Breath: Questions for Contemplation; Perceptions and Practice Ideas
Integrating Presence
After jotting down intuitive information and collecting odds and ends of teachings on breath for quite some time, I’ve finally compiled the first part into a video. Please visit https://integratingpresence.com/2020/12/18/breath-questions-for-contemplation-perceptions-and-practice-ideas/ for the full (tran)script, partially included below:
Disclaimer: it may be wise to find a balance with this material for whatever it may bring up: intrigue, fear, relief, breakthrough, novelty, overwhelm, overkill, irrelevancy, etc. One can pause the video at anytime for contemplation.
Or instead of viewing as study and practice instructions just sit back and take this in as a display of possibilities — letting the material resonate with whatever strikes as vital.
However you’re called to receive this presentation please take what is skillful, wise and useful/helpful and leave the rest. Also, this presentation could easily become outdated and/or refuted.
For any questions posed in the material it is encouraged to engage each question the following four ways, both internally to yourself, and to me with any counter-questions for both of our benefit:
-answer directly -answer with analysis (and elaboration after deconstructing) -answer by counter-question(s) -do not answer, or give no response
In addition to this public presentation the private portion may be given if working with me, or may be released later. Much of what’s public is aggregated from other public sources while the private includes material I’m unsure of what portion is public and what portion is not.
Both the public and private presentations primarily address the breath through approaches, observations, conjecture, perceptions, practice ideas, and inquiries ranging from simple, commonplace, practical, and broad overviews to the bizarre, obscure, esoteric, and minutia while sometimes these categories overlap.
Overall, a basic bare awareness of breath is primarily needed. Again, this presentation is not to overwhelm, for overthinking, for comparison, or judgement. Rather, to enhance the likelihood of maintaining and/or prolonging bare awareness of breath for/during breath practices.
Questions for Contemplation:
What if this was the first time noticing breath?
What is more important than breath in this moment?
What effects are the breath having right now (on any and all levels you have access to inside and outside)?
How is your relationship with your breath in this moment?
What is the relationship between light and breath?
Instead of us being mindful of the breath, what about the breath being mindful of us, and of mindfulness itself?
What is the difference between the experience I think I’m having and the experience my breath is having?
Can your breath be stopped?
How might a true, authentic admiration for breath help?
What if the breath was allowed, was permitted to consciously assist in and assist with anything and everything?
How might focusing on, and even seeking pleasure with(in) the breath, be helpful, wise and skillful?
Can you trust that simple bare awareness of breathing is sufficient and enough?
When waking up back to breath ask, “was what took me away pleasant or unpleasant?”
And whatever is woken back up to, is it mental or physical?
Who/what controls the breath and how?
Can breath be seen, looked at, or focused upon as a tangible, visible object (in the mind’s eye)?
When conscious of the breath, what of the breath still remains unconscious (or subconscious)?
How does breath want to be known?
Miscellaneous Perceptions:
What if each and every moment of each and every in breath and out breath was and is happening like your life depends on it?
What if it was way more of an emergency situation than any ICU or any end-of-the-world event depicted in movies?
Because this is the way it is — miss one half breath and life ceases. But we’re often oblivious to this mostly continuously.
• Breathing in life-giving nourishment. Breathing out a relaxing release of that which is no longer needed. • Breathing in is allowing. Breathing out is an offering • In life we must give (breath) to receive (breath) and vice versa • Each breath is different • Inhabit the breath; occupy the breath
Breath Psychology:
[Much of the paraphrased perceptions above via https://www.audiodharma.org/teacher/1/ — 2020-08-24 to 2020-08-30]
Practice Ideas: Active, Passive and Otherwise:
Shifu Jiru’s 5 Qigong breathing exercises: https://integratingpresence.com/2020/06/16/shifu-jirus-5-qigong-breathing-exercises
[These exercises, synced with breath, act as an aide to (increasing) breath awareness, particularly helpful before more extended, formal breath-centric mediation. What’s shown in the video version of this presentation is a very inaccurate representation. It’s been heavily edited, speed up, and is without sound or instructions.]
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