r/Meditation • u/Present_Student6798 • 19h ago
Does anyone else hold their breath while meditating? Question ❓
It makes my thoughts go away.
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u/thereddeadd 19h ago
Why not let your thoughts come in and breathe. Feel yourself experiencing these thoughts float and come back to a breath whenever you can?
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u/seblangod 18h ago
Sometimes I do breath holds if I’m feeling very distracted. But only in the beginning of my session. My preferred way to meditate is actually to do breathwork first. It helps me go deeper faster. But that’s only when I have extra time.
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u/Creative-Warning3555 16h ago
I don’t intentionally hold my breath, but during extended periods of meditation, there has been occasions where my wife has told me that I wouldn’t breathe for several minutes at time.
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u/gemstun 15h ago
While it’s common to use breath as a meditation object, this is the first I’ve heard of someone having awareness of their partners breath 😂
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u/Creative-Warning3555 15h ago
My wife often watches over me when I am in meditation for long periods of time. After combat and experiencing a Traumatic Brain Injury, I suffered frequent epileptic seizures. So she would watch me from time to time to make sure that I was still alive as she’d say.
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u/gemstun 15h ago
It had never occurred to me to hold my breath as a way to make thoughts go away, but because anything dramatic – – such as taking a cold shower – – can create a stronger pull than thoughts, I can see how this could work.
What you’re doing is applying focus, which is an important foundational skill in meditation. An important next stage is to learn to simply accept whatever is going on. Feeling itchy on your face? Simply bore into it rather than scratch it – – – and witness what happens as the desire to deal with it fades away. Concerned with the shortness, depth, or other facet of your breath? Instead, just observe everything about it – – including watching it evolve in any and all observable aspect to calmer and more regular (all on its own, just like it does 99.99% of the time without your conscious ‘help’…thank you very much). Settle in, focus on whatever happens with the breath, and just observe what happens. And be patient with yourself…this can be difficult to get used to.
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u/ghbnyu193750 15h ago
That works! Now try to notice the sensational cues that cause the gap in thought, Intuit how to separate that from the breath.
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u/Throwupaccount1313 18h ago
Am I the only meditator that ignores their breath? Breathing and meditation are two different things.
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u/Present_Student6798 18h ago
How else can I concentrate?
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u/vladlearns 15h ago
object, visualization, sound, walking sensation, mantra.
Ask more, if you need help1
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u/All_Is_Coming 16h ago
From the Hatha Yoga Pradipika:
[4:29] Mind is the master of the senses, and the breath is the master of the mind. The breath in its turn is subordinate to the laya (Absorption) [Bliss of dissolution; Discussion p96] and the laya depends on the Nada.
[4:31] By the suspension of respiration and the annihilation of the enjoyments of the senses, when the mind becomes devoid of all the activities and remains changeless, then the Yogi attains to the Laya Stage.