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The Sutra on Mindful Breathing - Breaths 1 to 7
Breathing in, I know I am breathing in; breathing out, I know I am breathing out is the core teaching of the Anapanasati Sutra, opening the door to awakening and dwelling peacefully in the present moment. As soon as we sit down, simply recognizing our breath—whether it is long or short—mindfulness is present and protects us like a precious layer of armor, helping us to avoid “accidents” in daily life as well as in communication. The first layer of protection is the mindfulness of the other person, the second is our own mindfulness; when the outer door is broken, there is still the inner door to maintain our peace.
The practice of mindful breathing progresses through the following steps:
- breathing in – breathing out (recognition)
- long – short (length of the breath)
- awareness of the body (the whole body through the breath)
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calming the body (soothing the body’s systems)
Next comes contemplation of feelings, nourishing the feeling of joy (the joy in the breath) and the feeling of happiness (the happiness from the breath), then fully contacting all feelings in order to calm them. In parallel with the Satipatthana Sutta, we scan the body part by part with the “ray of mindfulness” to recognize and love each part of the body, bringing about deep peace.