Constant awareness of breathing at the entrance of nostrils is an ancient Buddhist practice called Vipassana in Pali language for the cultivation of detached constant seamless clarity of awareness, the phenomenon of knowing detached from known and unknown without giving rise to inner knower.
This practice is also called Anapanasati in Pali language meaning energy of inhalation and exhalation. Through detached clear seamless awareness, knowing happens correctly in the right context.
Breathing starts due to different cause and conditions like physiological impulses and atmospheric air pressure. Breath is the means to inhale natural energy that fuels processes of life giving rise to phenomenon of wakefulness, consciousness and awareness, the phenomenon of experiencing and knowing evolved to different degrees.
Awareness of Breath Stops Mind
You cannot think and remain aware of breathing at the same time. Awareness of breath at the entrance of nostrils can stop chain of thoughts. Without chain of thoughts, there is no mind. Without mind, awareness is seamlessly clear without distractions and focused on reality. No mind is one of the important factors of deep meditation.
Constant clear seamless awareness in between two consecutive thoughts gets detached from experiences. Such detached clear seamless awareness is a matured reflective function of knowing detached from known.
Through intuitive insight, you can recognize yourself as clear seamless awareness, the phenomenon of knowing, arising due to your harmoniously integrated indispensable constituent conditions.
Detached clear seamless awareness in between two consecutive thoughts is like brightness of life due to which experiences are known correctly in the right context.
How To Practice Awareness of Breath at Entrance of Nostrils
Awareness of breathing is practiced by paying attention to each and every incoming and outgoing breath at the entrance of nostrils so that you do not get any opportunity to think. Remain aware of breath at entrance of nostrils but not the nostrils.
Remain relaxed and aware of each and every breath at the entrance of nostrils like a just born infant breathing for the first time without any mind.
With an empty stomach, find a comfortable place (preferably in nature) to practice. Cheerfully and without any cravings, relax while sitting comfortably in any posture in which knees are not above the level of lap. Seat should neither be too soft nor too hard.
Keep appropriate gap between knees, bent comfortably enough to keep lower back comfortably straight (without bent in between sacrum and lumbar spine). Spine should be neutral, neither reclining forward nor leaning backward. Keep rest of the body, including neck and shoulder, naturally relaxed.
Close the eyes in order to avoid visual distractions for mind so that you can focus completely on awareness of breath at the entrance of nostrils.
Remain aware of each incoming and outgoing breath at the entrance of nostrils so that you do not get opportunity to think. Your attention on breath at the entrance of nostrils should be one pointed like saw cutting the wood at a single point.
While trying to stay aware, body may get tensed and attention may wander with the thoughts. Keep your body naturally relaxed and constantly bring your attention back to your breath at the entrance of nostrils.
Do not concentrate but remain aware of breath as if relaxing in a conscious sleep. If you concentrate, it will give rise to stress and self, whereas if you remain aware of breath at entrance of nostrils, you will relax in seamless clarity of awareness.
Practice mindfulness of breath at the entrance of nostrils until thoughts stop and you can remain seamlessly aware in the gap between two consecutive thoughts.
After the practice, lie down for some time so that the deeply relaxed body becomes normal and ready to resume normal activities.
Practice mindfulness of breath at the entrance of nostrils regularly. With regular practice, you will be able to remain aware in gap between consecutive thoughts. The gap between consecutive thoughts is freedom from effect of experiences and mind. You and your actions will not be influenced by experiences or mind.
Breathing has to be natural and without force or control. Relaxed body, calm mind, and correct posture rectifies breathing and makes it natural.
With constant awareness of breath at the entrance of nostrils, the breathing can eventually become deeper, fuller, slower and less frequent. Awareness of breath should be constant in such a way that you do not get any opportunity to think. In fact, you cannot think and remain aware of breath at the same time.
During this practice, breathing can become so slow that it will seem suspended even if all the airways are open. Just remain aware of it at the entrance of nostrils. Increase your stamina and capacity to remain aware of breath for longer and longer period of time.
As you remain seamlessly aware of breath at the entrance of nostrils, you will realize that you become thoughtless and disappear psychologically. The notions of self will disappear as if it was never there psychologically just like at the time of your infancy.
Rest and disappear psychologically in that thoughtless awareness as long as possible. If thoughts appear, again focus on the breath at entrance of the nostrils.
Without any activities in the mind, completely relax and let go any remaining feeling of being inner self so that you disappear psychologically and get detached in order to remain aware of being aware in between eyebrows or in order to relax in deep conscious sleep as if hibernating.
With eyes closed, without activities in the mind remain aware of being aware but detached without inner self, without looking at the darkness in front of eyes. Relax in that state of detached awareness without inner self, as if in deep conscious sleep like a state of hibernation.
Recognize the knack of detached seamlessly clear awareness of being aware or deep conscious sleep and enjoy it whenever possible.
Keep body relaxed internally and externally during this exercise. A relaxed body allows smooth flow of vital forces mobilized by breathing and makes surplus vital force available for brain to stay focused and aware of breath at the entrance of nostrils.
When body is totally relaxed, your mind can calm, you can easily disappear psychologically, and awareness can detach from experiences while the breathing is involuntarily abdominal or diaphragmatic.
By keeping your body naturally relaxed, the mobilized vital force can refresh the chronically conditioned voluntary and involuntary strata of your personality and render it supple.
How Awareness of Breath Works
When you are aware of breath, breathing is natural and not according to activities in mind. Hence constant awareness of breathing liberates you from mind and compulsive thinking. By remaining aware of breath, you are natural beyond mind and self-image.
Water needs constant heating till it reaches the boiling point and becomes vapor or a wand of rubber needs to be stretched beyond certain threshold for it to break. Similarly, a constant awareness of breath is necessary until a threshold is reached at which, only awareness remains detached from experience of breathing and mind.
Initially this detached awareness is momentary but by practice it can last longer and easily recognizable as the natural truth of your nature without inner self or self-image.
Effect On Body And Mind
Relaxing and constantly staying aware of breath at the entrance of your nostrils can cause attention to come in present moment and breathing to become slow and deep. Breathing rate can fall as low as 3 to 6 deep breaths per minute.
Laboratory studies has found that slow deep breathing exercise synchronizes rate at which heart receives blood, rate at which heart pumps blood, rate at which lungs are perfused and rate of alveolar gaseous exchange. This can improve cardiorespiratory system. This can also optimally charge blood with oxygen and remove dissolved gaseous toxins like carbon dioxide.
Peculiar diaphragmatic movement in slow deep breathing has a lowering effect on blood pressure. Blood and body is oxygenated thoroughly and can get charged with more vital force thus casting a restorative influence on your physiology.
Scientists also claim that continuous slow deep breathing has two-way effect on nervous system due to which the autonomous response of body to stress and recovery from it improves. However, people with certain clinical conditions should practice slow deep breathing only after expert medical advice.
By staying constantly aware of breath, you constantly remain thoughtless. This can blur the impressions of past experiences on mind and eventually wipes out your past psychological condition. This exercise is a process of grilling in to your voluntary and involuntary psyche. Each layer of mind is peeled, sublimated and transformed. Your mind becomes empty just like when it was at the time of naturally fulfilled infancy.