A Path to Tranquility · Ānāpānasati Sutta · Fourth Step

The word 'breath' contains 'spirit', which points to the deepest part of ourselves. In this series of five steps, Martin Guldberg follows us through the first stages of the awareness of the breath as described in the classic Buddhist text Ānāpānasati Sutta, 'breath-presence-instruction'.

In the first steps we made ourselves aware of our breath, made it clear to ourselves that we were breathing. We then examined some of the qualities of our breathing, asking ourselves, for example, whether we were breathing quickly or slowly. In the third step we followed an entire breathing cycle with our attention, seeing and feeling the start of the inhalation and then following the movement to its end and then in the same way with the exhalation.

We have now reached the fourth step:

TO FEEL THE BODY

Exercise number four focuses on the second translation of step three in the Ānāpānasati Sutta. It is probably the most widely used, and here the focus is expanded compared to the previous steps. As the practitioner breathes in and is present with the breath as described in the previous steps, the field of attention is now also expanded to include the body. It can be difficult to feel the whole body at once. Therefore, several training systems have instructed a gradual involvement of the body in presence. For example, the Indian teacher, SN Goenka, gave special attention in his vipassanā training program to a gradual involvement of the body through body scanning. One can thus divide this training approach into first a gradual involvement of presence with the body, and then – when one has mastered the gradual approach better – a full involvement of awareness of the body.