In Zen training (get that book you guys) Katsuki Sekida, takes the reader through a bunch of phases in order to accomplish this bamboo breathing. All I have done: put those phases in a sequence. And what do you know: they enforce one and other. So here's how I do it:
1) I sit down in the proper way: quiet, straight, centered.
2) I start my Bamboo sequence. The big breath out and in followed by four normal breath cycles. One thing is different though: I breathe out trough my just slightly opened mouth (but in trough the nose). This promotes the tension you want in your abdomen. It makes you stronger. I do this about three five-breath-cycles. And I count every out breath and in breath: out>one, in>one, out, two, in>two etc.
3) I continue the Bamboo sequence. But instead I breathe in and out through the nose, like everybody says you should. Meanwhile I'm still counting my breath. the same way. This promotes purely the mental focus you need. I do this about three cycles as well. Or as long as I need to get in the right frame of mind. You'll know when that is.
4) Still Bamboo breathing, but now I no longer count anything, although I some how 'keep track' of the Bamboo cycle though. But it flows it's natural course. And mentally I concentrate on a word, syncing it with my breath. This can be any word or mantra or even a Koan if you're up to that. I have picked 'Mu' (the Chinese word for nothingness) just out of convenience and I guess out of some weird sense of tradition :) Repeat the word over and over silently or voiced like pushing at a door that is stuck a little. That will also build the right kind of tension in your abdomen. You do this stage for as long as you want or can.
In that last stage is where you might feel like you are 'clad in heavy armor' as the Zen poets describe it. An 'off sensation' which is hard to put into words. You are looking through your own eyes, but it feels like you are looking out of a window. This is the start of deep concentration. What happens next is impossible to put into words. For me especially, since I haven't really gone far beyond that. When I know more, so will you :)
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2 comments:
Ja hoor!
Nice article... I have practiced this form of meditation for a number of years and have found it to be the most potent method to quickly reach a deeper level of concentration. I have found that the first few deep exhalations are very crucial. I tend to strain myself a little more with the first few, holding my breath longer and pushing it out longer then subsequent exhalations.
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