The Breath Is Already Here
La Respiración Ya Está Aquí
A gentle exploration of resting with the breath and discovering that what you are searching for may already be present right here.
The Breath Is Already Here
Let's look for one thing.
No need to effort.
There is a kind of focus that is possible without effort.
So if we pay attention to the breath,
there's a way to pay attention where there could be a tightness and a striving, a contraction,
trying to force things.
Push everything outside of our attention and keep the breath in focus.
And that is a valid practice.
Soft attention
But today we look for a form of attention that is
just alert,
but soft and open.
It's receptive.
And so the breath is happening.
You need to do nothing about the breath happening.
It will be constantly in your awareness.
Absolutely zero effort needed.
In order to not be aware of the sensation, or sensations, of the breath, because there are many,
it's a sensation of the belly and the chest
and even the air going through the nostrils or mouth if it's open.
It's a constellation of constantly moving sensations.
What's the point
What's the point of breath awareness?
There's no point, there's no gain.
It's completely pointless.
It almost is a path for dropping all attempts of finding meaning.
How to be with what is without turning it into a purpose,
a strategy,
something with meaning.
So the breath is always there.
Sensations.
And everything that pulls me away from the direct sensation of breath is a kind of striving.
As if something very deep in us said,
this isn't enough, I must find it, it's out there somewhere.
It's not in the breath. It's not here. It's not now.
It's somewhere else.
And I must find it.
This is not enough, what I am right now.
Those might not be the words that resonate.
Something of that form.
And if we just settle with the breath.
What am I looking for
Be very curious.
And if it seems like the mind just keeps coming in, stream of thoughts distracting you against your will,
change that perspective.
Take responsibility.
Wonder,
what am I looking for in the mind?
Why am I going, choosing the world of thinking?
What tempts me?
What seduces me?
Why can I not just be with the breath for a few minutes?
Not thinking of this as criticism,
just very direct curiosity,
really wanting to know what is this, what is happening.
Like trying to get something that's missing.
Like trying to escape from something.
Am I looking for rest?
Am I looking for satisfaction,
peace,
love,
well-being?
What is it?
Discovering, not thinking
This is not an intellectual exercise,
not a psychological exercise.
We're explorers, we want to discover.
If the sensations of the breath disappear from our awareness,
what takes its place?
Perennial wisdom says one thing in many forms:
the kingdom of heaven is within you and all around you.
What you're looking for is here and now and nowhere else.
Why doesn't it seem like it?
We don't want to take on more beliefs,
dogmas.
What we want is to discover that truth for ourselves,
to know it.
Infinitely so.
Already here
We can explore this more gently.
What if what I most deeply want,
what I'm looking for, is already here and now?
Where is it?
How is it?
Look more closely.
It's like a veil you can lift and see things for what they are.
And the experience of the breath is more precious than anything.
To hear a sound, any sound, carries so much beauty.
And the apparent normal ordinariness of what is here falls away.
The mystery and miracle of everything is revealed.
As breath,
as sound,
as sight,
as thoughts.
Stillness
And right now,
a silence and emptiness behind everything is revealed,
a stillness.
Touches the realm of the divine.
Almost too much.
Almost unbearable.
There is no meaning to this.
Stay with the breath.