Thich Nhat Hanh – A Simple Teaching on Bringing Mindfulness to What Arises

DaltheJigsaw

“There are some practitioners who want to bend and twist their breathing the way they think it ought to be. The Buddha said that is not the correct way. You only be aware of your breath and do not try to intervene. You don’t need to do anything, just know. You just observe, you do not need to suppress, you do not need to force. You just be with your breath in awareness. When there is sunshine it just shines across the land and it doesn’t try to spread its rays everywhere or force the land to absorb its rays. The sun just shines.

We too practice in a very non-violent, very loving way with our breathing. When you are sitting with a bent back you just recognise your back is bent and quite naturally your body adjusts itself to become a little straighter. There is no forcing. If you are agitated but you are mindful of this feeling of agitation you simply recognise, ‘I have irritation.’ You should not say, ‘Irritation is very bad, I have to get rid of my irritation.’ No, you just be aware of your irritation.

The teaching of the Buddha is non-violent. If there is irritation you simply recognise you have irritation. You allow irritation to be there and embrace it as if it is a baby. You do not judge, you do not force, and you do not condemn them. You only look at your irritation with compassion. I go back to my body with non-violence, with care, with compassion. When the sunshine falls on the vegetation, the vegetation itself becomes green.


http://mettarefuge.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/thich-nhat-hanh-a-simple-teaching-on-bringing-mindfulness-to-what-arises/

TiaP

Nice

Dakini

This is the first I've heard that meditation should be about simply observing normal breath. Maybe this depends on the school or tradition. This isn't the way the Tibetans practice. I can see the benefit, in terms of helping keep attention focussed, single-pointed, as they say. But the deep-breathing technique the Tibetans and Western MD's teach actually helps shift the nervous system into calm mode, which facilitates concentration, and also has health benefits.

Dazzle

This is the first I've heard that meditation should be about simply observing normal breath. Maybe this depends on the school or tradition. This isn't the way the Tibetans practice. I can see the benefit, in terms of helping keep attention focussed, single-pointed, as they say. But the deep-breathing technique the Tibetans and Western MD's teach actually helps shift the nervous system into calm mode, which facilitates concentration, and also has health benefits.

In the Tibetan Buddhist meditation classes I went to we didn't do deep breathing techniques, we started off with basic Samatha and then Vipassana.

DhammaDhatu

But the deep-breathing technique the Tibetans and Western MD's teach actually helps shift the nervous system into calm mode, which facilitates concentration, and also has health benefits.

Simply watching the breathing causes it to calm

I doubt there are any "techniques" that can calm the breathing as subtely as simply watching it

The state of the breathing is reflective of the state of the mind

The more still the mind, the more refined the breathing will become

Using a "technique" is movement of mind.

Thus a technique cannot make the breathing more refined than just still watchfulness

:om:

DhammaDhatu

But the deep-breathing technique the Tibetans and Western MD's teach...

exactly what "technique" is being referred to here?

andyrobyn

I also have not been taught any deep -breathing technique in TB - my current teacher has discussed the benefit of watching the breath as a technique in practice - not any type of deep breathing.

Epicurus

I have been able to meditate, I've even had some very powerful experiences with it (which inevitably make me want to do the second part of the meditation while walking outside). But like Dakini mentioned I did it mostly with deep breathing techniques.



You could say this is a BIG problem for me, because I developed quite a bit of body awareness but I don't know if I can pay attention to my breathing without messing with it. The minute I try to pay attention to my breathe it's as if an involuntary action of holding my breathe happens. I also have pretty shallow breath in everyday life.

Dakini

This is the first I've heard that meditation should be about simply observing normal breath. Maybe this depends on the school or tradition. This isn't the way the Tibetans practice. I can see the benefit, in terms of helping keep attention focussed, single-pointed, as they say. But the deep-breathing technique the Tibetans and Western MD's teach actually helps shift the nervous system into calm mode, which facilitates concentration, and also has health benefits.

In the Tibetan Buddhist meditation classes I went to we didn't do deep breathing techniques, we started off with basic Samatha and then Vipassana.

lol ! I've never had instruction in meditation in any of the sanghas I went to! It was never offered, AFAIK. But friends who have received instruction from Tibetans say the slow, deep breathing is used. Actually, I learned my meditation technique in a nurse's office, hooked up to a biofeedback machine. Oh, life's little ironies! But I must've been doing something right, because much to my surprise, a Buddha appeared in my mind's eye, and began emanating loving vibes at me. In a medical clinic. Nothing like an unexpected visit from the Buddha to motivate one's meditation practice! Life is full of surprises. ^_^