Breathe. Be.

You are not your thoughts.

You are not even the feelings preceding them.

You are.

So be.

Breathe. Be.

How to be?

Notice your nose. Observe its component parts. Observe the upper lip, the entrance to the nasal passages, the said nasal passages, the flare of your nostrils as the air rushes out.

Place imaginary ninjas at the entrance to your nasal passages. These ninjas love observing air go in and out of your nostrils all day.

Ninjas don’t mind their minds wandering. They always come back to watch air going in and out. They observe its changing temperature, whether it goes in and out of both nostrils together, or just one, or what.

They observe what the breath feels like on the upper lip and on the pink fleshy inside of your nose.

Where to do this?

Do this everywhere. Do this all the time. When you want to smoke/bite your nails/rock back and forth – focus on your breath.

Don’t regulate it, just observe it. Activate your ninjas. Anything eluding you will come back – that forgotten password, lost errand, fogged over inspiration, the right words. Everything.

Twenty minutes in the morning, twenty at night. Use something like this as background music. Breathe hard if you start falling asleep. Feel free to move, stretch in between. 

Stay tuned here!

Namaskara.

Aqseer

I learnt ana-pana and vipassana meditation at the ten day Vipassana course as taught by S.N. Goenka ji. Please register here if you’re interested.