Exploration by Nagesvara of the beginning of the Anapansati meditation practice, namely the preliminaries and the breath. "Here, gone to the forest to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, we sit down; folding our legs crosswise, keeping the body erect, and having established mindfulness to the fore, mindful, one breathes in; mindful one breathes out. While breathing in long, one knows: 'I breathe in long.' While breathing out long, one knows, 'I breathe out long.' While breathing in short, one knows: 'I breathe in short.' While breathing out short, one knows, 'I breath out short.'" Excerpted from the talk The Preliminaries and the Breath, part of the series The Flow of Life: exploring Anapanasati, given at Metta Vihara Retraitecentrum, 2022. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Soundcloud