[Veveseinlep]

Firstly, I was unsure of quite how to deal with 'mindfulness of breathing'. This can be interpreted in many ways. Does one, for example, aim to pin ones awareness to a particular point; tip of the nose, somewhere in front of the chest or even follow the breath in and out? Does one count the breaths in any way?
It doesnt matter where you focus attention, its the mind your working with so it can be done with focus on nose, chest or just breathing in general. Myself I find I just focus on the breath coming in and out and the various sensations around that. However this is the way that works best for me, others it could be just nose etc

Counting the breaths is just a device to help beginners concentrate on the breath. The main practice begins when one is just aware of breathing and begins to develop an uninterrupted stream of mindfulness. Problem with counting is that, while being good for beginners, is caught up in thinking about the breath instead of being mindful of the breath



I'd be interested to get feedback on things members have experimented with and the experiences they gained.

And how do we judge success? Is it a case of retaining the object for a certain length of time to the exclusion of everything else? Are thoughts suppressed in any way?
One insight that helped me develop my practice was that one doesnt use the mind to search for the breath to be aware of it. Instead one notices the breath arise in awareness and stays with that (kinda hard to put into words)


There is no "success" or "failure" in meditation since every experience helps teach you in some way. However I would say ones practice is developing well when one begins to be aware in the present moment more and more easily, just noting and observing dhammas rise and fall and when one gets to know and abandon the hindrances


metta