Watching the breath

[savethelastbreathforme]

As I am new to meditation I have been practicing deep breath meditation. I breathe in deeply, pause 1 second, then breath out deeply. Trying to take my mind back to the breath when my mind wanders away.

I haver seen advice where they say "just watch your breath and dont change it" Im sure this is fine for some. But for me when I do that my breath is so silent and small its hard to focus on it. Also the very fact that I am watching it, changes it anyway. Sometimes it doesnt feel like I am breathing at all. I think because breathing is such a natural process, observing it closely changes it. Almost like quantum observations.

I understand this deep breathing technique is also beneficial for the internal organs as the movement of the diaphragm massages the internal organs.

Do you think its ok to deep breath in this way while watching the mind?

Thank you kindly. Peace & Love to all.

[dharma bum]

Yes, Heisenberg interferes with my meditation too. Middleway made a suggestion once that sometimes works for me.

Good that you are able to notice that you are self-conscious while observing the breathing. Try observing yourself observing the breath. Then observation of the breath will become secondary focus and it will become natural.

[savethelastbreathforme]

Yes, Heisenberg interferes with my meditation too. Middleway made a suggestion once that sometimes works for me.

Good that you are able to notice that you are self-conscious while observing the breathing. Try observing yourself observing the breath. Then observation of the breath will become secondary focus and it will become natural.

Sounds like good advice. Thank you.

[Goofaholix]

The idea behind watching the breath as it is without changing it is that firstly you notice that attention does in fact change it as you have done already, so you need to try and learn let go of the minds compulsion to manipulate experience. Secondly you'll notice that as the breath gets subtle the mind is unable to stay with that, so you need to increase the minds ability to be sensitive and stay with a subtle object. Thirdly as the mind learns to observe subtle object it gets sensitive to change and the relationship between the mind and experience.

If you just go with a forced coarse object it might be rewarding in the short term but you won't have the chance to develop these learnings.

[stillpointdancer]

As I am new to meditation I have been practicing deep breath meditation. I breathe in deeply, pause 1 second, then breath out deeply. Trying to take my mind back to the breath when my mind wanders away.

I haver seen advice where they say "just watch your breath and dont change it" Im sure this is fine for some. But for me when I do that my breath is so silent and small its hard to focus on it. Also the very fact that I am watching it, changes it anyway. Sometimes it doesnt feel like I am breathing at all. I think because breathing is such a natural process, observing it closely changes it. Almost like quantum observations.

I understand this deep breathing technique is also beneficial for the internal organs as the movement of the diaphragm massages the internal organs.

Do you think its ok to deep breath in this way while watching the mind?

Thank you kindly. Peace & Love to all.

Not really. For me the forced breath is ok for a few minutes, but if it is too deep it pushes way too much oxygen into the bloodstream, changing the CO2 levels. I prefer to practice focusing on the breath, so that when the mind starts to wander I can simply return to the breath to bring back a measure of control to the mind. Counting the breath to the count of ten for a while, concentrating on where I feel the breath in my nostrils, or any other breath practices of this kind, do the trick for me.

[savethelastbreathforme]

I understand the advice, but my breath is so silent - its like watching nothing. Its like my body trys to stop breathing completely. I will have to try a happy compromise I suppose. Not so deep, but no so shallow.

Just for some background info, I have loud Tinnitus & neuropathic head pain. Something badly affected my nervous system over last christmas. Still searching with Docs, and tests etc. For a few months after all the health problems occured, I had the desire to completely annihilate my self. I simply did not want to live.

I resonate with the Buddhas story. I was in good health with no problems at all. Suddenly its as if I left the palace, and could now see all the pain & death around me. I was ignorant of the impermanance of life. I would walk into town and look at old people and hate them.

I was of course reflecting on my inner state. I was recognising that I was no different from the old people, and that my perfect state was just a temporary thing. This led me to grasp for my old state when I healthy.

Thanks.