Mindfulness of the Breath/Anapanasati

Anapanasati/Mindfulness of the Breath: The essence of

the middle path invented by the Buddha. This technique
combines both calm (Samatha) and insight (Vipassana)
meditation. According to several teachers in Theravada
Buddhism, anapanasati alone will lead to the removal of
all one's sufferings and eventually to full awakening.

According to Roger Bischof, the Ven. Webu Sayadaw said

of anapanasati: "This is a shortcut to Nibbana, anyone can
use it. (...) It is the straight path to Nibbana."

Vipassana Awareness.

The technique of Anapanasati is very closely related to the

practice of vipassana. It involves the same three elements.

To perform anapanasati, one combines momentary

concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity to
establish vipassana awareness, and then directs it towards
the breath and other objects in relation to the breath.

The first element is concentration. Concentration is

your ability to attend to the objective of meditation. Every
time your mind wanders off, you use concentration skill
to bring it back and keep it there.

In this practice, we are interested in momentary

concentration instead of absorption which you would
experience in Samatha Meditation.

1
Momentary concentration means watching things arise
and pass away moment by moment. Youre not focusing
on anything in particular but rather watching everything
and nothing at the same time. It could be compared to
looking into a distance and defocusing your eyes.

The second element is Sensory Clarity. Sensory clarity

is a skill of being clearly aware of how the objective of
meditation manifests itself in your present experience.

If your objective is the breath, then sensory clarity means

being aware of the whole experience of breathing. Each in
and out-breath is clearly seen and recognized. Also the
pauses, irregularities, the pace, etc. The substance of
everything that happens within the breath is seen clearly
as it happens.

The last element is Equanimity. Equanimity is a state of

being completely non-reactive, non-attached and non-
judgmental of any phenomena that arise during
meditation, be it physical, mental or external. Equanimity
is your inner composure. A skill of radical acceptance of
the present moment.

If you cover that element correctly, you should experience

unshakable balance and detachment. There is no fighting
with thoughts or emotions. There are no reactions
towards bodily sensations. There is only pure awareness
of your direct experience.

2
The lack of judgment means that we do not make the
distinction between right or wrong, good or bad. Seeing
things in a dualistic way gives birth to either resistance or
clinginess. We tend to resist things that we see as bad,
and we tend to cling to things that we see as good. By
making this distinction, we prevent ourselves from seeing
the true nature of things, which is completely neutral.

The lack of attachment means that we do not take

thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations seriously at all.
Whatever happens to us during meditation is alright.
Through vipassana practice, you will realize that you have
no control over your thoughts and emotions. They arise
and pass without any input from you and the only thing
you can do is watch them.

The lack of engagement means that we do not act upon

any urges and intentions that might come up during the
practice. As you meditate, thoughts and emotions will
arise, and some of them will try to get you to stop
meditating. Equanimity allows you to recognize these
urges and intentions, and then, let them go.

Benefits of Anapanasati.

1. A direct path towards Enlightenment.

2. Greatly reduces emotional and mental suffering.
3. Builds up concentration, sensory clarity, and
equanimity.
4. Makes you happy, joyful, and content.
5. Reduces blood pressure, slows brain aging, calms the
body.
3
Pitfalls of Anapanasati.

1. Lack of Acceptance. Acceptance is the key to the

successful practice of meditation. At first, there is going to
be a lot of struggle, and you have to accept all of it. You
need to accept the fact that you cant focus. You need to
accept the fact that you get frustrated or angry. You need
to accept thoughts and emotions. Remember that things
might not be great at first, but they do get a lot better with
time.

2. Lack of one of the three elements. Concentration,

sensory clarity, and equanimity must be present in order
for the meditation to be successful. If you cant put a
finger on one of these elements, go ahead and work on it
alone, then try to implement it into the practice.

3. Not accepting thoughts. A lot of people make a

mistake of resisting thoughts or being judgemental of
them. You have to accept that you cannot control your
thoughts. Fighting with them is just getting in your way,
so stop doing that.

4. Trying too hard. Meditation is a very subtle practice.

If you dont try hard enough, you wont get far, but if you
try too hard, you will get stuck as well. You must find a
perfect balance for how much effort you put into
meditation.

5. Meditation is emotionally difficult. At first, you

will struggle a lot. Your mind will not want to sit still and
4
focus. It will rebel against you, it will play tricks on you, it
will do anything to get up and running. You will have to
go through this process of fighting your mind in the
beginning, but, with time things get much easier. Dont
get discouraged and quit because its hard. You need to
struggle a little right now so that you can have it later on.

16 Stages of Anapanasati.

5
How to Perform Anapanasati.

At the moment, I can only provide guidelines just for the

first 4 stages, simply because this is as far as Ive ever
gotten with my practice. (Ive experienced the stage 5
only a bunch of times, so I dont want to talk about it
yet.) As I become more experienced, Im going to fill in all
the stages.

Stage 1. Establish concentration, clarity, and equanimity.

Combine them all together to achieve vipassana
awareness. Apply vipassana awareness to the physical
sensations of the breath.

Pick one specific sensation within the breath and observe

it. Get a good and clear grasp of that.

Remain in that stage for as long as you need to in order to

make it stable. You should move on to the next stage as
soon as your mind naturally starts to expand beyond just
that one sensation.

Stage 2. Let your attention expand to the whole

experience of breathing. At this stage, youre observing
not only that one specific sensation from stage 1, but the
whole experience of breathing.

The nostrils, the rising and falling of the chest, the rising
and falling of the belly, the feeling of air going through
your throat and further. Observe the entire body of the
breath
6
Remain in that state for as long as you need to in order to
make it stable. Move on to the next stage as soon as your
mind starts expanding towards the whole body.

Stage 3. Let your attention expand to the whole

experience of the body. Experience it as thought it was
one perception with many aspects to it.

Use the breath as a center point and then distribute your

attention equally to the entire body. Defocusing your eyes
under the eyelids will help you with that.

If you get anxious or your mind starts to wander, return

to the breath and calm yourself down. Once youre calm,
return back to watching the whole body.

Remain in that state for as long as you need to in order to

make it stable. Move on the next stage as soon as you start
experiencing slight calmness and relaxation.

Stage 4. Now that you are experiencing your whole body

as though it was one, you can start calming it down. Start
observing bodily sensations and apply equanimity to
them.

Let your breath get subtler every time you breathe out.
Release all bodily tensions like tensed legs or shoulders.
Smile a little. Simply let your whole body relax.

7
Deep states of relaxation can be recognized by feelings of
an absence of arms, lightness of the body, slight
distortions in bodily perceptions (some things might feel
smaller or closer), steadiness of the mind, feeling of
effortlessness.

Remain in that state for as long as you need to in order to

make it stable. Once you feel ready start directing your
attention towards pleasant sensations in the body.

Stage 5. (...)