The breath as an anchor
Today, return to the feeling of one breath whenever you remember to.
- Read · about 2 minutes
Develop mindfulness of breathing.When mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated it’s very fruitful and beneficial.And how is mindfulness of breathing developed and cultivated to be very fruitful and beneficial?It’s when a mendicant—gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut—sits down cross-legged, sets their body straight, and brings mindfulness to the present.Just mindful, they breathe in. Mindful, they breathe out.Breathing in heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing in heavily.’ Breathing out heavily they know: ‘I’m breathing out heavily.’Breathing in lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing in lightly.’ Breathing out lightly they know: ‘I’m breathing out lightly.’MN 62 · Mahārāhulovāda Sutta · “The Longer Advice to Rāhula” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
The passage recommends developing mindfulness of breathing and calls it very fruitful and beneficial. It describes the practice: a mendicant goes to a wilderness, the root of a tree, or an empty hut, sits cross-legged with the body straight, brings mindfulness to the present, and knows each breath, heavy or light, as it comes in and goes out.
In everyday life
These lines are about as plain as an instruction gets. A mendicant, meaning a monk or nun living on alms, sits with a straight back and simply knows the breath. A heavy breath is known as heavy; a light one as light. In the lines quoted here there is no instruction to control the breathing or make it special. That plainness is what makes the breath such a useful anchor in ordinary life. It is always with you, it costs nothing, and it is happening right now whether or not you are paying attention. Today's sit uses this instruction directly: settle the body, then rest attention on breathing in and breathing out. When the mind wanders, which it will, that is not failure; noticing the wandering and coming back is the practice. Later in the day, the same move is available in a queue, on a bus, or before a difficult conversation.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Breath Awareness
Sit comfortably upright, hands in your lap or on your knees. After reading a cue, you may close your eyes and rest with the breath until the next one appears.
- Live · during your day
Three times today, at moments you would normally fill with a screen or some other distraction, take one breath and know it as it is: heavy or light, in or out. Then continue with your day.
- Reflect · this evening
When you came back to the breath today, what was the mind doing just before?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.