Week 1 (2/11/2026)
Ānāpānassati: Session 1 (4/9/25) Home Practice
- Become aware of the connection between the breath and the body in terms of energy. Which ways of breathing feel calming? Which ways of breathing feel energizing?
- If you already have a meditation practice that uses awareness of breathing, try feeling the breath in a location other than your usual or favorite location.
- Spend five to ten minutes (or longer) feeling the breath in each of the breath centers in this ‘map’:
- Below the navel
- Above the navel and below the sternum
- Center of the chest at the breastbone
- Feeling the flow of breath at the throat
- Somewhere in the head, at the tip of the nose or farther back in the nasal or sinus cavities
- Count the length of the inhale and the length of the exhale. To count five breaths in each area, you can count like this for each round of inhalations and exhalations:
- (inhale) “1 2345…” (exhale) “1 23456…”
- (inhale) “2 2345…” (exhale) “2 234567…
- (inhale) “3 23456…” (exhale) “3 23456…” and so on for 4 and 5
- Some of you requested a video to help you remember the energizing practice we did in class. This video is a little older. Now, as we did it in class, I like to relax the shoulders more on the first squatting motion, with the palms facing down. Then I hold the palms facing each other as I lift through the chest and raise the arms for the full chair pose.
- Video: Breath Center Energizer
- Password: ‘breathingCIMC’
Resources and readings for this session are located here, along with a copy of the home practice.