nondual breath meditation

This is the second part in a series on Zen-style meditation. The first part was on meditation posture. In this post, I will share instructions for a nondual oriented breath practice. You can find an audio version of these instructions on The Garland podcast (on Spotify or Apple Podcasts), or at the bottom of this post.

Immersion in Breathing

Once you’ve established a workable posture, take a few breaths and begin to open up to the experience of breathing. You don’t need to put a lot of effort into controlling or changing the breath, but you may find it helpful to gently bring your attention into the lower belly if the breath is shallow or restricted to the chest. This does not need to be forced and will likely happen as a matter of course with consistent practice.

Fully immerse yourself in the experience of breathing. With practice, there will be times when thoughts and distractions will naturally give way to a holistic, expansive experience of just breathing. Again, there is no need to force this to happen; it is an unfolding that will take care of itself. At the same time, disciplined effort is necessary.

Breathing in, breathing out. Let go of ideas, plans, labels, and expectations— just breathing. It is very simple; the breathing is right here, right now, and opening up to it can cut through any so-called distraction. Other sensory experiences like birds singing, a pain in the knee, emotions or anxiety rising— all can be joined with the breathing. There is no need to push anything away. There is only this breathing, and this breathing is all of reality, here and now. It is not necessary to form an image of what practice should be like, then to then strive toward this image. This imagining is perhaps an unavoidable habit of mind when starting to practice, but it will likely wear out its usefulness over time. Practice is this moment, right here.

Counting Breaths

Many of us need scaffolding to help build the discipline and concentration necessary to deepen our breathing practice. You might sit and then realize afterwards that you were mostly lost in thoughts and daydreams, or overtaken by drowsiness. To work toward a more stable and engaged practice, counting the breaths can be a wonderful aid.

When counting the breaths, each exhalation gets one count. With the first exhalation, in your mind say, “one,” and with the second exhalation silently say, “two.” Continue this way until you get to ten, then start back over at one. The counting may be a label for each breath, but it can also be a part of the breath immersion. Some teachers will say, “breathe the count,” rather than, “count the breaths,” which may be more to the point. When counting “one,” merge with just this “one.” When counting, “two,” there is only this “two,” breathing.

Counting breaths can provide feedback on whether you’re engaged with breathing. You might realize you’ve been lost in thoughts and not counting at all, or you may find yourself on a number far past ten. In any case, there is no benefit to admonishing yourself. Simply start back at “one,” and continue on. This will build a stronger capacity for concentration and more stability of mind over time.

Why Practice?

People take up a meditation practice for a variety of reasons. There is no correct reason to start, and your motivations will likely shift over time. Practice has many benefits for the individual: improved focus and clarity, better control over impulses, increased compassion for self and others, and a sense of inner stability and groundedness. These benefits naturally extend beyond the individual by making us more open, kind, flexible, and empathetic in our relationships.

Traditionally, Buddhist practice is not a means of self-improvement. Nondual meditation is done for its own sake, and as an expression of awakening. It is a way of living an ethical life in a deeply interdependent existence. Nondual meditation is a mysterious and mystical spiritual practice that transcends goal orientation. Indeed, it transcends all binaries— self vs. other, life vs. death, existence vs. nonexistence.

Some of us are simply, inexplicably, drawn to inquire into existence at the deepest level. Nondual meditation unveils the truth that reality is beyond words, thoughts, and constructs. What is reality? We can know this for ourselves, in our own body-mind in this very moment. Not through logic or philosophy, but through our own seeing, hearing, feeling, breathing being. Whatever reasons you have for taking up this practice are sufficient, and you can certainly get started without knowing why.

Working with Obstacles

If you take up a practice such as has been described here, each time you sit will be different. Sometimes zazen will be pleasurable. Other times it will be challenging. Nondual practices are definitionally frustrating to the rational mind. The thinking, labeling, sense-making functions of the mind are often so dominant that it seems that is all there is. Meditation calls forth other ways of experiencing, being, and relating. Most practitioners find meditation confounding, at least sometimes. Common questions include:

What do I do about all these thoughts?
How do I deal with resistance or restlessness?
Am I doing this right? Am I doing well, or poorly?
I have intense emotions come up when I sit, what do I do?
I’m confused; can you explain exactly how to do this?

The simple answer to all of these questions is that I don’t know. Each of us has to look into our own motivations and aspirations and make our way as skillfully we can. Every person and every moment is different, and there is no particular right way to practice. I can share some general advice that may be helpful, but I urge you to use your own personal experience in this moment as your most trusted guide.

Thoughts

While meditating, there will almost always be thoughts. The mind produces thoughts naturally. The human capacity for thinking is unique, amazing, and useful. When we are dominated by thinking, though, this can severely restrict our ways of experiencing and responding in our lives. Through meditation, we can realize that our thoughts (and all labels and descriptions) are not equivalent to reality. The best description of what it is like to eat an orange is nothing like eating an orange, and thinking about breathing is not the same as breathing. Thoughts themselves are not obstacles to engagement in the practice. Simply continue to merge as fully as possible with breathing, and your relationship to your thoughts will change over time.

But what to do when thoughts dominate the mind? Imagine trying to focus on a difficult, important task that requires concentration— say, gluing together a broken vase (which in this metaphor is very crucial to complete). If people started having a heated discussion in another room nearby, this would likely be distracting. You might not be able to make the distraction go away, but you can practice drawing your attention to the task at hand, regardless of what’s going on around you. This might be a useful frame of reference for working with thoughts in meditation.

Emotions, Anxiety, and Resistance

Nondual types of meditation tend to stir up feelings. This will be a focus of this blog overall; these brief thoughts are the tip of a very interesting and meaningful iceberg. Endeavoring along this path contains a strong invitation to intimacy— intimacy with oneself, with one’s moment-to-moment experience, and with life itself. For most people, this is triggers many of the same feelings, anxieties, resistances, and habitual patterns that accompany deepening intimacy with other people. This recognition can be an important doorway of practice and working through our challenges, if we learn to work with these forces skillfully.

When emotions and anxiety do arise, there is no need to push them away. Repressing feelings leads to more problems than it solves. We can open to emotional experiences on a bodily level as a part of our breathing practice and see where this takes us. Thoughts may flood in, and this is not a problem. Just continue to merge with your breathing experience in this moment.

If anxiety or emotions become too disturbing or are destabilizing in a way that feels out of control, it is important to take care of yourself. Reach out to a teacher or therapist for support, and consider engaging in a less activating form of meditation such as mindfulness, at least temporarily.

Self Criticism

Unfortunately, in many modern cultures, it is common for people to deal with significant self criticism. Most types of psychotherapy include methods for understanding and working with with the ways we put ourselves down— a testament to the pervasiveness of this experience. The reasons for this will be explored here in depth over time (I don’t believe it is an inborn or unchangeable feature of being a person). For now, it seems worth pointing out its ubiquity as well as its futility. A commitment to an effortful and disciplined practice can be deeply rewarding and life affirming. Judging and criticizing your practice or yourself has no benefit.

A Word on Mindfulness

Here, I have shared instructions for a nondual oriented breath meditation practice. You might notice that it is not the same as a mindfulness-based practice like body scanning or observing the breath. Jon Kabat-Zinn famously defines mindfulness as, “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” In a nondual practice, this kind of mindfulness is one type of experiencing that is possible. Mindfulness can also fall away, opening into experiences that transcend the binary of observer and observed. Continue to breathe with your entire being, and the function of mindfulness will be strengthened as needed, and find its place in the vast landscape of mind.

Sitting

So, once you find a suitable place to sit and establish a workable posture, begin to practice with the breath. Fifteen to twenty minutes can be a good starting point. Although you can of course sit for less, there is something important about sitting through any initial resistance and restlessness to whatever might arise next. One wonderful thing about the breath is that it is always available. You can return to your breath practice any time— walking, driving, lying in bed at night or first thing in the morning. May this practice open your heart and expand your life.

I hope these instructions are inspiring and supportive to your practice. If you have questions, thoughts, or something to share I would love to hear from you. You can leave a public comment below, or fill out the contact form to reach me directly. Thank you for reading.