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Cato
Germany
239 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 20 2022 : 09:15:35 AM
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Hi everybody,
for sensitive meditators, AYP offers breathing meditation or anapanasati (awareness of breath) as an alternative to DM. It is suggested to just observe the breath. However, anapanasati offers different kinds of breathing meditation. The breath might not only be observed. First you are invited to investigate the difference of short and long breath, the short breath being rough and agitating, the long breath being fine and calming.
Thus, one form of anapanasati is done with an intention to gently favor the long breath and increase its length to calm the mind. I think it works fine, but it is different to just observing. Is it still in line with AYP breathing meditation or some other form of practice? |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4515 Posts |
Posted - Dec 24 2022 : 8:51:51 PM
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Hi Cato,
There are many different forms of breathing meditation, or "anapanasati" in Pali. "Anapana" just means the inbreath and the outbreath, and "sati" means awareness, or mindfulness.
With breathing meditation in AYP, the breath is not altered in any way. This is the description from lesson 367:
"We can meditate using our breath in the same way we meditate with mantra. The procedure is the same. Starting out, we sit with eyes closed and easily bring our attention to our breath. When we notice that our attention is no longer on our breath, we easily bring it back to the breath. If our attention and the breath have become refined, we come back to the breath at that refined level, just the way we would bring our attention back to a refined level of the mantra if that is where we are when we notice we are off the object of our meditation. And just as with mantra meditation, in breath meditation there can be thoughts or no thoughts with awareness of breath. We don't try and push thoughts out. We just easily favor the breath, no matter what else may be going on. So, the basic instructions for breath meditation are the same as the instructions for mantra meditation." [Yogani]
So, there is a bringing of the awareness to the breath, but no deliberate lengthening, or shortening of the breath. Deliberately slowing the breath down is a part of Spinal Breathing Pranayama. Yogani mentions in that same lesson, that the two practices should not be confused.
Christi
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Anapanasati
