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Introduction

Good morning and welcome to this 7:00 a.m. meditation session, at least here in California, and for those of you who are in other time zones, welcome also.

I want to read you a short quote from the teachings of the Buddha about mindfulness of breathing. The Buddha says, "Mindfulness of breathing, when developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, of great benefit. Mindfulness of breathing, when developed and repeatedly practiced, perfects the four foundations of mindfulness^[1]. Mindfulness of breathing, when developed and repeatedly practiced, brings clear vision and liberation."

I like this quote for a number of reasons. One is that it reminds me that 2,500 years ago, the Buddha meditated on his breathing. When I sit down to meditate and feel the different sensations in the body associated with breathing, I feel a kind of closeness to the Buddha. I feel a closeness to all the people who are practicing mindfulness of breathing because a high percentage of the sensations that I feel in my chest, in my diaphragm, my belly, and in my nose—the sensations themselves—are probably very similar to what the Buddha felt, or what other meditators down through the centuries have felt. It reminds me of the value of an intimacy with my experience of breathing.

Mindfulness of breathing has many functions. One of the simplest ones that doesn't require much continuity with mindfulness of breathing is using it as a touchstone. A moment of really just acknowledging, recognizing, and feeling ourselves breathing is a moment that we've stepped out of the currents of our distracted, discursive thinking. That doesn't necessarily require us to then stay with the breath or develop our concentration in the breathing. But to do that repeatedly—to step out of those currents of our thinking, to for a moment let go of the energy that goes into distracted thoughts—is such a powerful thing to do. To do it repeatedly begins to quiet that energy, to quiet the gravitational force towards distracted thoughts or the habit of distracted thoughts.

For those of you who might find it difficult to do mindfulness of breathing, maybe just using it as a touchstone for a moment to step away from your thoughts will just be powerful in itself. So, an intimacy with your breathing.

Guided Meditation: Intimacy with Breathing

Taking a meditative posture, and taking some care with the posture you have. I like to think of the meditative posture as allowing the body to be your temple, your sacred ground. You want to take some care to find a posture that expresses your capacity for attention—careful attention, loving attention, kind attention.

Being careful with your posture, and then taking a few long, slow, deep breaths. This big inhale is a way of stretching and massaging your torso, your chest. Deep in-breaths are a reminder that here is the place, the temple, the location for the practice today. Then maybe a gentle and long exhale is a relaxation into this place, into this body, a settling.

Then letting the breathing return to normal. With a normal breath, also feeling the inhale as a connecting movement, connecting with your body, and the exhale as a settling, relaxing. Breathing in and breathing out.

Also, at the beginning of a meditation, take some time to relax and to settle into the body. Some of you might prefer the language of relaxing, some settling, some softening of the body. Perhaps beginning with the muscles of the face, maybe around the eyes and the forehead first. As you exhale, relax and soften. Perhaps the muscles around your cheeks and jaws. Allowing those muscles, as you exhale, to fall away from the skull. Relax and settle in.

Bringing the attention to the shoulders, feeling what's there. And then, as you exhale, relax and settle the shoulders. Release the shoulders. It might be possible to also soften and relax the belly, or maybe, as you exhale, allow the weight of the belly to settle deeper into the pelvic cavity. Perhaps you can soften and relax the tops of your thighs, relaxing your whole legs. And then perhaps, as you exhale, there can be a global relaxation of the whole body. As you do so, settle into the experience of the body breathing, almost as if the whole body comes home to breathing in and breathing out.

A big part of mindfulness of the body is just letting your breathing breathe itself. It doesn't matter if you control your breath or if you don't control it, but let it be itself. The idea is, rather than doing something with the breathing, to get to know it better. Just recognize, hang out with it, accompany your breathing as you would accompany your friend. And as you would listen to maybe a friend who needs a listening ear, notice the qualities and characteristics of your breathing.

Is the breathing long or short? Either is fine, just notice. Is the breathing shallow or deep? Is the breathing slow or fast? Either is fine, just notice how it is. Noticing the movements of the body as you breathe. Feeling the rhythm and alteration of the different movements as you breathe.

Maybe as you inhale, you feel growing pressure or tautness, and then as you exhale, the release of the pressure, the release of the tautness. Sensations of pulling, lifting, falling, releasing. Perhaps feelings of expansion as you inhale and contraction as you exhale. Maybe there are some sensations of resistance or holding back as you breathe in, or feelings of flow and ease in the breathing. It's all okay.

All these different sensations with breathing—do it in a relaxed way, just be aware of it. As if you're watching a river flow by sitting on the creek, watching your breathing come and go, the flow of the rhythm. All the different sensations of breathing are like the ripples on top of the river. And if you find yourself drifting off in discursive thought, perhaps every time you exhale, let go, relax the thinking mind. Let go and let go into the experience of breathing.

In this way, having an intimacy with breathing is, in a certain way, an intimacy with the Buddha himself, or with Patachara^[2] herself, as they did their mindfulness of breathing.

Reflections

And then, as we come to the end of the sitting, we can learn so much from intimacy with breathing. It's almost like there are universes to be discovered over the years in which we practice with breathing. But as we get more and more familiar with our breathing and the preciousness of breath, the value of breathing, it also helps us to appreciate others, the circumstances of other people's lives.

Especially in this time, starting in February and March, we learned that people who have COVID-19 sometimes have trouble breathing, and maybe they took breathing for granted until they had trouble. Our connection to our breathing can give us empathy and understanding, perhaps, and compassion for the struggles of others to breathe. We have the powerful, painful event of George Floyd saying, "I can't breathe," and the experience of other Black men as well who have died. And here in California and Colorado and different places in the country, the problems of breathing with the smoke from all the fires.

Perhaps this closeness and practice of breathing that we do can help us have greater care and love, even love or compassion and empathy and concern for others, and a deeper understanding of how precious it is to breathe and the challenges of not breathing.

May it be that this practice that we do inspires us to help all beings have an easeful breath and all that an easeful breath represents. Peaceful breathing, to be able to breathe in a contented way, and to be able to feel at home in the body breathing. Trusting, deep trust in this process of being attentive. And may it be that we are inspired from our practice to work for the health and welfare and benefit of all beings everywhere.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be healthy. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.