is it necessary to focus on a sensation?

yangster58

according to thich nhat hanh's meditation instructions "when you take a long in-breath, you understand that it's a long in-breath; when you let the long out-breath, you understand it's a long out-breath; you understand when it's a short in-breath and when it's a short out-breath." Should I be taking this literally or is there some innuendo that i didn't catch?

lamaramadingdong

It means to be aware of everthing.

Cloud

It's to focus the mind exclusively on the breath in its fullness (including the pauses). Before long the mind identifies with the breath alone, experiencing pleasure and calm one-pointedness. It's after this that the focus can be withdrawn from the breath and become bare awareness itself, noticing all that arises and ceases as mind activity.

Jeffrey

I think short breath long breath can bring observation to the sense together with mind. So there is union. I never read that from anywhere, but meditation does have something to do with using the wind gained from attending to body feeling and taking that power as a source outside the stuck stories of the mind. Energy is a boon but also we see rotten parts of ourself, is my experience.

To answer your question, there are many types of meditation of different techniques.

Sabre

It's not needed to literally know you are watching the breath, and whether it is short or long, in or out. After a while it will all sort of blend together and the breath will be so subtle it is not very recognizable as breath or as in or out.

But it is a good practice to start off with, to get some more focus on the breath.

This is my experience at least.

Vastmind

The best way this was explained to me was...
It's so hard for us to just sit. With nothing else. No stimulation. none.
The easiest way to become calm with all around you, and blend in, is to
stay still. Blend in with whatever will naturally happen w/o us there.
A blade of grass doesnt need practicing of just being.

Focusing on the breath, is a way of 'paying attention' to something until
you get used to not paying attention to anything. Some way to
keep your feet on the ground, until you can ease in and out of the mind
relaxation and the breath becomes one with the heartbeat, and the moment
becomes so quiet that it is 'still'.

yangster58

Thanks but i think you guys misunderstood my question. I wasn't asking whether we had to focus on anything at all or not. Rather i was asking about which aspect of the breath we're suppose to focus on. In my experience, I have to put my attention to one thing in order to notice it. So, are we suppose to put our attention on the sensation of the nostrils or just how long or short a breath like said by thich nhat hanh?

Cloud

Bring full awareness to the entire process of breathing, every single moment including the pause. Be the breath and nothing else. The breath is an entire river of air flowing in and out.

Vastmind

I try to pay attention to the airflow first, thru the nose, and then I use a
visualization for the oxygen traveling thru my mind, thru my body, and out
my mouth. You will notice everything inbetween. The visual can be up to you.
I try to marry a soft gold dust flow with the breath.

I think if your nostrils are moving hard enough to feel, you
might be forcing the breath. The breath patterns will change, naturally.
Just notice it.

pegembara

Once the mind is in full awareness of the whole body of breath, the mind is automatically in the present moment since the sensation is happening here and now. Mind is anchored and not allowed to free range.

If mind loses awareness of breath, it is probably gone to another time and place.

You could be sitting here but the mind has gone to the football game in Europe!

Cloud

Oh and importantly don't beat yourself up if you find yourself not paying attention to the breath. Just notice and then go back to the breath. Don't judge yourself for it... each and every time you notice and go back to the breath is a strengthening of concentration. It'll be like this for a while.

betaboy

Oh and importantly don't beat yourself up if you find yourself not paying attention to the breath. Just notice and then go back to the breath. Don't judge yourself for it... each and every time you notice and go back to the breath is a strengthening of concentration. It'll be like this for a while.

How to handle restlessness during meditation? Because watching the breath is so mundane that it makes us impatient. Do I simply tolerate the feeling and continue watching the breath?

Cloud

@betaboy
After you spend a little bit of time focusing on the entirety of the breathing process, the mind actually begins to experience pleasure in identifying with the breath. Then it becomes easy and you stop worrying. It's a hurdle to get over, to be sure, but once the mind knows this peace it'll be more easily guided to the same state of calm in the future.

When these feelings of restlessness come up, or thoughts, just notice them and let them go without attaching to them. Don't "be" the restlessness, just know that there is restlessness. It takes some time.

Dakini

Following the breath gives you something to focus on. Also, correct breathing technique helps calm the mind and facilitates meditation. But you can focus on anything; an image of the Buddha, a photo of the Dalai Lama, the image of a candle in your mind's eye, feelings of love or compassion that well up from within. Some people find that focussing on the breath is a good way to get started, then they switch to an image their instructor has given them, or to focussing on love, or other spiritual topics.

Sile

I found Pema Chödrön's thoughts on breath-focus so incredibly helpful:

"But being with the breath is only part of the technique. These thoughts that run through our minds continually are the other part. We sit here talking to ourselves. The instruction is that when you realize you’ve been thinking you label it “thinking.” When your mind wanders off, you say to yourself, “Thinking.” Whether your thoughts are violent or passionate or full of ignorance and denial; whether your thoughts are worried or fearful; whether your thoughts are spiritual thoughts, pleasing thoughts of how well you’re doing, comforting thoughts, uplifting thoughts, whatever they are—without judgment or harshness simply label it all “thinking,” and do that with honesty and gentleness.

The touch on the breath is light: only about 25 percent of the awareness is on the breath. You’re not grasping and fixating on it. You’re opening, letting the breath mix with the space of the room, letting your breath just go out into space. Then there’s something like a pause, a gap until the next breath goes out again. While you’re breathing in, there could be some sense of just opening and waiting. It is like pushing the doorbell and waiting for someone to answer. Then you push the doorbell again and wait for someone to answer. Then probably your mind wanders off and you realize you’re thinking again—at this point use the labeling technique."

More of this wonderful article here:

http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2415

DairyLama

according to thich nhat hanh's meditation instructions "when you take a long in-breath, you understand that it's a long in-breath; when you let the long out-breath, you understand it's a long out-breath; you understand when it's a short in-breath and when it's a short out-breath." Should I be taking this literally or is there some innuendo that i didn't catch?

It just means paying attention to the breath. When you pay attention to something you notice the detail.

DairyLama

I found Pema Chödrön's thoughts on breath-focus so incredibly helpful:

—at this point use the labeling technique."

Do you which labelling technique Pema Chodron recommends? There seem to be a number of different approaches.