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Mindfulness of Breathing (13) Cultivating Tranquility

So, to talk a little bit about the fourth step of Anapanasati^[1], the fourth step of mindfulness of breathing: this is breathing in, one trains oneself to relax the whole body, to calm the whole body. Well, actually it doesn't say whole body, it says relax the bodily formations. Breathing out, one relaxes the bodily formations.

And I talked a little bit about this yesterday. The bodily formations are the constructs, the activities, the tensions in the holding patterns in the body that are the product of what we're doing with our minds, our attitudes, our thoughts, our reactions. We might also consider them the product of the emotions that we're living by. Fear and anger and all kinds of emotion, joy—they all have an impact, they all are manifested in the body. And if we hold on to any of this, if we cling to anything at all, or resist, hold at bay, that often gets translated into our body in tensions in our muscles. And that can be micro-tensions and they can be major tensions.

And as we let up the holding, the tension, the resistance, the grasping preoccupation with these thoughts and feelings and emotions, then the correlating tensions in the body begin to relax as well. And this generally happens on its own the more we sit and focus. In fact, sometimes we can relax more deeply if we don't try to relax.

Many times in meditation, I felt there's some tension in my body, and I've actually actively tried to relax it to no avail. And then I just give myself over to just being focused on breathing and put aside any concern with tension, and the concentration begins to kick in. And that part of my body, lo and behold, will relax.

And that's partly because with concentration on breathing, the mental energy is no longer going into clinging to something, holding on to something. It's just going into breathing, which is more neutral that way, or it doesn't have so much clinging involved. And so the energy goes away from the clinging, the grasping in the mind. And so then as the grasping of the mind quiets down, then the body relaxes as well. And so that tends to happen.

Taking Agency in Relaxation

But in this wonderful step four of Anapanasati, the instruction from the Buddha is to spend some time relaxing the bodily formations, tranquilizing, making tranquil, bringing tranquility into our system.

And it took me a while to appreciate this because I started in Zen practice. And also the way that I was taught Vipassana^[2] practice—both of them had a similarity in that we were not supposed to be too actively involved in changing or doing something to our experience. We were mostly just supposed to be present for our experience as it is, and any attempt to try to do something was considered extra, and maybe even a symptom of greed or attachment itself.

And so it took a while for me to learn that it's also okay to spend some time relaxing the body, softening the body if you feel the tension there. And that these are the instructions from the Buddha: to actually take some agency in relaxing when we can.

Now, it can be overdone, and some people think that's the be-all and end-all of meditation, just keep relaxing and relaxing. Relaxation can be overdone and can be detrimental to really developing the strong sense of mindfulness and concentration that we want. And so we don't want to focus on it and be in a hurry and be demanding and expect, right away, to get the benefits of deep relaxation.

And that's why the first three steps of Anapanasati do not have any instructions to do any relaxation at all. It's just simply to notice what's there and be present for what's there, experience what's there. And that's a really, really powerful thing to do. And the fact that it's the first few steps doesn't mean that it's grade school meditation. Actually, generally most meditators will spend a lot of time with the first few steps, the first two or three steps.

And maybe in the course of my career of meditating, I've probably spent more time on the first two or three steps than I have the other fourteen, fifteen, sixteen steps. I'm trying to say it again, a little bit jumbled here in my head: the first three steps, I've probably done those as much as I've done all the rest of the steps together.

Contentment with the Edge of Tension

And so we're spending a lot of time there with really feeling, experiencing the body, experiencing the breathing. And then when it's well experienced and well recognized, then it makes sense to relax. It makes sense to relax and let go of something that's really well understood.

And so we relax and let go to the degree in which it's easy. We don't try to force the issue, don't be upset if you can't. But if it's available, relax. And one of the things you can do is this body scan that I taught in the meditation just now, where you systematically scan from the top of your head all the way through the body, feeling a different part of the body as you inhale, and as you exhale, relaxing, softening, tranquilizing that part of the body. And be very content with even the micro-relaxations; it doesn't have to be much.

And just go through it. And that scan is also a concentration practice, it's also a mindfulness practice, so we're getting a lot of benefits from kind of going through this. And so there are times when it's nice to do a body scan, especially if you sit for longer periods of time, to begin with that to really feel and sense what's here, and then maybe to relax more deeply.

At some point, you have to be content that for now, you're not going to relax any more than you are, and so you're just going to settle in. And part of mindfulness practice is to learn to be accepting of tensions that don't go away, and just be willing to feel uncomfortable in parts of our body and practice with that, and not try to make everything a project. Not try to work and expect to work and get rid of every little discomfort that happens.

It's a phenomenally important mindfulness practice to learn to be present in an accepting and non-conflictive way with tension, with discomfort, with everything that happens. And if we constantly think we have to change and fix, we're going to shortchange ourselves from the power of the meditation.

But from time to time, it's appropriate to relax, and to relax deeply, and more and more deeply. And sometimes the edge of relaxation, the time to really focus on relaxing, is not just because you would like to—it feels good to relax—but rather because you're so aware of your body, so present for it from doing the first three steps, that you can feel that you're on the edge between real tension and relaxation. That there's almost like you're in the tipping point, like yes, you can feel or sense just beyond the tension there's a possibility of relaxing.

And if you just feel tension without being on the edge of the potential for relaxing, maybe don't bother trying relaxing. Maybe then you're trying too much of what can't be done. But to take time to feel yourself on that edge, don't be in a hurry to relax, and then see what happens, and then relax.

The Nourishment for Tranquility

And I think that there's a biological feeling inside of the whole biological system wanting to relax, wanting to release. Partly because tension, the holding patterns, takes a lot of work and it's tiring. And sooner or later you'll feel like you just want to take a rest and relax, and stop all that work of tension.

So to feel that yearning, feel that longing, feel that possibility for relaxation is one way to be wise about relaxation so that you don't overdo it.

The Buddha said that the nourishment for tranquility is tranquility. In other words, what supports further relaxation is relaxation itself. So when you relax, to feel and sense and experience the tranquility that might be there, the calmness that might be there—appreciate that, value that. If you think there are more important things to do than to value and be present for the calm that's there, then you'll miss the ways in which the calm nourishes and supports more contentment, more tranquility, more serenity.

So, begin appreciating tranquility, calmness, serenity, relaxation. And it's a little bit of a foretaste of the deeper release in letting go that happens as we go along these sixteen steps.

And so you might, over this next day, become a student of calm, become a student of tranquility. Notice the small ways, big ways that it's available to you. And you might also, if there's something you can do like go sit in some place in nature or sit in a nice chair and have tea, I want you to go and try to see if you can tap into more tranquility, more serenity, more calm over this next day. And don't be so quick to succumb to agitation, to doing, and activity that just keeps the mind spinning. And see what you can learn from serenity, peace, tranquility.

And as I said, one of the slogans of Buddhism is that if you want to be wise, cultivate tranquility first. So thank you, and I look forward to continuing tomorrow.