“The more one concentrates on breathing, the more the external stimuli fade into the background... In due course one even grows immune to larger stimuli, and at the same time detachment from them becomes easier and quicker. Care has only to be taken that the body is relaxed whether standing, sitting or lying, and if one then concentrates on breathing one soon feels oneself shut in by impermeable layers of silence. One only knows and feels that one breathes. And, to detach oneself from this feeling and knowing, no fresh decision is required, for the breathing slows down of its own accord, becomes more and more economical in the use of breath, and finally, slipping by degrees into a blurred monotone, escapes one's attention altogether.”
Quote by Eugen Herrigel
Work
Zen in the Art of Archery
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
“Every breath reminds us about our connection with the infinite Universe.”
Source: The House of the Scorpion
“... But my voice is too soft. The wind picks up my words and swallows them whole.”
Source: Unbreathable
“I didn't realise how important the sky was until I didn't have one”
Source: Across the Universe
Source: Beings Beyond Earth
Source: Brave New World
“Qué triste es que el futuro no te dé esperanza, tan sólo miedo.”
Source: Mañana todavía
“Tenía la mirada humana del animal domesticado”
Source: Tender Is the Flesh
