Day 8: Deepening the Focus
Tara: Being mindful of your breath is an easily available anchor to bring steadiness into all aspects of your mindfulness practice as it unfolds. As you may have already seen, this simple tool can make a positive difference for you at work, in school, in your clinic or office, and at home. For example, a man owns a computer game company and faces a lot of ongoing deadlines. He reports how even a few minutes of mindful breathing can relieve the stress and worry he faces most days. A graduate student found that this practice helped to quiet and clear her mind before taking her exams. In the course of these 40 sessions, you will develop the capacity to remain more resilient and balanced with whatever experiences might arise in your body, your emotions, and thoughts.

As our program goes on, mindfulness of breathing will continue to serve as a home base for presence. You can return to the simple breathing practices we've suggested. Use them as often as needed, as a powerful resource for focus, clarity, and inner ease. In this session of Mindfulness Daily, we will build on the tools you learned of calming and of counting the breath to deepen your focus and bring an even more careful attention to the flow of each breath. Every breath is a wave, an arc of movement. With a spirit of curiosity and investigation, you can begin to notice how each breath has a beginning, a middle, and an end. With a soft, clear attention, you can allow yourself to be present with the ever-changing rhythms of the breath.

You might try this right now as I'm talking. As you track each breath, you may notice that there is a space between the out-breath and the next in-breath. This tiny gap, when the breath turns around, can be a time when the attention wanders away, or it can be an opportunity to deepen your attention. Notice the stillness in that gap. Rest in it. Make that stillness your friend. This is the empty place before the beginning. This is the stillness a star player enters before a jump shot or a soprano experiences before that beautiful high note. Since this moment of stillness, and then notice how the breath naturally reappears. Each breath begins in this place, flows through a river of sensations, and then fades to another brief moment of quiet. Tet yourself a steady witness, making space for each breath with a kind and careful attention.

This growing sensitivity to the entire wave of each breath will deepen your concentration. Whether you’re writing computer code, comforting a patient, or solving a challenging problem on a task, your growing capacity for focus and concentration, combined with deepening kindness will serve all you do. As we’ve been doing, come into a comfortable sitting position and establish a simple sense of presence. Notice the state of your body and mind and bring a kind attention to it. Let your body settle and your mind be at ease as best you can. And fill your body with the half-smile of kindness. Take two deep relaxing breaths now to sense the breath more fully in your body. Now, bring your relaxed and focused attention to the natural rhythm of breathing wherever you feel or sense the breath most easily.

Let the breath breathe itself, and with a relaxed receptive attention, just notice your experience without any judgement. Feeling several breaths in a row, and as you feel each breath, let the mind calm and the body relax. If it’s been helpful, you might softly use the words calm and ease, or you might want to count one to five or one to 10 to stabilize your focus. Continue with this relaxed and calming attention on the breath for a few more moments. Remember, each time the attention has wandered, gently bring the puppy back. Sit, stay, with this breath, and then the next one. No judgement, simply a kind, steady return. This breath just as it is. Now, as the breath settles, you can deepen the focus of your attention.

Feel how the movement of each breath has an arc you can gently follow. Wherever you’re feeling the breath, notice the sensations when it first begins, and you can track it through the long middle and into the fading at the end. Follow each in-breath and out-breath as it appears and disappears. Stay with it as you gently sense the rhythm and flow and breathing. Notice the rhythm, the beginning, middle, and end. Sense each changing wave of breath with steadiness and care, calmly noticing the beginning, middle, and end. And now, also begin to notice if there’s a space or gap between breaths. The pause or space at the end of the exhale might be the easiest to notice. And when you sense that space, rest in it calmly, easily. Sense your body sitting and graciously awaiting the breath to resume.

Sometimes, you can even sense a space before the exhale, though this can be very subtle. Remember, this is not about controlling the breath in any way. You're not holding your breath at the turning point. You're merely being present with that space between the in-breath and the out-breath. Continue your practice in this way, attending to the beginning, middle, end of the breath, the space between the breaths. Relaxed and steady, keep it simple, this breath arising and moving like a wave. You're learning the art of mindful attention and concentration. Keep returning with kindness and patience. A few more moments amidst the waves, let the calm and steadiness grow.

During the next few days, from time to time, return to this relaxed and careful breathing, sensing that turning point. You’re learning to be the steady witness of your own body and breath. You’re seeding a deep, focused awareness that’s calm and kind. This will serve you in a thousand ways.
© Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield
Reprinted by permission.