What change? Seems like the important part is left out intentionally.
Now you’re getting it!
What is a conscious breath, and why would I care?
How would you like to be able to control your conscious and subconscious mind? To will your plans and habits into existence? To think yourself easily into a deep sleep? To greet sadness and fear as friends without emotional excitement? To decide things out of rational deliberation instead of fight or flight? Or even just to be able to focus your mindful attention on what you want for as long as you want? To be able to center yourself in any circumstance, and eventually to just be?
This is why you should care about a conscious breathing practice. It is meditation and mindfulness. The key to happiness and success exists within each of us. Why do some people seem committed in every moment to pursue their true goals, and others go with the flow, seeking distractions and substances, merely avoiding discomfort?
That’s not to say I have it all in control and have totally aligned my life to my purpose, but I’m practicing, and the one constant thing through each of our paths is the ability in any moment to sit on the floor and focus solely on our natural breathing, without letting our minds wander. Focusing on the rise and fall of our chests, or bellies, or the way the air feels going in and out of your nose and head, the air passing over your top lip and into and out of your body, without thinking about or reacting to anything, for as long as possible. And then when your mind does eventually wander, whether that’s after one second or one hour, returning your focus to your breath. That’s conscious breathing.
Sounds… Practically unbelievable, but I want to know more. Any good written sources, I’m not a fan of video/audio sources?
This is the focus of most eastern philosophies. Check out some books by Jack Kornfield. He makes it all very accessible.
The mind is very powerful. You can control your subconscious. By focusing on your breath, and returning your focus to your breath after your attention wanders, again and again, you develop a muscle memory to control your brain.
If you need any more proof and that it works, look to the Buddhist monks who lit themselves on fire to protest and did not scream.
Thanks, I’ll look that up. I’ve never really been exposed to eastern viewpoints, Buddhism, etc. I’m pretty Midlands/northern UK, so it’s not really a thing you hear about here.
I don’t think anyone has ever written anything about Buddhism. I think the only reliable source is TikTok reaction videos.
If you just want to try meditating, I highly suggest a guided meditation app, a great free resource collection exists in Insight Timer, a great paid one with a free trial that eases you into meditation is Ten Percent Happier (and they have a great podcast to boot).
You could most definitely also just find some guided meditation on YouTube.
Written resources are great, there are vast collections, both into more Buddhism and more secular meditation practices. But I will not recommend anything off the bat because reading will not give you much. At its core both Buddhism and secular meditation come down to “just try and see for yourself”. This is not to say there is not evidence, there is plenty of scientific evidence for mindfulness meditation Which is why I would recommend just trying meditation and reading into the direction you are more interested once you get a feel for what it is.
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