The practitioner goes to a forest, to the root of a tree or to an empty hut. She sits down, crosses her legs, straightens her back, and establishes mindfulness at the opening of her mouth and nostrils. Mindfully she breathes in, mindfully she breathes out. Breathing in deep, she knows: “I breathe in a deep breath”; breathing out deep, she knows: “I breathe out a deep breath.” Breathing in shallow, she knows: “I breathe in a shallow breath”; breathing out shallow, she knows: “I breathe out a shallow breath.” She trains thus: “Feeling the entire body I will breathe in. feeling the entire body I will breathe out.” She trains thus: “I will breathe in calming my bodily inclinations. I will breathe out calming my bodily inclinations.”
Just as when a skilled turner or his apprentice makes a long turn, he knows: “I make a long turn,” and when making a short turn, he knows: “I make a short turn,” so too, when the practitioner breathes in a deep breath she knows: “My breathing is deep,” and when she breathes in a shallow breath, she knows: “My breathing is shallow.”
In this way, she dwells contemplating the body as a body internally, externally, and both internally and externally. Or she dwells contemplating bodily phenomena as they arise, as they vanish, as they both arise and vanish. Or else the recollection “This is a body” is simply established in her to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness.
When walking, she understands: “I am walking”’ when standing, she understands: “I am standing”; when sitting, she understands: “I am sitting”; when lying down, she understands: “I am lying down”; or she understands accordingly however her body is disposed….
In these ways, she dwells independent, not clinging to anything in the world. This is how one dwells contemplating the body as a body.
— Stephen Batchelor