I have been focused on the breath in meditation and I am interested in Vipassana, but I am confused about the object of meditation. I have read that you focus on the breath and as thoughts arise, you should observe them and then return to the breath and that it is the returning to the breath that increases one's mindfulness. I have also read that in Vipassana meditation, one shifts the object of meditation to the thoughts that arise and make them the object of mediation. This approach seems to be just sitting and letting your thoughts wander. Do I misunderstand the meaning of making arising thoughts the object of meditation? As it is now, I continue to make the breath the object and observe my other thoughts but generally do not pursue them, rather just categorizing the thought (like "planning the future" or "reliving the past") and then return to the breath.

I usually focus on breath at the stomach but recently decided to try at the nostrils as I read it's better and also that's what the Buddha taught. I have no problem feeling the breath going in as it feels cooler but 99% of the time I feel nothing breathing out. So I just try to focus my mind in that area even though there's no sensation bring felt. Is this OK or should I just stick to stomach?

I just get started three days ago. When meditating, I felt hard to breathe and even the lack of oxygen to the brain. I felt my bell and chess were stiff and this intervene me in getting enough oxygen. My posture is right (I so sure about that). How do I overcome it? Should I keep going or find some changes?

Some part of my mind always watches/is aware of breath whether I am studying, playing, eating, watching movies, etc. Is it ok? Any long detailed answer?

I have been following Goenka tradition of vipassana for a few months now(one 10 day retreat and 5 months of daily practice). We are instructed to keep our attention below the nostrils and observe the flow of breath (i.e., just know that you are inhaling or exhaling). My problem with the instructions is that I can feel the sensations under my nostrils, but I don’t understand what that sensation means i.e., if it is inhalation or exhalation. For the longest time, in an attempt to figure/know what the sensation corresponded to, I think I was controlling my breath, which proved to be counterproductive as I was having trouble breathing normally. Even extending to normal day-to-day affairs. I tried using harder breaths, longer breaths, but I never could go beyond understanding that there is sensation under my nostrils. I understand that it is for building shamata, and the knowing of if the sensation corresponds to inhalation or exhalation doesn’t matter that much. But I am assuming there is a reason the instruction is a certain way. Am I doing something wrong. Any help is appreciated. I read that the Mahasi tradition emphasises keeping the attention on the rising and falling of the belly, but I don’t think I am ready to mix traditions yet. Does anyone know what might be happening here or have any suggestions on what can be done to help better my practice.

I am a beginner in meditation practice (have been meditating for about a week now). Sometimes when I meditate the following occurs: once I am able to keep focus on my breath for some time (some minutes perhaps), I notice that sometimes I slowly begin to go into this state where I am aware that I am breathing but I am not aware of being aware of my breath (if that makes sense). It is as if my mind slows down and calms down, and I begin to be aware of not only my breath but of many other things such as my body, my environment, etc. Is this ok? Or is this some kind of "daydreaming" that should be noted and then I should bring my attention back to only focus on the breath.

Pretty much what the title says, but expand on it a little - During breath meditation (also during vipassana, but mostly breath) I frequently see random narratives. Sometimes it is random bits from TV/video games that I play or from real life. But mostly it is random. For example, today I was meditating on rising and falling on the stomach and in the beginning for half a minute or so I had clarity, but then it transformed into images of ball expanding and contracting (stomach is spherical, so I guess that is why it became a ball). Then within a minute or so it changed to two balls, and competition of which is bigger...and which then changed into someone saying 'you are good at management' which then changed to folder being arranged in finder in macos. You get the idea - they are almost completely unrelated to each other, and yet surprisingly, all the while I am deluded into thinking that I am still on the breath. If I were to guess, I'd say these are low consciousness states almost like dreams where we are deluded into thinking something while something completely logical and disconnected is happening. But what's more important to know is what these states are and how to fix my technique if it is wrong. So, please let me know your thoughts; and also I'd be more than happy to discuss it and give any more details. Thanks **EDIT :** I want to know what this kind of random images mean in regards to my meditation technique. I strongly think these are bad, in the sense that I am not doing what I am supposed to do in meditation. Maybe it is my technique, maybe I am not serious enough or something else. I know it because at other times in my mediation I am able to achieve concentration in some form or other. Only when I am low energy like that, these dream-like states come. I am surprised to see this kind of question is not talked about more here because this thing seems so common, kinda like one of the first pitfalls. But anyways, let me know what your insights on this phenomenon. I will be happy to share the exact details of my technique and mind states etc.

I have some hunch that when rising from the deep meditative states / jhanas, the mind becomes so slow that the world is perceived in frames. Is this true? My guess is that the speed of human brain perception is proportionate to how much craving there is, the lesser the craving the slower the mind due to disenchantment. Experienced ones please shed some light on this.

I have been smoking for about 5 years now. I never really 'started' one day, but it just made my day to day life more enjoyable, and it did so consistently, so I never had a reason to stop. Recently, I have read about Buddhism and started breath meditation. This brought attention to my lung capacity and, to be honest, made it difficult to meditate without occasionally 'gasping' for air. All the things I have tried when feeling urges (hot showers, nicotine gum, sleeping, video games, money restraints) don't work for long enough. Most days I create a 'reason' to not smoke, I end up smoking anyway because my mind keeps thinking about things like the validity of the reason, why I need an excuse, etc. Similar to how telling a child to not look at an elephant will rarely work. I have always had an addictive personality, and am now realizing the only reason I did not engage in smoking in the past was mostly because I was addicted to something else. Currently, I am unemployed and though I have enough money to get by, I am still looking for a job so that I have something else to direct my energy towards. All of these workarounds and escapes are tiring. But smoking is worse. Is there a way to build willpower and discipline from scratch? Or is the only escape to find something else to do?

In my years of meditation practice, I have both experienced time contracting (appearing to pass at great speed) or dilating and seeming to come to a near standstill. I begin my meditation practice by relaxing and following the breath. As this settles, respiration becomes very slow. During this slowing of breath, the awareness of the heartbeat becomes more prominent, and it also appears to slow down to where the heart's contraction seems to occur in slow motion. I can feel/witness the contraction and sense (or imagine I am sensing) the opening and closing of heart valves. There is no striving or effort to do this, it is occurring along with the awareness of the rest of the body. What I find unusual and have not been able to explain is that I am wearing an iWatch during this to record my mediation, and it shows that during these super relaxed periods when I am consciousness and experiencing a slowing of time and heartbeat, the iWatch is measuring an increase in heart rate! The HRV can get rather wonky and large as well. This perception of space and time becoming distorted (I meditate mostly with eyes open) seems to occur more often the more I practice. After deep retreats, the phenomena can lead to strange occurrences around feeling or seeing future and past events as converging or simultaneously occurring. This recent article https://boingboing.net/2022/08/17/is-precognition-real.html aligns with what I have experienced about these time distortions. The characteristics and phenomena that enhance precognition seem to relate to deep meditative practice. What have you experienced in your practice around time and space distortion, and has this led to any precognition experiences, as mentioned in this article? What does the Buddhist philosophy in different traditions say about time itself? Does time exist? If so, how do we experientially know this? There appears just to be a never-ending change of state. Here and now seems always to be here and now, although how spacious that here and now "feels" does change.

What is the difference between normal deep breathing that recommended by all western Doctors vs Buddhism Basic Meditation ?

I plan on calling the Metta forest monastery with this question shortly but have not had the opportunity yet to do so. In “With Each and every breath” and in many of Thanissaro’s guided meditations he talks about playing with the “breath energies” of the body in meditation. While I believe I have on occasion felt these sensations in my hands, I have struggled to feel them elsewhere in the body, particularly their movement from the base of the skull down the spine as he often stresses is the most important place to feel these energies. If anybody as any experience with this particular form of meditation and tips on sensitizing myself to the breath energy of the body I would be keen to hear. Thank you!

I'd like to meditate on the breath to calm myself and diminish stress. Yet, when I meditate on the breath, I typically feel more stressed afterwards. How long should I practice this technique before seeing effects? How can I tell if it actually relaxes me?

I read this answer, and it made me wonder something deeply; the answer seemed to imply strenuous or volitional attention was inferior to watching the mind for breath meditation, and that merely observing was more effective. I have heard such a statement many times elsewhere, that too much 'expecting' or 'grasping' inhibits concentration. **If this is so, how does a practitioner loosen their grip on the mind? How does one observe the breath with detachment?**

Peace, Divine Love, and Blessings to All. I recently began to research meditative/breathing for the Solar Plexus. I was instructed that the "normal breathing" done in the west is not the right/true way that we are supposed to be breathing but instead we should do it from the diaphragm (liken unto babies). During my research, I came across Belly Breathing/Diaphragmatic Breathing which I came to find out is "Buddha Belly Breathing" (please forgive me if I come across as ignorant not knowing the true terminology and cultural linguistics). The very little I have done so far has been amazing but extremely difficult. Inhaling while expanding the stomach (and vice versa) took a lot of concentration while simultaneously trying to keep an erect posture with square shoulders (all while trying to be loose) was/is full of challenges. It made me consider and realize, one how bad my posture is (sad face) and two is it possible to continuously and consistently do this form of breathing throughout the entire day and in all activities? I understand that meditation is about going inwardly, so I know I must take that journey and do the inner work but I pose this question asking if there are people who have done it, are doing it, and would they kindly share any pointers or guidance about their accomplishment(s). This question is open to anyone. Feel free to share howsoever you are led to...Thank you. (As suggested this question was posed on the Hinduism StackExchange as well)

By noticing my abdomen while breathing , I can feel up and down movement of it . Also I can keep a mental notes as "up" and "down". When it is up there is "rupa of up" and "Nama of up mental note " and vice versa for down. But when it is down both "up rupa and Nama " already gone . So I have a glimpse of " anicca" . I do not feel directly "dukka" relate to abdomen movement but by applying same "anicca" for other temporary things in life I can get an understanding about "dukka" too . But I do not still have any clue about "anatta" , how can I understand the "anatta" using above scenario?

Sometimes when I'm meditating, I'll have really "good" breaths - the breath will be deep, very satisfying and relaxing. My diaphragm and chest really expand and it feels like my whole lung fills with air. The trouble is I can't consistently maintain those breaths. When I do focus on my breath in meditation it becomes more and more shallow. Not a lot of expansion, not relaxing, and not much inhale. I'm not sure why that's happening. I *think* I get my best breaths when *re*focus on my breathing after I have been preoccupied with other thoughts. Why does focusing on my breath cause it to become shallow and how can I avoid it? P.S. I'm not against the practice of meditation. It has helped me with attention and focusing. I've tried other techniques such as being aware of the present moment with better user experience.

I have just started a PhD in Mathematics. Can serious mindfulness practice (i.e. vipassana meditation at least 2 hours a day) help improve academic performance? If so, can you attach any reliable studies on this?

I have been practicing mindfulness of breathing for some time. But I am having doubt regarding my practice. When I focus on a single point on nostril and keep attention there, and note natural breathing. It breaks attention. It seems like there are two objects to concentrate. feel on nostril or breathing? What am I doing wrong? > "He breathes in experiencing the whole body, he breathes out > experiencing the whole body": that is, with well-placed mindfulness, > he sees the beginning, the middle and the end of the two phases, the > in-breath and the out-breath. As he practices watching the in-breath > and the out breath with mindfulness, he calms down and tranquilizes > the two functions of in breathing and out-breathing. Meditation on Breathing

I have done several Vipassana retreats in the past. Some questions came up to me several times without being able to answer them. - **What are the major differences between mindfulness of the body (e.g. Body scan/Vipassana meditation) and focusing on the breath (i.e Anapana Sati meditation)?** - **How can I focus my attention as it arises across my body? I am able to focus on my breath between my nose and my mouth, but when I am aware of my sensation on my legs for instance, should I stay aware of my breathing simultaneously?**