During the meditation,
I remind us that we constantly come back to the concentration on the posture and the breathing.
These two practices,
Posture and breath,
Anchor us into the living reality of the present moment.
They cultivate embodied awareness.
The posture should be well anchored on the ground,
The ground that carries us and supports us at any given moment of our existence on this planet.
Let the back be strong and straight as if there was a fire burning on top of your head that you wanted to extinguish.
The front should be soft and relaxed as if the lower belly were an ocean on which surface we are floating on the rhythm of our breathing waves.
Once we have taken on a graceful,
Balanced,
Flexible posture,
We concentrate on the breath instead of getting entangled into our mental processes,
That is,
Our thoughts and our emotions.
Buddha himself concentrated completely on breathing.
It is even said that it was through this concentration that he became a Buddha,
That he awakened to his true life,
To reality.
Concentration on the breath means being attentive to inhalation and being attentive to expiration.
We don't practice forced breathing as it is in martial arts,
Nor do we practice breath holding.
What's important is that the breathing remains fluid.
We simply observe its natural course,
And as far as possible,
This attention on the breathing remains constant and continuous.
That means without a special effort,
Without voluntarism,
Without rigidity,
Just the same like the posture,
Which should also not be rigid.
In fact,
When we breathe,
We breathe with the entire body.
Sometimes if the breath,
In particular the exhalation,
Is really too short,
Generally,
That is when a disturbing thought or emotion comes up.
It's a good idea in such occasion where we become aware that we've been carried away,
Carried away from the living reality of this very moment,
Just this body,
This breath.
When this happens,
It's a good idea to concentrate on exhaling for as long as possible,
To do a full exhalation.
When practicing such a complete out-breath,
Let all the energy descend below the belly button,
Pushing well down on the intestines,
So that the abdominal mass is massaged.
Not only does that stimulate the functioning of our internal organs,
But it also immediately at once quiets down our busy mind from excitement,
From entanglement with thoughts and emotions.
We can find back the natural state of being.
Such a complete exhalation,
Until the end,
Can be done once or twice if needed,
But don't spend your entire meditation exhaling forcibly as soon as you are fully present again,
That is through letting go of unnecessary tensions in the shoulders,
In the cheeks,
In the face,
In the chest,
And in the belly.
Return to the natural flow of your breath and simply be content.
Enjoy being alive,
Here and now,
Floating at the surface of this life's ocean.
