How can I overcome the breathing trouble while meditating and increase concentration?
Upvote:0
How do i avoid this and not lose concentration
Some instructions suggest that concentration is developed gradually -- for example the article Calm Abiding describes three stages, starting "with external support" and then "internal support" etc.
Instructions don't tell you to stop breathing.
Some instructions tell you to be aware of the breath -- notice whether the breath is long or short.
at a certain point in meditation i feel like i cant breathe (lose of oxygen)
If I ever feel I can't breathe or "I forget to breathe" then I breathe out (exhale, blow out) -- after that the body will breathe in.
I think that the body is meant to be able to breathe by itself i.e. without "my" help, it's that "I" shouldn't try to stop that.
It sounds like you might be attaching to a specific point in the breathing cycle and wanting to prolong that moment, instead perhaps you should allow that point to happen again and again as the breathing cycles -- i.e. "continually" (again and again) not "continuously".
Upvote:0
It's impossible to lose consciousness through meditation in the way you're describing. Your reptilian brain simply won't allow you to not breath for any length of time. Just let go. Don't force your breath. Your body is going to take what air it needs.
What you are running into right now is a mental obstacle, not a physical one. Your body/mind is trying to act - trying to stay in control. Don't let that happen. Don't be taken aback if the next few breaths are sharp or jagged. If you let go, they will taper off into more subtle inhalations.
I'd also second dhammadhatu's answer - you might be slouching. Make sure your body is erect and relaxed. Imagine someone hold you up by a loop that's attached to the top of your head. The body just kinda hangs from that point. Everything is in a perfect line from the top of your head to your coccyx.
Upvote:2
It is difficult to answer your question due to not many facts. However, the impression is you are suppressing your mind or pushing your forehead down into your body; making your mind & forehead/forebrain rigidly still; and, at the same time, pushing your air/breath/outbreathes out; clenching your jaw & emptying the lungs & nostrils of breath.
In Buddhist meditation, the face should be relaxed and the mind/brain bright, awake & open. The Buddha taught to start meditation by establishing awareness in front of one's face. Possibly do some practise keeping your eyes gently open and keeping your face & jaw relaxed. Buddhist meditation is the practise of "non-attachment" rather than forceful suppression.
It is probably best to visit a Buddhist/meditation centre and talk to a teacher.
Upvote:2
Just before the nimitta appears, a lot of yogis encounter difficulties. Mostly they find that the breath becomes very subtle and unclear; they may think the breath has stopped. If this happens, you should keep your awareness where you last noticed the breath, and wait for it there.
A dead person, a foetus in the womb, a drowned person, an unconscious person, a person in the fourth jhāna, a person in the attainment of cessation (nirodha·samāpatti), and a brahmā: only these seven types of person do not breathe. Reflect on the fact that you are not one of them, that you are in reality breathing, and that it is just your mindfulness which is not strong enough for you to be aware of the breath.
When it is subtle, you should not make the breath more obvious, as the effort will cause agitation, and your concentration will not develop. Just be aware of the breath as it is, and if it is not clear, simply wait for it where you last noticed it. You will find that, as you apply your mindfulness and wisdom in this way, the breath will reappear.
Knowing and Seeing (Fourth Revised Edition) Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw
More post
- 📝 Buddhism in the Middle East
- 📝 Won't bad karma cause a chain reaction?
- 📝 Did I get into a Jhana state?
- 📝 Why is life so important?
- 📝 Impermanence causing depression and anxiety
- 📝 Justifiable violence in Buddhism?
- 📝 Are loving-kindness and compassion (metta and karuna) special kind of attachments?
- 📝 Relationship or mapping between Jhanas ( 4 + 4) and the four stages of Enlightment
- 📝 Practical question - Meal prepping and Diet ideas for a lay buddhist
- 📝 Kamma and right livelihood in a modern business environment
- 📝 What is the meaning in the Buddha walking seven steps?
- 📝 Why this hair style on statues of the Buddha?
- 📝 How to identify a sotapanna (stream enterer)
- 📝 The 4 Elements and it’s relation with electricity
- 📝 Budhist monastery rituals
- 📝 Did the Buddha tell how to visit another part of universe via meditation?
- 📝 Was Buddhism a rebellion against the Aryans?
- 📝 Should we care about what others think?
- 📝 Can Buddhism help me find my passion?
- 📝 Vipassanā Without Samatha?
- 📝 Happiness for laypeople
- 📝 Subtle sensations in Vipassana and Zen
- 📝 Did the Buddha ever talk about his family?
- 📝 Egoic voice in head
- 📝 Can bad karma be created and paid back in the same lifetime
- 📝 What does Buddhadasa say about rebirth after the break-up of the body?
- 📝 Samsaric knowledge
- 📝 Feeling intense sensations in my forehead and also my head and body is shaking a lot during meditation
- 📝 Can cold showers benefit or harm our practice (our concentration)?
- 📝 The four noble truths
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How can I overcome the breathing trouble while meditating and increase concentration?
- 📝 How can one define luxurious beds and seats in the eighth precept?
- 📝 What exactly are the last two of the Arupa Jhanas? How can we transcend them and for what?
- 📝 How can one apply the skills developed through Vipassana meditation to overcome FMO/PMO (fantasy, p**n, masturbation, o*g**m) addiction?
- 📝 How can Name-and-form be the cause and condition for the manifestation of the consciousness aggregate?
- 📝 How did the Buddha subdue fear and terror while standing, sitting, etc.?
- 📝 How can the Buddha (after he was enlightened) reflect that he was not at ease and then became at ease in seclusion?
- 📝 How can I overcome the causes of anger?
- 📝 What is Right View, and how can it be applied in the contemporary world?
- 📝 How can the world's youth discover careers that are aligned with consciousness and Buddhism?
- 📝 How Can One Tell The Difference Between The Spiritual Mind And The Physical Mind?
- 📝 How can the theory of emptiness be true and yet the self still transmigrates and takes rebirth?
- 📝 What is The eighth jhana and how can i practice it?
- 📝 Sunyata and Void. How can be the void without a super consciousness?
- 📝 How can mindfulness be maintained while receiving and processing information?
- 📝 How can I tell the difference between the Deva realm and the Buddha and bodhisattva realms?
- 📝 How can I assess the quality of a local Buddhist group?
- 📝 How are 'conceit' and 'identity-view' not the same?
- 📝 How do I slow down and start living according to my values? How do I change the direction of my life?
- 📝 How compatible are the beliefs of atheists and Buddhism?
- 📝 How can I know that I am clear of thoughts while I am meditating?
- 📝 Can a person live by the Dhamma and have another religion as well?
- 📝 How can I build up to being able to get into the full lotus position?
- 📝 How compatible are (Theravada) Buddhism and the Western life?
- 📝 How can you see suffering in the breath?
- 📝 How and when did the name "Buddhism" appear?
- 📝 How to keep balance in the thin line between non attachment to reputation and "not caring about anything"
- 📝 How to increase the speed of learning about oneself?
- 📝 How can a lay person approach the learning process of Buddhism?
- 📝 How to accept and surrender to the mind's non-acceptance of doubt and ill-will?