Anapanasati meditation, "breath awareness" or breathing meditation, is one of the few meditations that can be used for a variety of different purposes. It is a Buddhist practice to increase awareness, concentration, knowledge of one's body and self-awareness: it is an extremely versatile type of meditation. To derive the maximum benefit from this practice, constancy in effort and concentration is decisive, given the difficulty for the mind to stay focused for a long time on the breath.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: First Steps
Step 1. Choose to meditate
The practice of anapanasati is accessible to anyone - you don't necessarily have to be a Buddhist to take advantage of it. Breathing meditation is a way to get in touch with your body and to become aware of the place it occupies within the world. It is also a way to stay focused on the present moment. By focusing on every single breath, you remain in the present, not allowing the mind to wander into the past or the future. Finally, anapanasati can free you from the manifestations of selfishness and lead you into a state of peace.
Step 2. Choose a place to meditate
Look for one that is as quiet as possible. The practice of meditation on the breath focuses on the delicate breathing movements: for this reason it is easily interrupted by even sporadic noises. Buddhist sutras that give instructions (or suttas in the Pali language) recommend practicing for a long time inside abandoned buildings or dense forests, or at the foot of a tree. For those who do not have the opportunity to frequent such places, a quiet and peaceful room is sufficient. Try to practice in the same place daily, until you become proficient enough to easily enter a meditative state.
Step 3. Get into the correct posture
The Buddha gave detailed instructions on how best to gain awareness by sitting and breathing. Keep in mind that you may feel uncomfortable at first but, with time and regular practice, your body will get used to it.
- Sit in the lotus position, with the right foot resting on the root of the left leg and with the left foot on that of the right leg. If you can't get into this position, choose a cross-legged position that is comfortable.
- Sit with your back straight, with your spine erect so that your head is well supported;
- Keep your hands in your lap with the palm facing up and the right hand resting on top of the left;
- Keep your head slightly reclined and your eyes gently closed.
Step 4. Relax
Once you've chosen your posture, close your eyes and spend some time relaxing and letting go of the tension, breathing through your nose. Spend some time observing and then letting go of the tension to stimulate awareness. This will help you focus and improve concentration. After stopping and calming the mind, focus on the point on the head where the flow of the breath is most noticeable. It can be the lips, the tip of the nose or the upper respiratory tract.
Part 2 of 4: Follow the Eight Steps
Step 1. Count
The first of eight steps to fully conscious breathing meditation is counting (ganana) and is especially useful for beginners. Choose a point connected to your breath to focus on, such as your lips, nose or lungs. Focus only on the chosen point. Count each full breath, like this: 1 (inhale), 1 (exhale), 2 (inhale), 2 (exhale), and so on, until you get to 10. When you're done, start counting again.
Step 2. Follow
The second step, anubandhana, is to follow the breath with the mind. If it is a long breath, take note mentally. Do the same if your breath is short. Think about all the characteristics of your breath, including duration (long / medium / short, etc.), frequency (frequent or slow), air pressure (high or low), depth (deep or shallow), and whether it is a spontaneous or forced act.
Step 3. Practice the steps of contact (phusana) and deep concentration (thapana)
These two steps taken together take meditation to a higher level. After focusing so deeply on the breath during the first and second steps, it is time to let the mind look inward, let the breath become more relaxed, and let the body feel any pain flowing away. Stop counting and focus on your breath. Let the mind focus on a particular object or a specific image.
- Direct your attention to the contact point between your breath and the inside of your nostrils. This is contact (phusana). You can also mentally visualize an image, such as very bright light, a mist, or a silver chain.
- After viewing the image, fix your attention on it. This is deep concentration (thapana). The image may seem dim or flickering at first, but if you keep focusing on it, it will become clearer.
Step 4. Observe (sallakkhana)
This is part of the "inner awareness" meditation. Basically, by looking deep within yourself you heal any discomfort or pain you are experiencing. Observe your knowledge, your achievements and the life you have lived up to now; recognize its impermanence.
- The next step is to "turn away" (vivattana) to any earthly attachment. This means distancing oneself from your knowledge, attachments, etc. and acknowledging that these elements are not "you".
- The final step, the eighth, is to undertake a form of purification (parisuddhi) of the self. To distance yourself and purify yourself means clearing your mind of everyday worries, thoughts about the past or the future and turning it exclusively to the present moment.
- Keep in mind that these phases do not occur quickly or easily: deep and constant practice is required to be able to access the level of purification.
Part 3 of 4: Working on Mindful Breathing
Step 1. Keep practicing your breath
When you have achieved concentration, to further increase it continue to focus your attention on the object or inner image. As you progress through the practice, you can try various exercises to help focus on the breath and its various aspects. To raise the level of your breathing you can focus on the following aspects:
- The flow of the breath in its entirety observed from an external, fixed point. As a useful analogy for understanding, think of a saw: if you are sawing a tree trunk, your attention is 100% focused on the point where the tool, going back and forth, makes contact with the wood, not the movement of the tool itself, otherwise you would not realize the depth of the cut.
- The flow of energy that the breath generates and uses. An experienced meditator is able to use energy and flow it through the body to soothe pain, soothe the body and ultimately bring about a feeling of pleasure.
- The use of the breath to relax both the mind and the body and to increase awareness as it gets thinner.
- Your personal experience of how thought is formed in relation to the mental state. If the mind is tense, so often is the breath. The mental state is reflected in the breath. By resetting the mind, such as introducing thoughts of benevolence when angry, or gratitude when unhappy, you can also adjust your breathing to become softer and calmer, helping to relax both your body and mind.
- Your personal experience of how the mental state is formed in relation to the breath and nose. We rarely breathe with both nostrils, as one of the two is usually closed. Breath passing from the left nostril activates the right hemisphere of the brain and vice versa.
- The mental intention that guides the inhalations and exhalations in terms of emptiness or emptiness (anatta). The mental and bodily processes of the breath do not cease the moment we stop paying attention to them.
- The impermanent and changing nature of the mind and body. Not only is each breath different from all the others, so there are no two identical breaths, but even the practice of meditation is never the same as itself, so there are no two identical meditative experiences.
- How the breath transforms when we focus on another object, such as a diversion, a thought, a feeling or a sensation in the body.
Step 2. Develop constancy in concentration
When you enter a meditative state, you must try to repeat the same experience every time, no more, no less intense. Make a commitment to access the same level of focus every time. To use an explanatory analogy, think about sound and the goal of creating a smooth, even tonality. Excessive effort is equivalent to turning up the volume; insufficient effort is equivalent to lowering it. If the effort is excessive, the mind experiences a state of stress, or the breathing becomes irregular; if it is insufficient, breathing and concentration tend to drop.
Step 3. Remain concretely and constantly aware of the breath
As you get deeper into the practice, you should feel the breathing becoming thinner and thinner, because the pacified body requires less oxygen. At some point the breath may become imperceptible. It is advisable to keep the concentration on the same point: moving the attention from that point could interrupt it. The breath will soon be felt again.
- To further develop concentration, stay focused constantly until a certain clarity and a feeling of pleasure sets in. This phenomenon is often called abduction. If this state of mind does not occur, the mind is unlikely to enter a more advanced stage of concentration.
- How it manifests itself varies from person to person. It can be a change in the sensations one experiences, a mental image, a sense of symbolic movement, or yet another form. This is a stage that most practitioners cannot reach often, indeed it may never happen. It depends a lot on the meditator's character, experience and competence, the place chosen to meditate, the potential distractions present or other priorities occupying the mind. If it does arise, try to give it your full attention, without analyzing its color, characteristics, etc. If you don't give it balanced and even attention, it vanishes easily. Breath awareness is difficult to develop, so it takes practice to get it right.
Part 4 of 4: Stratagems to Improve the Quality of Meditation
Step 1. Stretch
Do this often and regularly, as a practice to incorporate into your daily life. Consider doing yoga, which involves many of the same breathing techniques that underlie meditation and also shares its ideological framework. The spine must be comfortable and erect, the coccyx and stomach relaxed: it should become an integral part of daily gymnastics and an active lifestyle. To meditate better, the ideal is to be able to assume the lotus position, rather than simply sitting cross-legged.
Step 2. Practice consistently
Use the same methods each time, perhaps reserving a specific place for meditation. This allows the mind to become familiar with the practice and to maintain a steady concentration. To start, experts recommend spending a few weeks practicing for several hours a day without daily chores to deal with: the ideal is a meditation retreat. It can take several days (for a few weeks or months) before you can relax your mind and let go of the mental impediments that obscure its potential brightness.
Step 3. Do not meditate if you are hungry or if you have eaten too much
Your body needs energy to meditate, but if you've recently eaten, you'll feel drowsy or distracted more easily. You need to be alert and focused, without thinking about food.
