You may know that the traditional advice in meditation is to "follow your breath." This is usually meant as "concentrate on your breath". The mind needs something to concentrate on and your breath is something that moves and changes but that is reliably present. You can attend to your breath with your eyes open or closed so it is an available place to put your attention regardless of your state of energy or fatigue. Advanced meditators tend to prefer to simply watch the passing contents of the mind but doing so is difficult because it is very easy to get hooked on a subject or an episode. You see that you are thinking of the exchange between your sister and your mom and in no time, you are thinking yet again about how that girl has never had the discipline you faced and how unfair it all is.
The breath is the rare important body function that is convertible, available to both the conscious thinking system and the unconscious one. You can take a deep breath when you want (conscious control) and you manage to breathe all night while sleeping (unconscious control). Many traditional paths to meditation using breath as an attention focus recommend observing the breath. I have found that difficult. It has been much easier to breathe deliberately and concentrate on taking each breath. I am getting a little more skilled at noting my breathing while altering it less. Just putting my attention on my breath tends to modify it a little. I don't have any strong reason to try to observe it without changing it, other than that sort of delicate looking without touching is what I want to be able to do with my thoughts, watch them from a little distance.
We humans are slow-burning fires, always mixing oxygen with our fuels chemically. It is fun to realize that when waiting for the light to change, for the operator to get back to us, on a walk, on a swim, all the time, in and out, in and out, we keep ourselves going. As important as breathing is to us, you don't hear people emphasize that they remember a really good breath they took last week. It is the same with steps they took or individual swallows of food or liquid: too many to remember individually but very important. Larry Rosenburg asked a student who felt following the breath was too boring if he had heard of Brooklyn yoga.
Sometimes, especially when people are new to the practice, they say they're bored with watching the breathing. I try to use this story to awaken their interest, but occasionally I have to resort to more extreme measures. One new meditator kept coming to interviews with a chronic lament, "The breath is so boring." Finally I asked him if he'd ever heard of Brooklyn yoga. He said no. I told him to close his mouth tight and close off both nostrils with his fingers. We sat that way for some time until, finally, he let go of his nose and gasped for air. "Was that breath boring?" I said.
Rosenberg, Larry (2012-05-21). Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation (Shambhala Classics) (p. 20). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.
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