#Mettavalokanaya_International_Buddhist_Magazine_November_2021

“Relaxing
Your Mind”….
The Rhythm of
Breathing….
Give yourself time to set up,
and then settle into, a sitting
posture that you can sustain
comfortably for half an hour
or more. Sit with the idea that the
tailbones can extend down into the
ground and take root. Relax your
shoulders and draw energy down
your back by the simple process of
repeatedly and steadily sweeping
attention down your spine, through
the pelvis and into the ground. As
you are doing this, let the front of
your body feel free and open; let each
inhalation lift through your abdomen
and chest. Don’t pull your chest
or force the breath. Instead lift gently
through the spine, as if you are
hanging upside down, lengthening
your waist and letting your neck be
long. Tuck in the spine between the
lower edge of each shoulder blade as
if it were connected to the breastbone.
How do you know you’re
breathing? Feel the fullness of the
breathing when the upper body is
open: how the diaphragm moves
steadily, how the chest rises and falls
with the breathing and how the overall
effect is it vitalising. This effect is due
to the energy of unhindered breathing.
Stay with that, in an appreciative
way. Focus on the steady flow of
inhalations and exhalations, and
let your attention move around,
familiarising itself with how
the body is affected by
breathing. You may find it
helpful to deliberately
extend each
outbreath and inbreath
a little
for five or six
breaths, so that
the sensations
associated with
the endings of the
breath are made stronger,
and the pause between the breaths is
clearly discerned. Do this in a gradual
and relaxed way. Relax into those
pauses between the breaths, letting
yourself enjoy the fullness of an
unforced inhalation and the release
of a slow and restful exhalation. Make
the practice one of letting the system
fully ventilate…give it time to clear
out any staleness; let your out-breath
drop down through the belly like a
deep sigh; let your in-breath open
your body into the space around you.
This is ‘breathing long.’
Let the breathing find its own
rhythm and extension; it may be
quite irregular at first. Notice how
the breathing affects the mind and
heart and, as moods and mental
energies come up, how they affect
the breathing. Cool the reactions and
let things come out in the wash...let
ideas and feelings be like wind-blown
leaves. Don’t follow them; let them
go. Be spacious; make a practice of
being spacious and returning to the
rhythmic flow of breathing. Incline to
settling. You can help this by waiting
for the breath. That is, at the end of
the out-breath, just wait for the inbreath
to begin of its own accord. This
should take a few seconds. Similarly,
wait at the end of each inhalation.
If the body begins breathing in (or
out) without a pause, the system
is not yet relaxed and settled. You
may benefit fromamore relaxed and
trusting attitude; or from moving your
attention around your body, checking
in with its steady structure and the
open, non-intrusive space around you.
Then work towards relaxing the chest
completely, so that the muscles of the
abdomen operate the breathing. You
may need to deliberately and gently
swell out your abdomen for an inbreath
until the systemgets used to
abdominal breathing.
When you notice that your
attention has drifted (or leapt) off, wait
in the acknowledgement of that for
a moment. Don’t react; just give the
mind a moment to fully note the feel
of that drift or spin, and the feel of the
clear acknowledgement. Then, as you
feel clarity return, ask: ‘Where is my
breathing right now?’ In this way you
bring the breathing to mind. Wait for
the next exhalation, and as it comes,
breathe out the agitated or constricted
energy of the hindrance. If you feel
sleepy or low in energy, wait for the
Most Venerable Ajahn
Sucitto Maha Thera
Cittaviveka (Chithurst Buddhist
Monastery), Chithurst, Petersfield,
Hampshire, United Kingdom.
in-breath and meet that, letting go of
the dullness. Then wait for the next
inhalation and be with that. The mind
will get agitated from time to time,
but make the practice one of relating
to the busy or wandering mind with
sympathy. Rather than control the
mind, or follow or speculate over its
moods, keep patiently returning to
the breathing with: ‘Where is the
breathing right now?’ Wait for it, meet
it and relax with the out-breath. Let
the breathing moderate the mind.
When things settle down
into amore regular pattern, your
attentionmay centre on a particular
point in your body – the back of the
nasal passages, the throat, chest or
diaphragm for example. Rather than
force the mind to one point, let it
settle where it feels most comfortable;
or if it seems to settle in an overall
awareness of the upper body, let it
do that. The breath is quieter, but
not because it’s restricted; it’s just
that when the body is ventilated
and relaxed it tends to shorten. As
you get more settled, attend to what
happens regularly with each breath.
Increase the evaluation with a (silent)
question: ‘How is the breathing now?’
First, notice the rhythmic sensations
of the physical form – most obviously
the swelling and subsiding in the
abdomen and diaphragm. Second, be
aware of sensations associated with
the air striking the respiratory tract
in the nose or throat. Third, note the
regular shift of energy through the
alteration in your body’s general
tone – how it brightens and sharpens
with each inhalation, then relaxes
and diffuses with each exhalation.
Let your mind feel the rhythm of all
these; attune to the sense of ‘being
breathed.
| NOT FOR SALE |
18 l Mettavalokanaya l November l 2021 2021 l November l Mettavalokanaya l 19