Week 1
Ānāpānassati: Session 1 (4/9/25) Home Practice
* Become aware of the connection between the breath and the body in terms of energy. Which ways of breathing feel calming? Which ways of breathing feel energizing?
If you already have a meditation practice that uses awareness of breathing, try feeling the breath in a location other than your usual or favorite location.
*Spend five to ten minutes (or longer) feeling the breath in each of the breath centers in this ‘map’:
- Below the navel
- Above the navel and below the sternum
- Center of the chest at the breastbone
- Feeling the flow of breath at the throat
- Somewhere in the head, at the tip of the nose or farther back in the nasal or sinus cavities
Count the length of the inhale and the length of the exhale. To count five breaths in each area, you can count like this for each round of inhalations and exhalations:
(inhale) “1 2345…” (exhale) “1 23456…”
(inhale) “2 2345…” (exhale) “2 234567…
(inhale) “3 23456…” (exhale) “3 23456…” and so on for 4 and 5
Some of you requested a video to help you remember the energizing practice we did in class. This video is a little older. Now, as we did it in class, I like to relax the shoulders more on the first squatting motion, with the palms facing down. Then I hold the palms facing each other as I lift through the chest and raise the arms for the full chair pose.
- Video: Breath Center Energizer
- Password: ‘breathingCIMC’
Resources and readings for this session are located here, along with a copy of the home practice.
Week 2
Ānāpānassati: Session 2 (4/16/25) Home Practice
Click here for some reference material, based on our work in the First Tetrad.
Session 2 Homework
This week, for home practice:
Read as much of the reference material as you would like. The main points to take away are that breath energy is more than just air. The fact that we can feel, hear, taste, smell, see or conceptualize anything depends on the presence of ‘life-force’, (Pāna in Pali and Prana in Sanskrit), which is always present in each moment of life and which is renewed with each breath.
Continue a regular practice of 20-40 minutes of daily sitting practice, if possible.
Try to use the roadmap we have used in class to visit the breath centers in the body
Remember that the first resting spot of ‘a calm and relaxed body’ lies with step 4 in this tetrad.
Remember that we start out attending to particular areas in the ‘map’ we have chosen, but we end up with a sense of the whole body breathing, using a broad, spacious sense of the body. Relax any tension that you can let go of along the way as you move through the map.
Use the counting of the length of the inhale and exhale for at least the first half of your practice time.
Keep 80% of your attention on the feeling of the breath energy in the body, using the other 20% for counting or a meditation word or phrase.
Follow along with this guided audio file if you would like
Notice at times in daily life, where the breath is felt in the body as you breathe.
Week 3
Ānāpānassati: Session 3 (4/23/25) Home Practice
Click Here for Resources for this session
- Continue the work with the first tetrad, the body, by continuing to notice when there is tension in parts of the body, and when the body is relaxed. During the day, when you sense tension, try feeling the breath energy around that area, bringing awareness to the tension and the soothing qualities of the breath.
- For formal practice, try moving through the four steps of the first tetrad in varying lengths of time: 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes. Remember to transition between a more spotlighted awareness at the beginning and a broader, more connected spacious awareness by the end of your session. Drop the counting in the last few minutes of your session, but continue using directed thought, by using a phrase from the sutta, or a note along with your awareness of the flowing breath, having a sense of the whole body breathing.
- If you want to try moving to the second tetrad, at the end of one of your shorter sessions (#2 above), pay attention to whatever ease is present in the body and mind as you ‘abide’ with ease in the body in step 4. Bring to mind a time when you felt joyous and light, perhaps after sitting practice, walking or movement practice, or maybe being in nature. Say a phrase or two to yourself that might invite more joy and ease to the present moment, such as:
- “Breathing in, just as I have felt joy before, may I be open to joy in this moment” / “Breathing out, just as I have felt joy before, may I be open to joy in this moment”
- “Breathing in, just as I have felt ease before, may I be open to ease in this moment” / “Breathing out, just as I have felt ease before, may I be open to ease in this moment”
- As we move into working with the second tetrad, notice throughout the day when there is something you are excited about or that you are looking forward to – how does that feel in the body? When you are resting or relaxed (but not napping), how does that feel in the body? Does anything stand out?