Our  breath is something that we probably take for granted despite the fact  that we cannot live without it. We can live without food for weeks,  without water for days, but we cannot survive without the nourishment  that the breath provides for more than a few tens of seconds. The breath  really is life.
There is an important way in which the breath  does not need us to make it happen. The breath breathes itself. If it  was up to us to remember to breathe, we’d have forgotten long ago. So  tuning into the breath can be an important antidote to the natural  tendency towards believing that we have to be in control. Attending to  the breath reminds us that at the core of our being, something is  happening that depends very little on who we are or what we want to  achieve.
Our breath provides a natural, gently moving target to  focus on in our meditation; it grounds us in the here and now. We cannot  take a breath for five minutes ago, or for five minutes’ later. We can  only take a breath for now.
Our breath can be a sensitive monitor  for our feelings. If we can sense more clearly when the breath is short  or long, shallow or deep, rough or smooth, we can begin sensing our own  internal weather patterns, and choose whether and how to take skillful  action to look after ourself.
Finally, the breath provides an  anchor for our attention, so that we can see more clearly when our mind  has wandered, when it is bored or restless or when we are fearful or  sad. During even the shortest meditation on the breath, we may become  aware of how things are for us, and, returning to the breath, let go of  the tendency to fix things straight away. The breath opens up a  different possibility, that of allowing life to live itself for a while,  to see what wisdom emerges when we don’t rush in to ‘put things right’.  This can be an important antidote to emerging feelings of anxiety,  stress, and unhappiness.

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