Ānāpāna: awareness of breathing

Ānāpāna (आनापान) is the Pali word for the in-breath and the out-breath. Ānāpānasati means mindfulness of breathing: keeping attention on breathing as it happens. It is the first practice taught on many Vipassana courses, and most of the traditions described on this site use the breath in some way, though they rest attention in different places and use it for different ends.

The source: the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118)

The main canonical text is the Ānāpānasati Sutta, discourse 118 of the Majjhima Nikāya. In Bhikkhu Sujato's translation, a meditator goes to a wilderness, the root of a tree or an empty hut, sits cross-legged, sets the body straight and brings mindfulness to the present: "Just mindful, they breathe in. Mindful, they breathe out."

The sutta makes a large claim for the practice. Developed and cultivated, it says, mindfulness of breathing fulfils the four kinds of mindfulness meditation (satipaṭṭhāna); these fulfil the seven awakening factors, and those fulfil knowledge and freedom. It then sets out 16 steps in four groups, one group for each satipaṭṭhāna. Each step is practised breathing in and breathing out.

Group	The four steps, in brief
Body	1–2 knowing a breath as heavy or light ("long or short" in other translations) · 3 experiencing the whole body · 4 stilling the physical process
Feelings	5 experiencing rapture · 6 experiencing bliss · 7 experiencing the mental process · 8 stilling it
Mind	9 experiencing the mind · 10 gladdening it · 11 immersing it in samādhi · 12 freeing it
Principles	13 observing impermanence · 14 fading away · 15 cessation · 16 letting go

The first four steps also appear in the breathing section of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta; see the four foundations of mindfulness. The last group names impermanence (anicca) and letting go. Suan Mokkh, the Thai hermitage founded by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, describes ānāpānasati as covering both concentration and insight meditation.

How the traditions use the breath

The same sutta is taught in quite different ways. Where attention rests, and what the breath is meant to lead to, depends on the tradition.

Tradition	Where attention rests	What it leads to
Goenka	The natural breath at the nostrils, then sensations in that small area	About three and a half days of concentration, then vipassanā on body sensations
IMC	A spot at the base of the nose, for about the first five days	Concentration, then vipassanā
Mahasi	The rising and falling of the abdomen, noted silently	Continuous noting and insight
Pa-Auk	The place the breath touches, at the upper lip or nostrils	Usually jhāna, then insight
Thai Forest	The nose-tip (Ajahn Chah); "Buddho" with each breath (Ajahn Lee)	A calm, collected mind
Suan Mokkh	Breathing, as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu taught ānāpānasati	Concentration in the first days, then insight
Sunlun	The touch of deliberately strong, fast breathing	Quick concentration, then the unpleasant sensation it produces
Mogok	The breath, briefly, when the mind is restless	Calm before contemplating feeling and mind

On S. N. Goenka's courses students observe the breath "without adding any word, shape, or form". His Day Ten discourse gives two reasons: breath is common to everyone, while a word or form may be acceptable to some and not to others; and the course investigates reality as it is, which cannot start from an imagination. Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, a Thai forest teacher, takes a different approach: in his Method 2 the meditator thinks bud- with the in-breath and dho with the out-breath.

Mahasi Sayadaw's centres watch the abdomen rather than the nostrils. His biography explains that the average meditator finds this movement, which it treats as the element of motion (vāyodhātu), easier to note. It adds that the method is not imposed: a meditator at a Mahasi centre may practise ānāpānasati instead.

In Pa-Auk Sayadaw's manual Knowing and Seeing, the meditator stays with the breath at the place it touches and does not follow it into or out of the body. As concentration develops, a sign of concentration (nimitta) may appear. The manual uses the breath to reach jhāna, deep meditative absorption, before the meditator turns to insight.

Simple guidance for a first sit

Breath awareness is one of the few practices that teachers across traditions describe in public for beginners. The points below summarise that published guidance. They are not a course: every tradition teaches the later stages with a teacher.

1. Sit upright but relaxed. Spirit Rock's introduction, adapted from Jack Kornfield, suggests sitting on a cushion or a chair in "an erect yet relaxed posture".
2. Let the breath be natural. Ajahn Chah says not to be concerned with whether the breath is long or short, weak or strong: "we just note it". The aim is to observe the breath, not to regulate it.
3. Rest attention where you feel the breath. Spirit Rock suggests wherever you notice it: coolness or tingling in the nose or throat, or the rise and fall of the chest or abdomen. Goenka, IMC, Pa-Auk and Ajahn Chah all narrow attention to a small area at the nose or upper lip.
4. When the mind wanders, come back. Spirit Rock suggests softly naming what carried you away ("planning", "remembering") and gently returning to the breath. Goenka's courses add no words. Knowing and Seeing suggests counting breaths, up to at least five and no more than ten, if the mind will not settle.
5. Keep it short at first. Spirit Rock's introduction suggests 20 or 30 minutes, then opening the eyes and looking around before getting up.

The meditation timer on this site rings a bell to begin and end a sit, with optional interval bells.

Common difficulties

• Controlling the breath. Goenka's courses and Ajahn Chah both ask for the natural breath, not a controlled one. Sunlun's strong breathing is a deliberate method, taught within its own tradition.
• Not feeling the breath. Goenka's Day Ten discourse recalls that students who could not feel the breath were allowed to breathe slightly hard for a while, to fix attention in the area of the nostrils, and then to return to natural, soft breathing.
• Drowsiness. His Day Six discourse suggests breathing slightly hard, getting up to sprinkle cold water on the eyes, or walking a little before sitting again.
• A restless mind. Wandering is expected; the practice is to notice it and return. Counting (Pa-Auk) or a meditation word (Ajahn Lee) are two traditional supports; Goenka's tradition avoids both.
• Lights and images. Knowing and Seeing tells meditators not to attend to the colour of the nimitta if one appears.

A short daily sit is very different from an intensive silent retreat. For what can happen on long retreats, and what the research says, read difficult experiences on meditation retreats.