breathing for what?
A couple of weeks ago, our teacher said something quite extraordinary. We are working on what he calls "natural meditation"--this is, keeping the breath in mind all day, or as much as you can (it is not hard to forget you are breathing! we are wired to not notice!) while you are out and about. In other words, trying to find that centered place where you allow your breath to gather and spread out from to fill your body when you meditate. I do it best when alone---but sometimes when I am talking with someone, I remember to find my breath and just sit there, with them, breathing very consciously. I don't know if it shows on my face, but it is uncanny how it seems they can tell I am really present in a different way.
Explaining this, our teacher said: "But this is why we meditate--not so we can rack up hours on the cushion. So we can learn to find the breath whenever."
So liberating after years of not knowing why I was sitting at all, except for its own sake. And it is kind of that--but it is also to build this beautiful, portable home I can carry with me everywhere: my own breath.
