For me it is rather hard to breathe naturally while doing Samatha meditation. It makes it harder to concentrate because I'm always controlling my breath.
Do you have any suggestion how to overcome this problem?
Is this a normal problem for a beginner in Samatha meditation?
Yes it is very normal, just try to remember that we meditate to let things go... let go of control, let go of stress, just be there concentrated in one single point
If you see yourself thinking too much on how you are breathing, remember to repeat to yourself "thinking, thinking, thinking...", you need to remind yourself not to follow thoughts, pain or control things, for tranquility meditation you need to let it go, your body knows how to do it!
Keep trying! :)
In the beginning one tends to control the breath out of habit. The moment we think about the breath we tend to take it over. Even going as far as trying to even it out, make it pleasant, make it smooth.
Sticking with it long enough one can realise that the breath is not completely controllable or always pleasant. Realising this one can think that the meditation is not done right, as if the mediator is failing, however this is part of the practise. Seeing your habit of clinging, of trying to control and seeing that it doesn't work, you slowly and momentarily let it go.
So my suggestion is to simply sticking with it and you'll find yourself slowly letting the breath rise and fall, rather than trying to control.
Try focusing on the breath that might help I think but it's normal to want to control breathing at first but if you try focusing on the breath then it becomes a concept. It's always difficult in the beginning but it gets easier. The mind is always jumping around so we have to give it something to focus on.
