26 Jan 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.