Rather than struggling with the too-simple (and therefore too complicated for the overthinker) in-and-out breathing meditation, it is effective to take up Four Elements meditation. Here the subject is interesting and constantly changing. The result is eventually the same; only the route is different.
Pa Auk Sayadaw, literally an enlightened scholar-practitioner, teaches this method to those who do not progress to absorption and insight by concentrating on the breath. (Author and meditator Stephen Snyder is an excellent example of someone who succeeded using this meditation finding it futile to get anywhere with the breath).
The object is to perceive the Four Great Elements (maha-bhuta) in oneself. The characteristics or qualities of materiality are:
- Earth-element: hardness, roughness, heaviness, softness, smoothness, lightness.
- Water-element: flowing, cohesion.
- Fire-element: heat, coldness.
- Air-element: supporting, pushing.
Read about technique in detail in Mindfulness of Breathing & Four Elements Meditation.
