I want to say thank you to the many people who sent me birthday greetings, which I received yesterday when I got back from being in Europe for 36 days. Thank you very much. Kind messages. Thank you. You know, coming, going west, I don't get it. If I come in at a reasonable time and can stay awake until it's time to go to sleep, and if I just go through the night, I can usually go through the night. Going east, I have a much harder time. I had a really difficult time going east this time, coupled with many It was a very hard trip.

[01:04]

And either the words or the feeling of this is really hard or this is really challenging arose in my mind quite frequently. And then I had feelings of great joy and then really hard and really joyful and really hard off and on. It was amazing. Well, it started out by an airline that didn't bring me my bags. They left them in San Francisco for 10 days. And then in those bags was robes that people made themselves, which I was to Europe to give them. Irreplaceable works of love, you know. So it wasn't like just something lost, it's something lost for somebody else.

[02:14]

And then all my robes and my medicines and... So I was actually, I didn't have my, I didn't have this but I was dressed like this. So all I had was this, these two pieces and underwear. which was fine for a while. A real difficulty is people over there, maybe because they don't see me very often, they really appreciate me. And they want me to come back and stay longer. because I want to meet their request and I never want to go there again. I don't want to get on an airplane ever again. And airplanes are, you know, really uncomfortable for me.

[03:17]

It was difficult. And if you ever want to know other stories of difficulty besides what I just told you, let me know. The meditation of this series, the meditation is breathing. That's the meditation. So we have an opportunity now to contemplate the meditation, to contemplate breathing. And it seems that this particular contemplation, this particular meditation, is one that of course you can do during these meetings, but this meditation is available all day long and even in the night, because you hopefully will be breathing until September.

[04:31]

all the time. You'll keep breathing. It changes, but this meditation of breathing, it will be available all week. So we can work on it between the classes, too. We can work on it in various situations. We can work on it in various situations. When we first moved into the building that is now the building that we have in San Francisco, the San Francisco Zen Center building on Page and Laguna, when we first moved in there, it was a time that really we had a lot of Zen students living together residentially. Before that, we had a center. We had Tassajara, but in the city we had a center where where we had a meditation hall, and Suzuki Roshi lived in that building.

[05:38]

But we lived in the building with him. But when we moved to Page Street, we had a lot of rooms and people moved in for the first time. And also there were jobs for people to do too. And I remember there was a person working in the office. One of the people working in the office was trying to count his breaths. He was following, he wanted to meditate on his breathing while he was working in the office, and he wanted to count his breaths while, you know, working in the office, count his breath while he was answering the telephone. He was asked to stop trying to do that. It was, it was not working well with him answering the telephone. However, I would suggest to you that it is quite workable to be meditating on your breathing even while you're talking on the telephone.

[06:47]

Just that it may not be good to be counting it. And if you just hear me say that, you may be able to see as we go on how you can actually you can contemplate your breathing while you're actually while you're listening to somebody and even while you're talking you can coordinate your breathing with your talking because usually we it's quite easy actually to coordinate your speaking with your breathing you don't have to but it actually works quite well to speak on exhales, and then take a break on inhales, speak on exhale, and speak on exhale.

[07:49]

When I was inhaling, I didn't say take a break while inhaling. So people can tolerate that, that you would actually be speaking with your, you know, speaking on exhales. You know, it actually works. I think great singers do that. They sing quite nicely on the exhale. Maybe they sing on the inhale, I don't know. We have somebody just came. Laurie. Welcome, Laurie. Okay, so once again, I enjoy the practice of this class during the week. And on this difficult trip to Europe, even though there were difficulties, I also had the joy of contemplating my breathing quite a bit, too.

[08:56]

And that was not a hardship for me. That was a joy. So part of this class is for me to encourage you to contemplate breathing, which will be going on. I don't know if the contemplation will be going on, but the breathing will be going on. It's available for mindful attention and for your enjoyment as you learn about it. And I intend to, between classes, be contemplating breathing my own and others. But not skipping my own. Starting with my own, and then from there, observe others. That's an aspiration I have. The first thing I have to suggest is to observe the breathing and observe how it interrelates with the

[10:25]

fleshy and the skeleton and the muscles and the organs, etc., how the fleshy body, how the physical posture body, how that interacts with the breathing. That's the first suggestion, the first meditation. I'm finding that contemplation, I find that contemplation, for me anyway, this is just for me, I find it more interesting than just contemplating the breathing. I find it more interesting to watch how the breath

[11:27]

interacts with the body, then just look at the breath. So I'm suggesting that as the first thing is to watch how the posture holds, how the posture forms, supports the breathing process. and how the breathing process influences, affects, and shapes the posture. To watch how your body shape changes on inhale. How the body changes shape at the beginning, middle, and end of the inhale. and how it changes shape in the process of exhalation.

[12:37]

Notice the difference between the way your body is on inhales, the way it's shaped on inhales, and the way it's shaped on exhales. And again, observe how the shape of the body at the beginning of the inhale and the end And so I would suggest just do that for a while right now. Watch the breath body and the posture body. Watch them interact. Watch them interrelate for a while. Could you see if you could find another chair someplace?

[15:51]

Yeah. Any observations you care to share or any questions you have about this? I think it would be better if you sat in a chair. It would be easier for you to do this. I'm sitting in a chair because I think it can keep his back straighter. Also, I think most of the people sitting in chairs are not leaning back on the back of the chair.

[16:58]

If you wish to lean back, you can stay with me. But I find that leaning back on the chair or also if I'm... I also practice it in chairs, I practice it in cars, and I also sometimes practice it lying down. excuse me for mentioning but there's this opera called Lucia di Lammermoor and Lucia di Lammermoor during the opera dies and she spends quite a bit of time singing lying down and it's amazing sopranos can do lying down but you know I myself, if I put pressure on my back, my back's not as responsive. It doesn't, it doesn't, it's a little harder to see how it works with the leaning on something.

[18:01]

So you might, you might notice the difference between when there's pressure on it from the outside and when there's not pressure on it from the outside but just pressure on it from the inside with the, with the breath. Or you could have pressure on the inside with the breath and somebody could give you a massage from the back. Yes. Excuse me. There can be pressure from the outside, but I think I would suggest that you make it, if you're going to have pressure from the outside, that you do it intentionally rather So that both sides, inside and outside of the back, or inside and outside of the spine, you're working both directions. Yes? So in the context of In that Indian context, there are many yoga practices, more active things than simply sitting upright.

[19:09]

And it included traditional ways of breathing and working with the breath in a yoga context. As I've studied yoga and learned more about the... Question? He's learned some other ways of working with the breath from some yoga traditions and he's wondering if they should be practiced during this so-called Zen meditation. Okay? So I would suggest about some practice, some breathing practice, you can bring it up. So I'm, but I'm starting, I'm recommending to start with this, to watch, just to observe, for starters, just to observe

[20:14]

the way the breath and the posture work together. To observe, observing that will also show you, I think you'll discover if you watch, that different postures will interact differently with the breath. So the breath interacts differently with the upright posture than it does with and vice versa. a not upright posture interacts with the breath differently than an upright posture. But I think I'm kind of open to you discovering that rather than to strongly recommend one thing or another. Still, that brings to mind that I might, I might, I had done this before in yoga room classes, gone around the room and just checked posture and made suggestions. So I might do that during this class too, if that's all right with you.

[21:17]

Just make some suggestions here. So if you have I think it might be okay if you asked some questions about some breathing practices you've experienced and found helpful. A bunch in a row, maybe one a week or something. Do you want to bring up one now? Well, okay. early Buddhist followers in India sort of couldn't help knowing things about yoga. I think that it seems, from what I've heard, that that was part of the culture and tradition. Can I say something there? Yes. The Buddha's first five disciples were master yogis. Some of his other followers may not have been, but the first five were definitely.

[22:18]

Their yogic powers were on a par with the Buddha's. They did know a lot about yoga. So I heard recently from some martial artists who were telling their traditional version of the story of Bodhidharma who came to China and their story taught martial arts to the monks there. Their version of it was he showed up and he saw all these people sitting and they were all unhealthy and atrophying and he taught them martial arts so their bodies could be strong. And that it was something that had not quite made it over from India, but then once they had it, it was all better. I don't know if that version of the story has any more truth to it than any other version, but that story seems to talk about how working more actively with your body than simply sitting supports the breath and supports the energy.

[23:21]

And I see, I've looked hard and I try to find instructions for activity in the Zen tradition, aside from maybe jinyin. And I don't see a lot of that, but I'm very curious about how the Zen tradition works with the breath. Well, the two ways that are most common are working with the breath in sitting posture particularly sitting on the chair or on the floor, and working with the breath in walking meditation. There is not so much instruction about working with the breath, for example, when doing prostrations. I haven't heard much about that. But it is kind of natural to you know, to exhale doing the bent-over part of the prostration and inhale when your body's being lengthened into standing posture.

[24:29]

So that's kind of natural. But I haven't heard any further meditation on that other than just simply prostrations. As you prostrate, it kind of naturally works out. Whereas sitting upright, it's basically you're not really changing the shape. you're basically holding up the posture basically the same. And that's what I'm suggesting is that we try to develop a posture for our sitting which is the upright posture, but the upright posture is constantly changing in relationship to the breathing. So we sit still in the Zen tradition and other traditions too. The Buddha sat upright over and over again. The Buddha sat down, crossed his legs, and sat upright and brought his mindfulness in front of him.

[25:31]

Over and over it says sat upright, but that uprightness in the moment is completely still. However, the next moment everything changes because the breath is different. So the breath is different, so the upright posture is a different upright posture. And the next moment, it's another different upright posture. So that's what I'm sort of emphasizing in this class, is the breathing with the upright sitting posture, upright standing posture, and upright walking posture. The Zen tradition in India lived in a situation where there were lots of other ways of working with the breath and other postures. So the Buddhist tradition did not actually emphasize the other yogic postures, the myriad ones. So I was invited here many years ago to the yoga room to offer Zen meditation in the context of a practice where people are doing lots of postures and lots of breathing practices.

[26:38]

But the Zen tradition doesn't actually, even though people say that a certain teacher started, a certain Buddhist teacher started the martial arts tradition in China, Someone might even say he started the Tai Chi tradition and he started the Qigong tradition, but most people would say, no, those traditions were there before he came. That the Qigong and the Tai Chi were Taoist practices that were there from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. Are people following this? So there's a tradition of working with In India, and there's the Indian yoga traditions, and then in China there's the tradition of working with breath and posture in the Taoist yoga traditions, Qigong and Tai Chi, and martial arts. that when the Buddhists came to China, it was already in an environment where that stuff was being offered.

[27:45]

And what the Buddhists had to offer was not really more yogic postures, except because I think the Taoists already had the sitting posture. They were already sitting cross-legged and upright. What the Buddhists brought is what? What did they bring? into that environment where the culture already was working with the breath and posture a lot. Enlightenment, yeah. A way of dealing with what? With all the things that they were already doing. But Buddhism didn't really have to bring more yogic postures and more breathing exercises. What Buddhism brought was a way to contemplate whatever the people were doing. So if any of you do any kinds of movement with your breathing,

[28:46]

All these meditations could be applied to the breathing that happens when you're moving and the breathing that happens in other postures besides. Does that kind of address your question? Yeah. And then you can maybe ask the next part later. Yes, Sarah? Thank you. Sometimes I find that just now when we asked for a reaction, I noticed that some parts of my body were moving, and I would be taking other parts of my body that I hadn't done before.

[30:01]

just the kind of emotional, like I couldn't go down with that observation and it resonated to you, that emotional rest, that sort of whole thing. And I feel like that's kind of... Yeah, I can. Moving around like a lot of people. You're not sure if what? You're not sure if you're cultivating... Focus.

[31:08]

Focus, okay. Yeah, uh-huh. Well, the first thing she said was that she doesn't particularly feel that counting breathing is appropriate for her. You don't like to do it. So do you think that maybe it's good for you even though you don't like to do it? Yeah, I don't know either. I think one of the key factors, well, just let me say that sometimes there is a progression in terms of meditating on breathing. Sometimes it is suggested to count the breathing and then to move to follow the breathing and then actually it's called just to be calm with the breathing. And it says in this one particular text that for most people, if they would start to pay attention to their breathing, most people paying attention to their breathing makes the

[32:25]

the mind that is paying attention makes it more... Did I say paying attention to the breathing? Makes it more... subtle and refined. The mind. Most people. And some people... And then... for most people counting the breathing helps them pay attention to the breathing. So for most people turning the attention to the breath and counting it the mind will become smooth and refined. However, as the mind becomes more refined through the process of counting the breath the activity of counting the breath will gradually become rougher than the quality of the mind.

[33:38]

And at that time it is recommended to give up counting and switch to following, which is more subtle. But being more subtle, sometimes people have a harder time following the breath than counting because the counting is a little It's a little bit more concrete. Especially if you count like from 1 to 10, rather than just count indefinitely. Because if you count from 1 to 10, then at 10 you have to remember that you got to 10 and go back. So that 1 to 10 is kind of a mnemonic to help you remember that you're counting the breath. If you count indefinitely, like 1, 2, 3, up to 10, and then just keep going, you could skip numbers and not know.

[34:39]

You could be 27, 53, you know. Whereas if you go from 1 to 10, you only have 10 numbers, you know. If you say 27, you know something's funny. So... Also, I often use the example, if you take rough sandpaper onto a rough surface and you rub it, it can smooth it. Does that make sense? But unless the sandpaper wears out, as it gets smoother, after a while the sandpaper will start scratching. Does that make sense? When the mind is very rough, counting it smooths it. But as the mind becomes smooth, and refined, the counting roughs it, disturbs it, agitates it. So then you switch to following, which is more subtle, and you rub the mind so the following, and it smooths the mind out, but at a certain point even the following will be rougher than the refined quality that comes from following.

[35:51]

So then you give up following, and then you just move into, like, giving up thought. But You give up the thought following the breath. The thought following the breath can refine the mind, but at a certain time it scratches it. So then you just observe without even saying observe. it is sometimes probably maybe good to do things that we don't like. It could be the case. However, in this particular case of giving attention to the breath, my experience is people don't like the meditation. Even if they should, they won't do it. Unless somebody could, like, monitor them and, you know, give them demerits or something, or, you know, unless there's some biofeedback that, you know.

[37:01]

I just thought about it. I was in somebody's car recently in London, and they have, when the car gets too close to something, it starts beeping. It's a Ford, actually. And when it gets too close to another car, it starts making a beeping sound. And it makes a different beeping sound when the front gets too close. So the person's going this way, beep, beep, beep, and this way, beep, beep, beep. And I thought, well, it's a little bit like somebody might want that for meditation, right? If you're leaning that way, another beep, beep, beep. But it's also kind of noisy. So I'm actually starting off by suggesting to you to find some way to watch... And I... It's more enjoyable to watch how the body interacts with the breath than counting.

[38:06]

But if you find... If your mind's really rough, you might find counting good. But I'm not saying counting. I'm not suggesting it this time. I'm starting by... suggesting something so interesting that you won't need to count, that you'll actually be there with your breath and your posture. So I think it'd be good if we found some ways that you actually enjoy when you're doing them here, and then you look forward to doing them again as soon as possible. I've got to count my breath again. And I practiced that way when I was in the first year or so of my being at Zen Center. I thought I was supposed to get myself to follow my breathing. And I didn't want, I didn't really like it. I mean, I didn't dislike it. I didn't like it enough to do it. So I would, and some of my friends too, they said they go one and that's the end of it.

[39:09]

They never get to two. And then the space between one and not getting to two, who knows how long that was. But eventually they would remember. And then that's the end of that for a while. And then, oh yeah, one. And in my cases, as I said, I often got to very high numbers. So I'm kind of starting with this first one to see if you actually enjoy it. The... Start out just simply, I'm going to build on this, but start out by simply watching. As Sarah said, I would say she discovered that the way the body shape changed in relationship with the breathing was different from what she thought it would be. You may find, just simply, when you just look at the relationship, you may get some surprises about it. And then when I bring in some other things you may get some other surprises.

[40:13]

I would also suggest now that you observe the difference in the way the breath feels when it moves out of your nose and the way it feels when it's coming into the nose. Observe the difference. And, yeah, observe the difference and then I would also add be receptive to what those differences might suggest to you about how to breathe. So to be more clear, you might notice on the exhale the breath feels a certain way, which I won't tell you. And then you notice on the inhale it feels another way, which I won't tell you. Except because of the way it feels on the inhale, it might be kind of suggesting to you that you breathe differently, one way or another. And then on exhale two, because of the way it feels, you might feel like, you might feel like, oh, I think maybe it would be good to breathe differently.

[41:25]

Not because somebody told you, but because of the way it feels in your nose and what your nerves are telling you about the breath. So, and also, I also check to see the difference it feels when it goes in and out of your nose in different temperatures. It might be good to try that just right now for a little while. Just check out the way the breath feels as it goes in and out of your nose. See what you find out. I got some surprises.

[44:16]

Just to ask Sarah, how was your focus during that? Did you feel focused? So I'm not sure. I felt like I was observing, but then I was thinking about what I was... I had to behave as opposed to just a groovy line doing it. So that's it. Okay, so, I do. So, in your previous expression, and this one too, you're telling us that along with the breathing and posture, or now with the breathing and the nasal part of the posture, you're noticing various emotions and questions, and the emotional element

[45:28]

is there and I would think that she's already bringing up what's the relationship between the breath and the posture? What's the relationship between that observation and the emotions? Because it seems like the emotions maybe in some sense complicate that simpler observation because it almost seems like a distraction from that over to the emotion. So I guess I'm starting out by saying try to focus on the posture and breathing together and let the emotions be there, but understand that we have not yet asked you to look at how the emotions are working with that. Even though I didn't ask her to, and one thing is she noticed that when various thoughts and emotions like the emotion to do things right So I'm saying, watch the difference between the breath as it goes in the nose and out the nose.

[46:38]

So she was doing that maybe. And I didn't ask her, check to see if you're doing it right. I did, but I said it, you might find that the way it feels when it's going in and out, you to adjust it, rather than you think you should adjust it. So, when you're breathing in and breathing out, you might think, oh, I'm supposed to have long breaths. I'm supposed to have smooth breaths. I'm supposed to have quiet breaths. They often say, you know, is breathe gently and quietly through your nose. So you think, oh, I'm supposed to be quiet. And actually, when we sit in a group sometimes, people do actually breathe so audibly that we actually ask them to breathe quietly, just because it's disturbing other people.

[47:44]

But in this class, I won't do that. So the difference between thinking, I'm supposed to be breathing quietly, which I didn't tell you, I'm supposed to be breathing smoothly, I didn't tell you. Go to the feeling in the nose and see if the feeling in the nose is suggesting something to you. For example, if you breathe a certain way, your nose may be uncomfortable. It's not that if you breathe a certain way, your nose is uncomfortable, you're breathing wrong. It's not that. And I'm not telling you to prohibit that thought, but I didn't ask you to be judging your breathing. But the judging still may come up. But that wasn't what I said. I said, is the feeling, is the bodily posture asking you to do something with your breathing? Same with the If you sit upright, the upright posture will ask something of your breathing and your breathing will ask something and contribute something to uprightness.

[48:51]

Similarly, if you don't sit upright but you follow your breathings and you watch the way the breathing interacts with your posture, you notice that the breathing wants you to sit up straighter. As you watch your breathing more and more, you may notice the breathing wants you to sit up straighter. It wants more space to be, to function inside. But it's not that I'm saying you're wrong when you're not sitting up straight. I'm trying to . And this is the Buddhist part. The Buddhist part is don't impose these principles from the outside in this case. You know you're not... We have the principles. Don't kill. Don't take something that's not given. Don't praise self at the expense of others. You can apply these precepts to this process. But actually you can also discover these precepts by watching what the breath and the posture are actually supporting each other to do.

[49:58]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes, you know, you what? Yeah. Yes, and it's a little different from seeing what your nostrils are asking for. But, you know, again, one of the Zen teachers named Dogen says, make your nostrils right. He said that once. Make your nostrils correct. But he didn't say breathe equally through two noses, to the two sides.

[51:07]

He said make them right. And I think it relates to be aware of what your breath and your nostrils are doing. And for some people, it may always be the case, unless they have surgery, that more air will go in through one side than the other. That may be the case. But then what is being asked of you if that's the case? And again, notice the difference between maybe they should be the same as the no is asking for. And, yeah, what is the nose asking for? And the nose, there's quite a few examples of the nose asking for something. There's quite a few breaths. It isn't just, this time the nose wants this, so I'm going to do it. The nose wants this, but this time the nose wants that. This time the nose wants a longer breath. This time the nose wants a shorter breath.

[52:08]

Rather than, I have this idea. I'm not actually the emotional surround and how contemplating the relationship between posture and breathing will have an effect on the emotional surround. I'm not suggesting you look at that, but I will tell you it does. It does have an effect. And how you and how you're posturing, they affect your emotional life. But right now I'm not telling you how. I'm going to ask you to look and see. But I'm not actually asking you to do that right now. See if you can find a way, an enjoyable way, to watch your body and your posture, your body, posture, and your breathing interact.

[53:12]

See if you can find a way that you enjoy rather than a way to do. And if you can find a way that you enjoy, you probably will wind up being focused, unless there's something else which is considerably more enjoyable. And sometimes there are things that are more enjoyable. So then, what do you do? you go check out the things that are more enjoyable. Generally, unless you think it's more enjoyable to coerce yourself into doing what you think you're supposed to be doing and you don't let yourself do what's more enjoyable and try that for a while, and I think you'll find you'll quit that way. Practicing this practice, you're practicing this practice to develop a happiness and an ease and a freedom. And we're not going to force ourselves into happiness, freedom and ease.

[54:12]

It doesn't work. But you can force yourself into happiness and dis-ease and bondage. It is possible. But you really can't even do that. But you do have the resources which can do it. Just let them go. Let your past karma, which knows how to coerce yourself, just say, go ahead, guys. They know how to do it. And you can't control how they'll do it, but they'll be successful if you just let them go. I'm talking about a new way, and I'm starting by just making this suggestion of watching how the breath and the posture interrelate, interact, and I'm trying not to tell you how it will be, because I don't want you to do it the way I told you how it will be. I'm not even telling you how it should be, but if I tell you how it would be, then you probably think, well, it should be.

[55:21]

I don't know how it would be. The important thing is that you are looking and observing, that's the most important thing I say. Betsy? Yeah. Yeah. You just found that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and if the wave suddenly stops in mid-air, magically, it just doesn't move, then that's what you're observing.

[56:32]

And this wave can stop for five seconds, or even more. Some people could be inhaling, and they just hold it. Now, it doesn't happen very often, but some people do, as you know. There are yogic practices of inhaling and holding it. Are they called bandhus? Is that what they're called? Deirdre? What do they call it when you actually hold it? Huh? It's called in Sanskrit. Huh? I thought it was called bandhu. Anyway, huh? But you don't do it for the breath? Yeah. But there are yogic practices of holding the breath, of exhaling and not inhaling, and inhaling and holding it, not exhaling. Some people do that. And if you notice that, if you're watching and you notice that somebody's doing that, for now I'm saying just notice it and then see how that is.

[57:39]

And see, and then, and notice the relationship between when you inhale... and hold it, if you do, in the body. But I'm not telling you to do that, I'm just, and if you can discover it, I'm not saying at this point stop it. I have confidence that if you don't breathe long enough you'll just pass out and start breathing. So I'm not really worried about you, like, inhaling and never exhaling again. What's the point of meditation on breathing? I'm offering it. The purpose of it is enlightenment. Huh? If you understand the breath, you'll be free of delusion. We have a deluded understanding of everything, including the breath.

[58:44]

Could you study coffee and get enlightened? Oh, coughing. Most people cannot cough over and over all day long. Most people cannot skip all day long. But everybody breathes all day long. And most... Huh? Yeah. And... Yeah. Yeah. You can't hate people all day long, but you have your body all day long. So you have your body and you have your breath all day long. Now if you study them and you understand what they are, you can be patient. For example, Avalokiteshvara saw that all five aggregates are empty. and that relieved all suffering. That was the last class. You understand that the ultimate character of phenomenal conventional things like then you'll understand the thing of emotions and so on and that will relieve all suffering.

[60:09]

That will be enlightened. But how do you do that? How do you like fully engaged, for example, form. So, and tactile sensation and sound. That's what we're trying to do here. So, class spring was body, summer, no, when was the body class? Last fall? Yeah, last fall was body, spring was perfection of wisdom, and now we're doing breath. So, if you could, if we coughed all the time, in fact, if that was what was mostly going on and we occasionally breathed, you know, if we breathed like once a day, probably coughing would be more, we'd watch how the body related to coughing. And in fact, when you're coughing it is, we do often notice how that affects the body.

[61:12]

like it can you know it can break the ribs right and cause all kind of damage so we actually do usually when we're coughing watch the relationship but it's not it's not something that's going on all the time and but i if it might be possible that you're watching the relationship between your posture and your breathing, and then you cough, coughing, you understand the nature of reality at that moment. But it wasn't because you were having a long study of your coughing. It's because you had a long study of your posture and your breathing. You learned how they work together with the emotions. you see, in other words, rising of things, and then you coughed and understood it. You could also, excuse me, you could also, you could also watch the heartbeat, but it's usually not, it's not recommended so often because it seems to be confusing to people to watch their heartbeat.

[62:22]

And the relationship between the heartbeat and the posture is not so clear. Can you see that? It's not like your heart beats and then your body changes shape. The way the breath moves and the way it works with the body is much better. And there is a change in the heartbeat when the heart is expressing the blood than when it's taking the blood. And there is a thing, but it's harder to see. If you try to watch it, it doesn't seem to be recommended, although some people, I guess, do it and have found some interesting things there. But it's not for most people. Yeah. Yeah, there is movement.

[63:30]

There's a movement of these superficial arteries. The skin's going up and down. Yeah. Okay. Well, is what all right? What are you asking about? Should you stop it? Yeah. And I see how it means Are you asking if I would recommend you observe the... It feels like actually...

[64:32]

So I'm saying, is that all right, if people don't want to notice that? Yeah. So I'm asking you, are you asking me if it's all right if you observe how your heart's functioning in your body? Yes, it is all right. Yes. You are supported to be aware of your heart beating. And that will be another class where we'll meditate on the heart. This class is about breathing and the relationship with... But I'm starting by saying look at the relationship between breathing and posture. I'm not saying look at the relationship between breathing and heart rate. But if you notice your heart rate, you are completely supported to notice your heart rate. And if you notice a bird chirping in the trees, you're completely supported to notice the bird chirping in the trees.

[65:44]

But I'm not asking you to meditate on the relationship between the bird chirping in the trees and your posture. That's a more advanced class. And I'm not asking you to observe the relationship between the bird chirping in the trees. I'm talking about something else. I'm talking about the breath and the posture. Those two are the first thing I'm suggesting for you to look at. And I would like to know if you really enjoy observing this. Yes, Marianne? Would you say that again louder? so what I think so what do you have a comfortable posture so if you have a comfortable posture that's a bit of a slouch

[67:16]

I would suggest at this point that you sit in a comfortable posture, even if it's slouched. And then I'm suggesting to you that you observe, observe what happens between your breathing and the comfortable posture. Watch how that works. and see if it's enjoyable to watch how your breathing works with the comfortable posture. See what the breathing and the comfortable posture want to do with each other or what they are doing. And I'm suggesting that it would be if you watch this. And then next week I will talk about not just watching how the comfortable posture works with the breathing, but how the comfortable posture works differently with different lengths of breathing.

[68:22]

I'm starting by saying just watch, see if it's interesting to watch the breath and the posture do their thing together. And next time we'll go on more. And including the nose. If it's painful for you to watch how the breath moves through your nose, I would say, don't do it. If it's not comfortable to observe the breath going in and out of your nose. Yes? I love the idea of the image in the very beginning. I enjoy that it is quite easy for me to watch my body and breath doing their thing together when I'm listening to somebody talk to me.

[69:34]

that they do not mind that I'm doing that. As a matter of fact, they see the way I am when I'm doing that. That helps me actually listen to them better. Even if they were saying something that wasn't interesting, it's still an interesting situation. Something interesting is happening. It helps you. Then when I talk, if I try to speak on my exhales, it really seems to be a good idea, which means I have to watch my breath in order to do that. Now, I don't have to. Some people naturally do that, but for me I have to be a little mindful to observe whether I'm inhaling or exhaling. Just a little.

[70:35]

Sometimes it's hard to be mindful. Although mindfulness is easy when you do it, sometimes it's hard to remember to be mindful, which is one of the meanings of mindful is remember. But that's another thing you could do this week. If it's possible, to coordinate your breathing with your speaking. And speak as you exhale. And then inhale. It works quite well if you're bestowing verbal blessings. It may not work so well if you're trying to win an argument.

[71:42]

It works quite well if you're laughing. So please do me a favor and see if you find it enjoyable to watch your posture and your breathing interact. And then let me know next week if it's enjoyable. And if you do find it enjoyable, see if the enjoyableness of it encourages you to do it more. Thank you very much.

[72:39]

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