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Mindful Breathing - Recognizing the root of Afflictions
Mindfulness is the energy that helps us realize what is going on, beginning with our in-breath and out-breath. By focusing entirely on the breath, smiling to it, and allowing it to relax, the breath becomes deeper and more harmonious, which directly improves the quality of our body and feelings. The first eight exercises of mindful breathing proposed by the Buddha are:
- Recognizing the breath
- Relaxing the breath
- Recognizing the body
- Relaxing the body
- Bringing about a feeling of joy
- Bringing about a feeling of happiness
- Recognizing the painful feeling
- Relaxing the painful feeling
Feelings are mental formations, or saṃskāra, and are among the fifty-one kinds of mental formations. Our consciousness consists of store consciousness, which contains seeds or bīja, and mind consciousness. When a negative seed like anger manifests in the mind consciousness, we generate the energy of mindfulness to recognize and embrace it tenderly, rather than suppressing or fighting it. Mindfulness functions through:
- Recognizing what is there
- Embracing the painful feeling
- Bringing relief
- Bringing insight into the roots of the pain
- Liberating us from the pain
Suppressing blocks of pain creates stagnation and bad circulation of the psyche, which can lead to symptoms of mental illness. By practicing mindful breathing and walking, we strengthen the seed of mindfulness so we can unlock the door of our store consciousness, allowing our pain to come up and take a bath of mindfulness. Practicing the fifth mindfulness training on mindful consumption prevents negative seeds of craving, fear, despair, and violence from being watered by toxic items of consumption, allowing positive seeds to grow and facilitating the transformation of suffering.
Part of the following collections
The Taste Of Meditation