meditation breathing

[nomish]

Hi guys,

I hope you are all well.

I have some newbie meditation questions that have come up whilst meditating this past 2 months.

I only noticed this after switching from body scan to watching the breath, but when I am watching my breath I noticed that I actually start controlling it which I have been led to believe I shouldn't be doing. This becomes more apparent when I am labelling a thought and stop breathing (or I hold my breath) because I am thinking about labelling the thought. Any ideas how I can remedy this and have you experienced the same thing?

 

[Slade]

1 hour ago, nomish said:

Hi guys,

I hope you are all well.

I have some newbie meditation questions that have come up whilst meditating this past 2 months.

I only noticed this after switching from body scan to watching the breath, but when I am watching my breath I noticed that I actually start controlling it which I have been led to believe I shouldn't be doing. This becomes more apparent when I am labelling a thought and stop breathing (or I hold my breath) because I am thinking about labelling the thought. Any ideas how I can remedy this and have you experienced the same thing?

 

I’ve had similar things happen. When you bring all your focus to the breath it’s hard not to control it, you just have to remind yourself to let go of controlling it and just observe it. It’s not a big deal, it’s all about practice. Just notice that you were holding your breath, and return back to relaxing and observing. Simple. 

[star ark]

Try and enjoy each breath, breath it in and appreciate how good it feels, focus on how deep the breath is, focus on how the inhalation is bringing good qi and the exhalation is expelling stagnant qi. If you have any ache of pains imagine breathing into the pain with the breath coming from your head and not your lungs and push it into the aching areas, imagine on the inhale you are bringing in clean energy to heal and on the exhale imagine you are letting go of the pain or stress. 

If you focus on all those other things surrounding the breath and simply try and enjoy it if you have no aches or pains I think you can get over it.

[nomish]

5 hours ago, Slade said:

I’ve had similar things happen. When you bring all your focus to the breath it’s hard not to control it, you just have to remind yourself to let go of controlling it and just observe it. It’s not a big deal, it’s all about practice. Just notice that you were holding your breath, and return back to relaxing and observing. Simple. 

Sounds simple, until you nearly pass out because your holding you breath lol

[nomish]

2 hours ago, star ark said:

Try and enjoy each breath, breath it in and appreciate how good it feels, focus on how deep the breath is, focus on how the inhalation is bringing good qi and the exhalation is expelling stagnant qi. If you have any ache of pains imagine breathing into the pain with the breath coming from your head and not your lungs and push it into the aching areas, imagine on the inhale you are bringing in clean energy to heal and on the exhale imagine you are letting go of the pain or stress. 

If you focus on all those other things surrounding the breath and simply try and enjoy it if you have no aches or pains I think you can get over it.

Yes I have started doing that already, but sometimes you get a thought and then you concentrate on labelling the thought and letting it float away and at then I realise I have stopped breathing to label the thought. I know you shouldn't try and control the breath but unfortunately I think this happens to me sub consciously.

[Slade]

48 minutes ago, nomish said:

Sounds simple, until you nearly pass out because your holding you breath lol

If you’re almost passing out from holding your breath that long then you’re spending too much time labeling your thoughts. Haha it should be quick. Labeling takes one second, then return to the breath. 

You could also be holding your breath because you have a holding pattern with it. Like you habitually hold your breath when you’re thinking. In that case you might have to do some other work to get rid of the holding pattern. We all have holding patterns, David Deida talks about them. A lot of people tighten their genital region or hold in their gut, clinch their jaw, have an in relaxed tongue. I do all of those sometimes and when I notice I just go back to relaxing them. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by Slade

[star ark]

37 minutes ago, nomish said:

Yes I have started doing that already, but sometimes you get a thought and then you concentrate on labelling the thought and letting it float away and at then I realise I have stopped breathing to label the thought. I know you shouldn't try and control the breath but unfortunately I think this happens to me sub consciously.

Subconsciously trying? I think that's a contradiction  

Try thinking some song lyrics in your head while breathing in and out. Try and do the opposite of TM by not matching the rhythm of the breathing with the rhythm of the song lyrics. It feels weird to me, I always want to finish singing one line in the song with one breath and the next line with the other breath. My internal voice seeks the rhythm of my breathing in some strange way. I think that could help but what do I know? I'm no specialist. 

edit: I mean try that song lyric idea in little bursts, not in a meditation session, just standing in line, sitting at a desk whatever

Edited January 23, 2018 by star ark

[Nahm]

Focus on the sensations; air flowing through your nose, through your throat, against your diaphragm, feel your stomach expand, etc. 

[nomish]

1 hour ago, Slade said:

If you’re almost passing out from holding your breath that long then you’re spending too much time labeling your thoughts. Haha it should be quick. Labeling takes one second, then return to the breath. 

You could also be holding your breath because you have a holding pattern with it. Like you habitually hold your breath when you’re thinking. In that case you might have to do some other work to get rid of the holding pattern. We all have holding patterns, David Deida talks about them. A lot of people tighten their genital region or hold in their gut, clinch their jaw, have an in relaxed tongue. I do all of those sometimes and when I notice I just go back to relaxing them. 

hahah I might be exaggerating slightly with regards to nearly passing out. But yes, labelling takes me around 10 -15 seconds because I like to label the thought and then see it float away in a cloud. I find that very liberating.