Methods for Regulating Breathing Before Sitting Meditation

Deep breathing is a method that can quickly calm and stabilize both body and mind; before sitting in meditation, one should adjust the breath properly. Once the breath is well adjusted and the vital energy flows down to the dantian, not only will the body be healthy, but wandering thoughts will also diminish. When the energy reaches the dantian, if a thought arises in the mind, one feels extremely mentally fatigued, and thus becomes unwilling to engage in discursive thinking, and the mind settles down.

The practice method is as follows:

After sitting cross-legged, first exhale, expelling all the turbid air. Begin exhaling from the abdomen outward; once fully exhaled, the abdomen is deflated. Pause briefly, then begin to inhale—you must inhale through the nose, not through the mouth. The inhalation should be long and slow, slow and long, slow and long, while in the mind one continuously contemplates the air slowly traveling from the nasal passages, the windpipe, the lungs, and the chest cavity down to the dantian in the abdomen. Although at first the air cannot actually reach the dantian, one should still contemplate in this way, because it helps the energy flow downward, helps open up the Conception Vessel (Ren meridian), and helps unblock the five zang organs and six fu organs. After inhaling fully, the abdomen is expanded; pause briefly, then slowly exhale through the mouth, and the exhalation should also be somewhat slow. After exhaling completely, close the mouth, pause briefly, and then repeat the process of inhalation and exhalation.

Note that the inhalation should be long—the longer the time, the more concentrated the attention, the more tranquil the mind, and the more easily the energy channels flow. The air should be drawn all the way down to the dantian in the abdomen. If the energy truly flows down to the dantian, then at that time even if you want to have wandering thoughts, you cannot produce them, because engaging in discursive thinking is mentally exhausting. If you think about some worldly matter, you will feel extremely, extremely tired, and so you stop thinking; at that point the mind becomes tranquil, afflictions simply do not arise, and no bad mental states can occur.

After the breath is well adjusted, continue with the practice of sitting meditation and prostrating to the Buddha; in this way, entering meditative concentration will be both deep and swift, and both body and mind will be at ease. If sitting meditation and cultivating concentration are done well, the body and mind will feel very pleasant for the whole day. Then, while engaged in daily activities, continue cultivating meditative concentration, and the concentration in motion will arise and be sustained more easily. Cultivating concentration should combine movement and stillness; they complement and mutually support each other. One cannot emphasize only concentration in motion without concentration in stillness. Concentration in motion that is not nourished by concentration in stillness is weak and unreliable, and easily dissipates. One must practice movement and stillness in combination; only then will the concentration attained be stable and able to deepen. Everyone should put this into good practice.