined.

Since it both has deep consciousness origins and affects the body down to a molecular level, it has two affects. It serves to hone a dull and erratic mind into a quiet and extraordinarily sensitive one, and it allows pure awareness to pervade and become conscious at the subtlest levels of the life-form.

Maybe no one here practices breath awareness, or doesn't want to start practicing it, in which case there is no point to the thread, but I thought in a spiritual forum this practice would be quite common, and I suggest it is a really sound method.

Sorry if I don't dress it up as special, but that's not what I'm like. I don't appreciate spiritual posturing personally, so I don't want to come across like that to others, but besides my personal taste, there are also other reasons I tone down the woo. One reason I keep it low-key is this meditation is not about the sort of spiritual experience you want to have. It's about the actual experience you are already having. Both your present experience and the experience of presence. Another reason is, if I did woo too much it could arouse desires in people. Desires are not needed to be aware of what your real-lived experience is actually like, which makes them an unnecessary distraction. It's about the immediate truth as you experience it, and the desire for truth will expel all desires pertaining to what you want. This is because you cannot will the truth, but you can be willing for it.

In the meditation, you feel the air coming in and the way it feels is the truth as you experience it. You are content and do not wish it felt another way. Instead, you want to know more about it, so you examine it more closely. The mind becomes more deeply absorbed in how it feels (naturally dispelling distraction and thought) and mind also becomes concentrated to feel the finer nuances of your breathing. It naturally follows that mind is both quietened and concentrated and increased in sensitivity by these means.

What helps me is to do meditation as soon as I awaken from sleep, before my mind kicks in and thoughts
start running around in my head. Even if I just take a nap, as soon as I awaken I meditate for ten minutes
or more, because when I awaken from sleep my mind is rather quiet. Best to take immediate advantage of
that quiet mind.

In my opinion most people who have a hard time meditating let their mind run all day long and then they want
to sit and stop it, quiet it down, for meditation. That is like trying to put the breaks on a speeding car and
immediately trying to get it to stop. If you meditate as soon as you awaken from sleep the inner silence from
sleep is reinforced and it may stay with you longer.

This is my experience; constantly using this simple method everyday, I usually go through the whole day with
a quiet mind and a deep feeling of inner connective-ness.

Gem,

What I like about your posts…not just this one….is that you are absolutely faithful to that which is proven and true to you. This is the epitome of focus….a one-minded determination that can only yield fruit. Thanks both for your persistence and sharing……we hear you from your rooftop…….:)

Gem,
has any body every told you that your form of meditation resonates very much with hypnosis?

I always say the same things on meditation because I only know those things.

I don't know what hypnosis is, but this is simply being aware of what your breathing feels like.

Mornings don't work particularly well for me personally, but twice a day is better than once, so morning is always good. In any case, mindful showering, eating, brushing, shaving, etc is a good way of establishing continuity.

When we observe, does not the observed, in this case, both us, become self-conscious, losing it’s spontaneity?

In any meditation or prayer, poised in time stretched stillness, dwelling in the vibrant void, not only conscious thought but even memory imagery rested, the tranquil heart in equipoise seeking nothing, attention poised in animation, receptive and yet unseeking, there remains no differentiated cognition of any mind-body apparatus, breath included. We vaporise.

The employment of any practice may have the advantage of holding attention in the present moment continuum and yet limits us owing to imposition of will, thereby seizing or grasping, instead of connecting, embracing. The practice, presupposes that if we do not adopt it, we ‘fall’ so to speak, thus revealing a subtle fear. Moreover, any fixed routine is inherently stuporous, habit forming, whereas by ‘letting go’, a surrender of identity, if you will, we become receptive to offered surprise.

There is no desire per say but yes, I’d say that when we ‘disappear’, a subtler, energised aspect of ourself in oneness, appears in our active cognition.

The idea of this post is not to dilute anything already said about any this or that method but to simply offer that we needn’t bind and confine ourself to a fixed pattern. After all, there is an inner polarity of our senses too, when they awake, a hitherto ‘hidden reality’ is revealed.

I practice breath awareness.
Not for the awareness or peacefulness of breathing, per se, but because it leads to what is behind the breath!!!
The power or the motor that lies behind it...and Who is breathing me.
I know, that sounds weird to most people...but that's my input. :)
I think it's great you started this thread, Gem.

Methinks at that time we can be no longer watching our breath!

In this case - the observed is the feeling caused by your breath. In that one does not control their breathing, and you don't make it feel the way it does, it's spontaneous.

There are thoughts, self-consciousness being self-referential thought. This is a little nuanced because there is a difference between being aware of what your mind is doing and being self-referenced as an identity delusion. In the meditation practice, it's highly likely that other thoughts including self-referential thoughts will happen. These aren't necessary for feeling the breath so they are not of concern. The meditation is awareness of this moment's reality, and that's all we need be concerned with.

There is a deliberate intention to feel breathing and examine the way it feels, but since we are not trying to control our breathing, there is no willful activity involved. The thought activities that do occur are unintentional.

Prayer or other intentionally generated thought should not be done in this meditation.

If dwelling in a vibrant void, that's what it's like or you. I know I say this on repeat, but this is not about any experience in particular. It is about experience 'as it is' as any individual experiences it.

The meditator will very likely have memories and other thoughts during their session, and if so, that's perfectly fine. No problemos. However, such thoughts aren't needed for the task.

Seeking nothing is a good point. Rather than looking for 'something else', examine 'this' more closely.

Will is nuanced because there is the will of trying to make something happen, and then there's ardent intent for the truth. In this meditation the former has no place, and the latter is entire.

Daily consistency is the way to establish continuity.

The typical meditation discourse is about 'holding attention', so you'd naturally assume that, but my narrative is about being highly interested in what's here. It's like you find an interesting stone, so you examine it through a magnifying glass and see something even more interesting, so you put it under a microscope.

In the process of meditation you will become aware of tendencies like grasping, find out its origins, and ultimately resolve it.

There will almost certainly be desire, but it has no use. Early on you can't help it - there's lots of 'I want' and 'don't want'. As you go further you'll see how such craving relates to discontent, and have no need for it.

I wouldn't worry about bind and confine. I'd just know that practicing everyday makes the most progress.

Gem, thank you for starting this thread. Breath awareness is very valuable and I don’t think lots of people realize the importance of breath awareness. Breath control can help with emotional control. When a person is scared or frightened they often hold their breath, or if they are in a panic they usually breathe very fast. Slowing your breathing down can also slow down our emotions and bring us into the moment.

In yoga the practice of pranayama is a main component for physical and mental wellness. I used to do pranyama to expand my lung capacity. Because most people just use the top part of their lungs to breathe; pranayama allows us to use our entire lung. The Hebrew word for breath is “Ruach,” this word also means spirit. Lots of religions and spiritual groups practice breath awareness and consider it to be our connection to life itself.

I have seen many times how too often people take their breath for granted, that is until they are on their last breath. I think people take breathing for granted because it is done automatically. If we had to consciously take each breath it would be a different story. When I first started learning how to meditate I was shown some of the techniques you have mentioned in this thread, and I practiced them religiously. They were of great benefit to me and still are.

That's right. The breath is a bridge to something quite...'special'.

This is a good point because emotional reactivity affects normal breathing... and the emotional healing process can bring up some difficulty. It's a bit deeper than using breath control or emotional control, but those nuances are beyond the purview of a forum thread. Suffice to say, 'Keep breathing normally'; though that statement is not the same, 'Control your breathing'.

Since pranayama involves intentionally controlling the breath, it is contradictory to this meditation.

In the old days people had a different stories about breathing and life. However, we don't need notions of energy, spirit, life-force, or molecular biology to be aware of what breathing feels like.

By the time the feeling of your breath leads you to very deep levels of consciousness, breathing is usually hardly moving and becomes barely perceptible even for a very sensitive mind. By this stage breath awareness would be a part of a wider, more refined meditation, but not superseded.

There is a reason that I stick to task and put literally everything else aside.

You only need to pay attention to feel yourself breathing. Nothing else is needed. Other things are not helpful, and are more likely to be distractions.

If you do this meditation, you'll be tempted to add something because you're not used to just being and watching. The urge to start counting, start controlling breathing, start imagining prana, and all that stuff... it's almost irresistible. Most meditation teachers say do these things, so you'll remember you read an article or heard somewhere that you should count. Another one said time breaths. Another said belly breathe - there is no end to the all the different things they say...

Of course, I will say that same thing as I always say. It's not necessary, it's not important, it has no purpose to the task, and contrary to what they say, it is not helpful. If you were already doing something like that, then it will happen from habit, which is no problem. Perfectly fine. Just don't do it intentionally. We want to strip this thing to the bare essential: feel your breathing. Period.

Understand, ego wants to take control and try to make something happen. That's why the urge to 'do something' is so strong. We really want to stop feeding the ego, and this is how it's done.

Gem, your recent posts in this thread resonate very much with me. Thank you. I hope to explore this further with you in a couple of ways:

1. I previously mentioned the following in this thread in the context of the breath:


This is coming from personal experience. For many years I focused on a breath practice without knowing broader context. There was very little movement toward truth, and instead there was an endless cycle of becoming more aware that my mind was a mess, but not knowing how to clean up the mess, or that it could be cleaned up whether deliberately or as a result of process - or to what extent the mess didn't matter. At best it helped increase awareness, but at worst it was a long period of stagnation that was obviously necessary for me, but may not be necessary for everyone. It was only when I faced the mess, fully inviting it to come up in all its "glory" (including existential issues) that it was efficiently able to process through and allow awareness to come forth more prominently.

I bring this up because I think it is quite important to get the right instruction with a practice focusing on the breath. You have done a wonderful job articulating the essence of the instruction within this thread, and I think it would have made a difference had I heard it during that time period.

2. In a recent post you mentioned the following:


This is what I have seen to be the core purpose of meditation no matter how you get there, and it is what we become outside of meditation once fully realized. It occurred to me as I read your last few posts that almost everywhere you said "breath" could be replaced with "awareness" for me. For example, observing awareness itself (in place of breath), being very curious about awareness itself (in place of breath), examining or paying attention to the way awareness (in place of breath) feels, etc.

You also mentioned:


What is it that is "feeling" the breathing? Doesn't the breath arise in awareness? Isn't awareness primary to the breath? Could awareness be the bare essential?

Have you personally ever explored letting go of the breath practice to fully experience what you are without it?

I ask these questions out of curiosity about your perspective. I would also love to learn more about the training you mentioned that you have been through (including the name of it), if you would share.

Great. Your post is very thoughtful and challenging to answer, and I'm probably going to say things you already know.

I don't talk about my school because people aren't always nice and might call it names. I can say it's a good, safe place with proper protections and respect. It's not perfect and I could crriticise some things, but it's very high quality and you couldn't do much better.

I'm glad you brought up understanding the broad context. To understand, one has to take a step into the unknown to find out what is there. Then what people say might make sense.

The way you describe your experience of realising how messed up the mind is almost always what happens with this sort of meditation. It's because we are looking for the truth rather than going after a special kind of experience, and if it is true the mind is a mess, realising in yourself just how messy it is, is moving into the truth - and a seed of transformation.

In the past, the madness was always playing out subsurface, but every time it started coming to conscious awareness we didn't like it, so we go after a distraction of some kind. Most meditations will give you something like counting or timing breaths, a mantra or breathing light or what have you because it gives the mind 'something else to do'. That's an effective way of avoiding the madness of your mind, so it really brings the calm, but never really faces the music. If you want to know what's true, you'll have to accept it 'as it is'.

When you stop trying to 'do something', the things you do to avoid, repress, conceal etc. also stop. Hence things that are hidden start to peak out, things avoided start to catch up and things which are bound up inside start to come loose. Hence, a lot of things we don't like, AKA have avoided, will be experienced in meditation. In the past these aspects of oneself cause anxiety and unrest as we do what we can to avoid them, but in meditation, they are free to come to light in conscious awareness, and where they used to perturb you, now you're just aware, remaining unaffected, and let them be free to move in you - just as they are wont to do.

The only thing we do deliberately is remain attentive and still-minded no matter what.

For me, breath awareness is more like a staple, and there's more. I think awareness of awareness is a good way to go, but there's something to with becoming conscious at very subtle levels of life-form...

Awareness … innate vibrancy of aliveness. Indeed. That that doesn’t abate. Then of course, the source so enabling. We meld therein, without searching. Simply being.

Not to getting caught up with what could be. The reality as it is for you only lives in this moment. It is all too easy to be tempted and distracted, but in reality, you are here and 'this' is what it's like or you. If you feel discontent due to a need for more than this, that is a clue to the issue.

There are purposes to this meditation including: bringing about quietude; honing sensitivity of perception; increasing attention span; establishing mindfulness the other aspects of your life and; initiating purification. It isn't a means of having spectacular experiences, and practice impelled by such cravings is misguided.

Everyone wants contentment. We have to consider that contentment is our 'true state', and the reason we do not feel content is we unintentionally generate unhappiness.

Experiences pass and have nothing to do with your contentment. When special experiences do happen, they are consequential to the practice - not the goal. Enjoy it while it lasts, but don't be distracted. Since experiences are momentary and do not last, there is no point being concerned with them, and temptation, craving, avoiding and clinging to experience is a deep root of discontent.

If you want experiences you'll be impelled by desire and led by temptation into discontent. If you want the truth, your experiences will keep passing as they inevitably do, and since it is not dependent on them, contentment will become more constant.

Feeling your breathing every day or twice a day is no big ask, and anyone can do it. Don't add unnecessaries. Just one task - feel yourself breathing.

Usually you start the meditation and it's all good. When the mind wanders off, that is good because you notice, 'look how the mind wanders away'. I'm not saying you start watching the mind - you just notice your mind is running away with you and keep feeling breathing. If the mind wanders you can know that and be peaceful.

Because you're intent with breath awareness, you are not being entertained mind's meanderings, and thus you follow it less and less.

The typical distraction-free attention span in breath meditation is less than a minute - maybe between 10 and 30 seconds lets say. You might think that sounds really short, but I've meditated with literally thousands of people, and not many can say they consistently have full attention for a minute. People will say I can hold for 30 minutes or whatever, but if they try this meditation, most will find that's untrue.

If you count or something it's easier because you generate such thoughts to drown out the usual erratic thoughts such as you have all through the day. If you don't count or anything and 'just watch', you realise, 'Far out - I've been living with a mind like this'. We're learning about ourselves and becoming self-aware.

When you keep noticing it, it can't get by you unaware. That means what used to play out unconsciously all the time is now something you are consciously aware of. That's excellent progress, so be happy.

Progress is insight, what you realise is true, and now you have insight into yourself like 'I'm more erratic than I thought, and I never realised til now how distracted I really am'. No problem. It's simply a fact you found out.

After a lot of practice, the attention can consistently stay still for 5-10 minutes or so (that's actually pretty exceptional), and the time you spend in distraction becomes shorter. If you see me meditating there, for 1 hour, 90 minutes, I'm sitting still like a goddam Buddha statue, but attention is not stable the whole time. In a deep, alert and sensitive state, the mind wanders off or a few minutes, and I return to my breathing. Wandering doesn't make me lose depth, alertness and sensitivity - I come back to breath just as deep as I was before. Wandering mind doesn't disturb the mind.

On the other hand, a wild mind is unsettled, agitated anxious, and not deep, alert or sensitive... That one needs to be tamed and honed into being sensitive, which is a main purpose of breath awareness meditation.

Very tricky is that aspect of the mind. 'Itsy tricksy,' as Gollum would say. If it gets wild and you do something to make it not wild, it's already got you. If you count or something to abate it, this is ultimately an avoidance and you aren't facing it. You don't do anything except return to breathing over and over, just as you intend.

If the mind gets wild, agitated, like, impatient, bored, frustrated or something along those lines, it isn't a fight, but you can't let it rule you. If it whines like a baby, 'I don't like it, I'm bored, nothing's happening, I can't do this, why's it so hard, it isn't working, I don't feel like it, when is time up,' and the rest, it will try to take over and make you its little b-word, but you better realise who is the master of this house, because all this time ego has been ruling the roost.

It's better to understand that I want to feel my breathing for 30 minutes, or an hour, or whatever you think is doable, and do NOT let the wild one take you off track. This feels like work, but not a battle. Think of it like the mind is a wild bronco you are training. It kicks and jumps and throws its head around, and you are the kind master who persists patiently, systematically for however long it takes until the 'horse' realises it is not the master of you. You are the master of your mind, and when the wild 'horse' understands that, it will not be so bothersome.

For most of us, our minds are erratic, distracted and wildly inane. This madman goes to deep places we don't even know about yet, but what I'm saying is a good way to find out.

Lovely... Thank you very much for this post...
I think I always try to do too much. Then I end up not doing any at all.

I always heard it takes 3 weeks to break a habit and 6 to make one...
But the internet suggests that 18-254 days is what it takes to form a habit (depending on the person) and 66 days until a thing becomes automatic.

So I think I will try and challenge myself to the 66 day thing. Yoga and meditation first thing in the morning. Wish me luck! ^~^

Just thought I'd come back to this one.
Simple as possible.
Breaking the habits of an agitated mind: impatience, boredom, procrastination and all adversity and negativity.
Keeping a calm, content disposition, feel the breath coming and going.
Mind wanders away, each time returning and resuming the meditation.
Other feelings enter the body, intense, uncomfortable, pleasant and unpleasant, but without distraction or reaction, continue awareness of breath calmly, persistently, deliberately.
Add nothing. Take everything away leaving only pure witness feeling the air as it comes in, goes out.

The method is simple. Just feel your breath. By keeping attention on the present feeling, there is a more relaxed and open mind-state as stress related to future and past thoughts decreases. In addition, attending to the real-lived feeling reduces tendencies to fantasize.

The mind will wander. That can be expected. After a while you realise "mind wandered away" and simply resume your meditation. If you think wandering mind is a problem, you'll react to it, and reacting is precisely what agitates the mind, so don't react or have any opinion. It's simply true that mind wandered off, and resume meditation.

The posture is not critical, but still somewhat important. Sitting up cross legged will be beneficial in the long term. Westerners aren't accustomed to it, so perched on a chair is good enough if necessary. Reclining or laying down are least optimal, and probably not necessary for anyone, still OK, but not as good. Ideally, one would set up a 'meditation nest' with a mat and some cushions, pillows and blankets which is comfortable to sit up in.

A bit more detail.

The best place to feel your breath is at the nose - inside nostril, entrance of a nostril or just under the nose somewhere. Many say feel the belly or the torso, which is OK, but not as good.

The reasons are:

The feeling at the nose is subtler and requires more concentration to feel
The area is small, which gives the mind a more point like focus
Investigating a small area enables you to feel finer details, which helps to make the mind more sensitive

Once seated and settled for meditation, see if you can feel the air inside the nose, at the entrance of the nostrils or just beneath the nose somewhere. Inside the nose might be the easiest place to start, but wherever you first feel something, pay attention to that feeling. If you don't feel anything for a while, breath slightly harder so you just feel something, and keep attention on that spot as you return to normal, natural breathing.

As the body and mind become more relaxed the breathing will become less and less making it harder to feel anything, and this helps you to really pay full attention. You'll notice that the air feels a bit warmer going out, colder coming in, and that's enough. If after a while the breath becomes very slight and you can't feel anything, breathe slightly harder for a few breaths so you can at least feel something, anything, and keep paying attention to that feeling as you return to natural breathing.

If you want to read up a bit on what they say about it, google 'anapana nostrils' (anapana means breath awareness). It won't be as good as what I say about it, but it might offer some perspective. Most of them will say do some deep breathing, count breaths and all that stuff. Don't do that. Breathe naturally. Only use harder breathing for the reason I explained. Cheers.

Actually, found this on Google. Approved. http://www.thierrycuvillier-academy....on-english.pdf

The way you talk about meditation here, it sounds like your practice is very mental in nature. I personally prefer to meditate with an emphasis on physical relaxation, I've found that approach more effective for me personally.

In this meditation, physical relaxation is a main part of it. The whole meditation is observation of the physical feeling and there are no mental activities. You just observe. We tend to find is it's relaxing but before too long it might get a bit uncomfortable and the mind starts getting impatient, bored and/or other sorts of stress - and you realise - 'this is my life'. Although the meditation itself is simply relaxing and feeling the breath, the mind gets involuntarily wild very easily not just in a meditation session, but all the time day to day. The practice is relaxation and observation, but it's really the truth about your life.

But observation is a mental activity, surely?