Easy Technique for Cultivating Presence: Breath Awareness | Eckhart Tolle
Summary
TLDRThis transcript explores mindfulness practices, emphasizing the importance of breath awareness as a path to presence and stillness. By consciously observing one's breath, one can slow down thoughts, creating a mental gap that fosters inner peace. The speaker highlights how overthinking can distort reality and cause unnecessary suffering. Breath awareness, coupled with sensing the body's energy, helps reconnect with a deeper consciousness, transcending mental narratives. These simple practices of being present lead to an enhanced sense of aliveness and calm, offering a gateway to greater awareness and clarity in daily life.
Takeaways
- 🌬️ Being aware of your breathing is a simple and effective way to become present.
- 🧘♂️ When you focus on your breath, thinking tends to slow down or stop, allowing a sense of stillness to arise.
- 📿 The practice of conscious breathing has ancient roots, with the Buddha teaching it 2,500 years ago as 'Anapanasati' (mindfulness of breath).
- 🌟 Many people mistake the narrative in their minds for their life, when true life is the present moment, not the thoughts of past and future.
- 🧠 Most thinking is unnecessary and often harmful, creating pseudo-problems instead of addressing real issues.
- ✍️ When faced with a real problem, it's helpful to first write down possible solutions, then enter a state of stillness and presence for clarity.
- 🔄 Conscious breathing creates a gap in the stream of thinking, allowing a presence that’s always been there to emerge.
- 🙌 Presence or stillness cannot be achieved by effort, but rather discovered, as it is always there beneath thoughts and emotions.
- 🌿 Inner body awareness, the feeling of an energy field within, is closely related to breath awareness and can be accessed through conscious breathing.
- 💡 Breath awareness and inner body awareness often merge into one practice, bringing a calm yet intense sense of aliveness.
Q & A
What is the simplest practice mentioned in the script to become present?
-The simplest practice to become present is to be aware of your breathing. By consciously focusing on your breath, you bring your attention to the present moment.
How does focusing on the breath impact one's thinking?
-Focusing on the breath slows down or eliminates thinking, creating a space of awareness where the mind is not constantly occupied with unnecessary thoughts.
What does the speaker say about the relationship between life and the narrative in the mind?
-The speaker explains that many people confuse the narrative in their mind with their actual life, but life is always happening in the present moment, not in the past or future stories we tell ourselves.
What is 'Ana Sati yoga' according to the script?
-'Ana Sati yoga' is the ancient practice of being aware of the ingoing and outgoing breath, which was taught by the Buddha 2,500 years ago.
Why does the speaker recommend taking a conscious breath throughout the day?
-Taking a conscious breath throughout the day creates a gap in the stream of thinking, leading to moments of stillness and presence that help clear the mind and bring awareness.
How does the speaker describe the difference between thinking and actual problem-solving?
-The speaker explains that while the mind often creates imaginary problems through unnecessary thinking, true problem-solving involves focused application of the mind, supported by an awareness of stillness behind the thinking.
What does the speaker mean by 'presence'?
-Presence refers to the deeper consciousness and stillness that exists underneath all thinking and emotional turmoil. It's not something to achieve but something that is already within us.
How can breathing lead to inner body awareness?
-Breathing can connect one to the inner energy field of the body by bringing attention deep into the abdomen, where one can feel the energy spreading throughout the body, leading to a sense of aliveness.
What is the connection between breath awareness and inner body awareness?
-Breath awareness and inner body awareness are closely related. Focusing on the breath can lead to sensing the inner energy of the body, and eventually, both practices merge into one, creating a calm sense of aliveness.
Why does the speaker discourage overthinking and emphasizes being present?
-The speaker discourages overthinking because it often leads to unnecessary suffering and the creation of pseudo-problems. Being present allows one to step back from thoughts and experience life as it is, rather than as a narrative in the mind.
Outlines
🧘♂️ Breath Awareness for Presence
The paragraph emphasizes the practice of being aware of one's breath as a simple yet profound method for being present in the moment. It suggests that by directing attention to the breath, one can observe the air moving in and out of the body, which can slow down or even halt the constant stream of thoughts. The speaker highlights that this practice was advocated by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago as Ana Sati, or mindfulness of breathing. The paragraph also discusses how most people are tortured by their thoughts without realizing it, confusing the narrative in their minds with their actual lives. The speaker clarifies that life is not a narrative but a continuous present, and by being aware of one's breath, one can achieve a sense of inner spaciousness and stillness.
🤔 The Mind and Its Narratives
This paragraph delves into the nature of thinking, suggesting that much of it is not only unnecessary but also harmful, creating pseudo-problems. The speaker explains that while the mind may seem to be solving problems, it is often just replaying old narratives. They advocate for a focused application of the mind, where thinking is enhanced when there is a presence behind it. The speaker encourages using breath awareness as a portal to stillness, especially when faced with a real problem. They describe the process of writing down possible solutions and then stepping back into stillness to access a deeper consciousness. The paragraph also touches on the idea that presence or consciousness is already there, beneath the surface of thoughts and emotions, and that it is not something to be achieved but rather discovered.
🌟 Inner Body Awareness and Energy
The final paragraph introduces the concept of inner body awareness, which is closely related to breath awareness. It suggests that by focusing on the breath, one can become aware of an inner energy field that pervades the body. The speaker describes this as a sense of aliveness that is intelligent and transcends personal identity. They mention that this practice can lead to a feeling of being intensely alive in a calm way. The paragraph also connects this practice to ancient teachings, including those of Buddha and Jesus, who spoke of the body being full of light. The speaker concludes by merging breath awareness and inner body awareness into one practice, emphasizing the importance of feeling the aliveness and intelligence that inhabit the body.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Breath Awareness
💡Present Moment
💡Narrative Mind
💡Stillness
💡Conscious Breath
💡Inner Energy Field
💡Overthinking
💡Meditation
💡Mindfulness
💡Pseudo Problems
Highlights
Being aware of your breath is the most direct and simple practice of being present.
Your life is always now, not the narrative of past and future created by your mind.
Awareness of your breathing can slow down or eliminate unnecessary thinking.
Most thinking is unnecessary and can create pseudo-problems, while focused thinking becomes more effective with presence.
To solve real problems, step back from thinking into stillness, and use breath awareness to access this stillness.
One conscious breath can create a gap in your stream of thinking, allowing presence to arise.
Presence is always there beneath the thinking; it is something you discover, not something you need to achieve.
Breathing happens naturally, without your conscious control, just like most people's thoughts, but this doesn't have to be the case.
By becoming aware of your breath multiple times a day, you can break the cycle of unconscious thinking.
Inner body awareness, which involves sensing the inner energy field of your body, is closely related to breath awareness.
Breath awareness can connect you to the inner energy field of your body, which leads to a calm sense of aliveness.
The Buddha's teachings from 2,500 years ago, such as Ana Sati yoga, are aligned with the practice of breath awareness.
Focusing on breath awareness while working or engaging in daily tasks can enhance your mental clarity and presence.
Taking several conscious breaths throughout the day helps create mental space and reduces stress.
Inner body awareness, a practice taught by various spiritual leaders, allows you to sense the intelligence that inhabits your body.
Transcripts
so the the most simple direct practice
is to be aware of your breath to be
aware of your
breathing for example now
to be aware of it your breathing now
before I just said that it's very likely
that you were not aware of your
breathing unless you knew already what
this this great practice
is but the moment I said
it your awareness your going to your
breath and you can feel the air moving
into the
body and out of the body and you so to
speak you follow it with your attention
you follow the air with your attention
as it goes
in and
out that is the most direct and
simplest practice of being
present I'm not the first person to come
up with
that somebody called the Buddha already
talked about it 2,500 years
[Music]
ago it was
called Ana Sati yoga is the practice of
the ingoing and outgoing grass ingoing
and outgoing grass
awareness now the breathing is always
there most of the time you're not
conscious of it
when you direct Consciousness to your
breathing something very interesting
happens it slows down or completely
eliminates your
thinking and there's only an awareness
of your
brace so if you want to if you're being
tortured by your thoughts as many people
are and many people don't even know that
they're tortured by your thoughts they
think they're being tortured by
life whatever their life situation my is
so Dreadful my life so my life is so
difficult and complicated and I can't
just can't stand it anymore this is just
um and then the The Narrative continues
and continues
continues and you think that's your
life not knowing that it's a narrative
in your mind it's not your
life to confuse a narrative in your mind
with your life is a
fundamental very Dreadful
error but very very
common and anybody taught you that at
school or university probably
not the most fundamental know
knowledge not to confuse a narrative in
your mind with your life because your
life isn't a narrative in your mind it's
always now it is never not now this is
most
fundamentally your life is
now not The Narrative of past and future
that is helpful for practical purposes
but no more than that not to give you an
identity that's a fictitious
identity your true identity
is rooted in the power of the Present
Moment The Power of
Now be aware of your
breathing you don't even have to control
it there are certain meditation
practices that have a very structured
way of of approaching your breast and
you can change the length of your breast
you can count your breast you can do all
kinds of things that's fine for
meditation practices but the simplest
thing is no matter where you are and you
don't even have to say Okay I'm going to
meditate now it's fine I love meditation
but I sometimes make fun of it a little
bit and you say then you enter totally
different okay now it's time to meditate
for 10
minutes know in throughout your life
wherever you are be aware of your
breathing when whenever you can it
creates an inner spaciousness because
because when you're aware of your
breathing you can't do much
thinking and most of the thinking as you
may know or maybe it's news to you most
of your thinking is not only unnecessary
but actually very harmful it creates all
kinds of pseudo
problems well the mind is telling you
it's working on solving your problems
it's actually
regurgitating old narratives
not real problem there is such a thing
as focused application of the mind
that's of thinking thinking
ability becomes
enhanced when there is a presence behind
it so when you have an actual real
problem to solve in your
life approach it not only with your
thinking
mind but also with
sensation of thinking you can continous
step back from thinking into Stillness
and you if you want to use your breast
to access the Stillness It's a Good
Portal be aware of your breathing so
first these are the problems when I have
something to think about I usually
because I'm
oldfashioned I have a notepad and a pen
and if I have to think about some what
are the what can I do in this situation
what other Solutions I start writing
down possibilities example these people
modern humans like
you you probably use some device I don't
know what you
do on keyboard whatever so you write
write down what is it that I can do in
this what can I do to solve this if it's
an actual problem because many things
that humans come up within your mind are
not actual problems they imaginary fun
constructs if there's an actual problem
okay action needs to be taken what is it
I can do write down this this this and
then you run out of ideas and then it's
time to become still be aware of your
breathing you don't need to close your
eyes you can but it's not necessary to
beware of your breathing because you can
beware of your breathing and there's
still enough awareness left to be aware
of your surroundings
if you want to focus more deeply on your
breathing you can close your eyes and
then really focus on your breathing but
I
say even one conscious
breath makes a difference in your life
if you take that one conscious
breath several times during the
day what do I mean by one conscious
breath it's one conscious in and out
breaths
how long does that take I don't know
maybe let's see I'm doing it contous
price goes like
this that was it
in and
out 10 seconds maybe doesn't
matter and that's one conscious press
what does it do it creates a gap in your
stream of thinking a
Stillness a presence arises that's has
always been there is always there
underneath all the
thinking so presence doesn't is not
something that you need to
achieve or
attain it's something that you discover
because it's already already
there so you can't really work hard to
become present because it's already
there this is why in some traditions
people say well you're already
enlightened and and the person is what
are you talking about my life is a
complete mess how can I be enlightened
all my relationships are shambles how
can I'm not enlightened well underneath
all that Al noise and emotional
turmoil there
is a
presence there is a deeper
Consciousness so the simplest practice
is to be aware of your breath and even
if it's only one conscious breath but
taken many times during the day whenever
you remember and you might want to take
two or three instead of one even better
two or three conscious breath while
you're on your computer on your
keyboard okay stop for a
moment one or two or three conscious
breath or just just observe that you're
breathing just just direct your
attention there it's you're breathing
you are breathing there's no doubt about
it you're breathing so just observe that
you're breathing breathing happens to
you you're not doing
it but for most people thinking is the
same thinking happens to them they're
not doing it they have no control at all
what their mind does they no
awareness so thinking happens to them in
the same way that breathing happens to
them but this doesn't have to breathing
that yes that always happens something
in you wants to
live and it's breathing it wants you to
live in this Incarnation and that's why
you're breathing and no matter how
unhappy you are you cannot kill yourself
by stopping breathing you won't be able
but nobody's ever committed suicide by
stopping your breath holding their
breath something and you does not want
to commit
suicide it wants want to to come to the
end of your Incarnation
naturally and only the silly person
wants to commit suicide
so get in touch with that in you that
does not want to commit it is not
unhappy the presence is not
unhappy the awareness is not
unhappy so the simplest practice be
aware of your breathing now that can
lead you into the next practice that
they very closely connected
conned and the other practice is to be
aware of the inner energy field of your
body when you're breathing that connects
you almost inevitably with the inner
energy field of your body because you
breathe
into and if you can feel that you're
breathing into as deep as the abdomen
without do no effort it's just happening
don't don't make an effort It's Just
Happening your breathing and your
attention follows the breath as deep as
the abdomen belly although the air
probably doesn't go there but your
attention goes with the
breath and from there you can sense an
energy spreading out throughout your
body an inner energy field it pervades
the body I call it inner body awareness
that's also an ancient meditation
practice if done in a more structured
way
it's called vasana going back also
probably taught by the Buddha
too
uh and by Jesus we only have fragments
of his teachings he talks about the
possibility that your your whole body
can be full full of
light that's what he's talking
about so inner body awareness to sense
the inner energ of your body and
breath awareness are closely related and
sometimes breath awareness
inevitably could connect you to the
inner energy field of the body and then
they merge into one
practice you're aware of your breathing
and you're aware of that your body is
pervaded by a sense of aliveness that is
the intelligence that inhabits your
body it it transcends who what you are
as a
person and you feel intensely
alive not in not in an excited way in a
calm
way so there's breath awareness and
inner body awareness they merge into
one for
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