How to watch the processes of inhaling and exhaling in meditation?

How are we to watch the processes of inhaling and exhaling in meditation?

Hold the spine erect. Do not allow it to bend. The body is in a state of natural balance when the backbone is held erect. In that position the gravitational pull of the earth has a uniform effect on the body and it is easy to free oneself from its attraction. When the force of gravity is at its minimum the body does not interfere in one's becoming empty, in one's becoming devoid of thoughts. Hold the backbone erect, without tension or rigidity in the body. Allow the body to relax as if it were hung on the spine like a piece of cloth on a peg. Relax the body completely and then breathe slowly and deeply. The inhaling and the exhaling will move the naval center up and down. Continue to watch this movement. It isn't necessary to concentrate on it, just watch it. Be a witness to it.…

And relax the body as well, so that the body does not hinder you in any way, so there is no strain. Whoever wishes to lie down may lie down right now. Leave the body loose as well. The eyes are closed; the body has been left loose. Whoever wants to lie down should lie down quietly. Now take your attention to the breath. Look within: breath is going in, coming out. Watch the breath. As soon as you begin to watch the breath, you will be standing at that place, at that door from which meditation opens. Begin to watch the breath—this breath has gone in. It is a very subtle thing; if you watch within carefully, it will begin to be seen. To be seen means it will begin to be felt: breath is going in, breath is coming out.

Question: SEEKER! DO NOT BE RECKLESS. MEDITATE CONSTANTLY OR YOU WILL SWALLOW FIRE AND CRY OUT: "NO MORE!" IF YOU ARE NOT WISE, HOW CAN YOU STEADY THE MIND? IF YOU CANNOT QUIETEN YOURSELF, WHAT WILL YOU EVER LEARN? HOW WILL YOU BECOME FREE? WITH A QUIET MIND COME INTO THAT EMPTY HOUSE, YOUR HEART, AND FEEL THE JOY OF THE WAY BEYOND THE WORLD. LOOK WITHIN -- THE RISING AND THE FALLING. WHAT HAPPINESS! HOW SWEET TO BE FREE! IT IS THE BEGINNING OF LIFE, OF MASTERY AND PATIENCE, OF GOOD FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY, OF A PURE AND ACTIVE LIFE. SO LIVE IN LOVE. DO YOUR WORK. MAKE AN END OF YOUR SORROWS. FOR SEE HOW THE JASMINE RELEASES AND LETS FALL ITS WITHERED FLOWERS. LET FALL WILLFULNESS AND HATRED. ARE YOU QUIET? QUIETEN YOUR BODY. QUIETEN YOUR MIND. YOU WANT NOTHING. YOUR WORDS ARE STILL.

How is one to watch breath when it is not seen but felt?

Watching need not be a seeing, it can be a feeling. In fact it has to be a feeling because how can you see your breath? You feel it, the touch of it. When the breath moves through the passage, you feel the touch of it. The whole thing is not a question of seeing. The thing is to be alert that it is going in, that it has reached to the very innermost core of your being, that now it has stopped; that now it is coming back. The ebb and the tide: now it has gone out, moved completely out, stopped; then again moving back. The whole circle of it -- coming in, going out, coming in, going out -- one has to be aware. If you feel it, that is awareness -- but one should not miss feeling it. If you can do it every day for…

So, first thing: what we are going to do is not concentration. And, the result of concentration is harmful. If you forcibly hold the chitta to one thing—upon some image, some thought, some mantra, some name of God—if you forcibly stop thought, then a very strange event happens, of which you are not aware. If thought is stopped by force, in a little while, as a result of that forcing, the mind becomes stupefied. It is called auto‑hypnosis, self‑hypnosis. If you go on looking at one and the same thing for five minutes, your eyes will be utterly tired. If you still go on looking, in a little while you will find that the eyes have closed by themselves. And in that moment you will become stupefied. It is a kind of hypnotic sleep. It is not meditation.