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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 08 2009 : 8:16:41 PM
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Having picked up the deep meditation technique after about 8 months of using a different technique which involved heavy awareness and development of the breath utilizing 3-part yogic breathing (abdominal, thoracic and clavicular), I find it very difficult to just let go of the breath; To allow it to just happen automatically, without deliberately controlling or paying attention to it. I find that when I attempt to allow the breath to "just happen", I end up inadvertently holding it instead.
Surely some others must have gone through this same difficulty. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Edited by - Clear White Light on Dec 08 2009 8:21:28 PM |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Dec 08 2009 : 8:30:43 PM
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Treat it just like any other distraction. When you realize you are focusing on your breath, go back to the mantra. The more you think, 'I should not focus on my breath", the more attention you are giving to your breath. Be kind to yourself. If during the 20 min meditation, you focus on your breath for 18 min and yet, every time you realize you are focusing on your breath, you go back to the mantra, before you realize it, you would have broken the habit.
To a small degree I still focus on breath during mantra meditation, but then the only time I realize my breath is syncing up with the mantra is when I am thinking "Oh, my breath is syncing up with the mantra" ... then back to mantra and the breath is forgotten. |
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AlanCrawfordUK
United Kingdom
24 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2010 : 02:17:54 AM
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| I'm also finding it very difficult, after eight months practicing Buddhist meditation, not to pay attention to the breath. I keep finding myself saying "I" with the in breath and "am" with the out breath. It seems also impossible at this stage not to do this and when I try I find I'm focusing far too much attention on deliberately dissociating the breath and the mantra, rather than focusing on the mantra and the silence that surrounds it. I think I just need to persist and keep going! |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2010 : 08:23:06 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by AlanCrawfordUK
I'm also finding it very difficult, after eight months practicing Buddhist meditation, not to pay attention to the breath. I keep finding myself saying "I" with the in breath and "am" with the out breath. It seems also impossible at this stage not to do this and when I try I find I'm focusing far too much attention on deliberately dissociating the breath and the mantra, rather than focusing on the mantra and the silence that surrounds it. I think I just need to persist and keep going!
Hi AlanCrawfordUK,
Welcome to the AYP forums.
If I ever get conscious of my breathing and my mantra, I still find myself syncing them up. The key point here is "focus". When I focus on the breath, I find it synced up. When I shift the focus on the mantra, I don't know if it is synced up with the breath. That is the key thing in deep meditation. Any time we realize we have shifted our focus on anything by but the mantra, shift the attention back on the mantra. Soon you will lose the mind evaluation of, "is my breath in sync with the mantra? Am I saying "i" on inbreath? Am I saying 'am' on outbreath?" etc. Anytime we do go back to evaluation, and we realize we are evaluating, we go back to the mantra.
It's a very subtle shift in focus, anytime we "realize" we are focused on the breath and mantra, shift attention to mantra.
Hope this helps. |
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AlanCrawfordUK
United Kingdom
24 Posts |
Posted - Dec 10 2010 : 02:33:43 AM
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| Thanks Shanti. I think I have been worrying too much about this and need to just focus on or favour the mantra, thank you! |
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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
Posted - Dec 14 2010 : 9:09:51 PM
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| Because there has been some recent interest in this thread I thought that I would provide an update as to my experience in the past year since I first posted this. I've found that over time my mind's preoccupation with observing the breath, and attempting to sync up the breath with the mantra has softened significantly. The one thing that has made the most amount of difference is beginning to utilize the first mantra enhancement. I've found that the extra syllables really help to break up the tendency to sync the mantra with the breath. However, I must also say that I think it would be a very bad idea to prematurely take up the mantra enhancement specifically for this reason. In my experience the enhancement has been very powerful, and one should not skip to it simply to alleviate this problem of syncing the breath. |
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Difficulty letting go of control of the breath
