Following the Breath

Following the Breath

The instructions are always simple in meditation: follow the breath. Breathe in, breathe out. 

How simple it sounds.  And yet after a busy day how hard it is to do.  I realize how much I am trying to breathe rather then letting the breath breathe in and out of me.  It’s a simple distinction yet I always need to shift to allow that to happen.

Perhaps the important word here is “allow.”  To ride the breath I have to get out of the way and follow it.  

We’ll often hear the words, “Take a deep breath.”  When we do that there is an intention, a mechanical action.  I am doing something.  When we follow the breath we are allowing it to show us how it is moving. 

In the first moments when sit to meditate I always go through this transition until there is a softening and my body teaches me how breathing happens.