Observing breath without controlling it

[DMM710]

There are many techniques that require you to "Observe the breath without controlling it" Or observing your diaphragm rising and falling without controlling it. The thing is, when ever I try to observe my breathing I automatically control it. Idk how to let it happen automatically. Has anyone had a similar issue?

[SoonHei]

@DMM710 not this particular one... but just losing focus from not watching the breath... end up day dreaming or something else

 

also. to help explain how "not controlling" or "not trying" works - it needs to work in the same way as you let go and not control trying to make yourself fall asleep. you just lay there and know you are going to / want to sleep and just drift/melt into it...

gotta do the equivalent of that during this process & also making sure to remain consciousness and not fall asleep  

[PsiloPutty]

Yes, for sure. A tell-tale sign that you're unconsciously controlling it is when you forget whether you should be inhaling or exhaling and do a double inhale for instance, lol that happened to me a few times at first. It's very common, and it can mean that you're trying to focus TOO closely on the breath. You want your focus "not too tight.....not too loose" and you're too tight if you are conscious of controlling it.

Might help to imagine yourself as an observer to the person meditating. Like you aren't the one sitting there.....you're simply watching him/her. 

[Jack River]

I tried this a long time ago back in the day. When we understand the nature of control we may see that any concentrated attention is control. Concentrated observation, like on your breath or diagram, is to focus thought on a part of experience. Any direction of thought is control. 

What is control, what is not control?  maybe a good place to start. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Jack River

[Jack River]

It’s also implicit in any technique that there is this control. 

Be amazed how often this control takes place when think otherwise. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Jack River

[Javfly33]

16 hours ago, DMM710 said:

There are many techniques that require you to "Observe the breath without controlling it" Or observing your diaphragm rising and falling without controlling it. The thing is, when ever I try to observe my breathing I automatically control it. Idk how to let it happen automatically. Has anyone had a similar issue?

Yes, but that happens to 100% of people at the beggining. Is not a mistake, since the point of the whole technique is raising your consciouness so once you are more aware, the illusion of control of the breath dissapears. This will be how you measure if you have done any progress or not. 

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by Javfly33

[PsiloPutty]

@Javfly33  That's a good way to put it. For me, recognizing that illusion over the period of a few months involved a combination of becoming more aware of my breath, and also getting deeper into a meditative state. Once I got used to going deep and also taking full awareness with me to that level, it was easy to recognize the difference between mildly controlling my breath and not influencing it one iota.

OP, the more you try to change things (even if you're trying to change it to something more natural) the more frustrated you are likely going to get. I would say to just keep going on as you are. As time goes by, you will get to the point where you can see the difference for yourself, and that will be something of a turning point for this issue. I know you want to fix it right now, but there's nothing to fix. You're doing fine.  

[Hellspeed]

One has to control the Breath and channel it with orange and yellow into red in order to raise Kundalini otherwise is just mindfucking.