Thread: Question about meditation?

In the beginning, and only if you have to, you might want to exaggerate breath to become more familiar with its sensations and beginning and ending points. Once you feel comfortable with this you should no longer force or exaggerate breath, as that's a fabrication and to be avoided. Just breathe normally and notice the sensations of breath. If you can avoid exaggerating or forcing breath do so. You really don't want to develop bad habits.

Once you develop concentration to a certain point through enough practice, you will notice thoughts become less frequent and very wispy. You will begin to catch them as they arise and before they fully form, gently shifting attention back to breath. You will also notice your breathing has slowed considerably without any conscious effort to do so, sometimes almost to the point it's barely noticeable. I think this is what you're referring to and that is from an article about access concentration and entering the jhanas. I wouldn't worry too much about that at this stage in your practice.


About the sensations of breath... Some will say attend them at the point where the upper lip meets the nostrils, others say at the belly, still others at the diaphragm. I don't think there's any wrong place to attend breath. I actually like to attend all the bodily sensations of breath, wherever they arise. The important thing to remember is it's the attending that's the important aspect of meditation, not the object being attended.