Anapanasati is generally translated as Mindfulness of Breathing. The strict practice is kind of organized into 16 stages. It can be looked at as slightly intellectual, it is not supposed to be, whether it really works for anyone I am not sure. Rosemary and I used this sort of practice for a fair while over in Suan Mokkh, that is their main teaching if you didn't know. They had a famous teacher who is now dead, Ajahn Buddhadasa.
As I understand, Anapanasati involves controlling your breathing, and getting so skilled in breath control that you can drop into a concentrated state that is very deep. If this works for anybody on that level they usually get stuck. They like it, they like that concentrated state, they don't have to think about things, the mind is very steady, it is still. And a lot of people get stuck there and that is part of its limitations, especially in this day in age, it doesn't seem to work, especially for Westerners. The benefit supposedly is that eventually you can get enlightened if you do it well enough, but you have to go beyond that concentration part. And you actually have to go into reflection. So in this kind of practice, Anapanasati, people will start with concentration only, no reflection. They try to get the concentration very, very strong, super strong, over and over and over and over. If they finally get it super strong, they can have some blissful feelings, they can get concentrated, but mostly they get stuck there and they would never do the rest of the practice, which involves reflections such as reflection on impermanence and a number of other things.
Now, the way that we are practicing, we are working on concentration, but you are also working on the reflections straight away, you are not waiting. You are not waiting for some time later when you think your mind is going to be super strong to do it, you are doing it straight away, you are getting the wisdom straight away. That is what we liked about this practice compared to Anapanasati. Maybe in the Buddha's days Anapanasati was a practice that worked for some people. Supposedly it was Sariputta's favorite meditation practice. However, even though it was his favorite subject that he would teach it to all his students even the Buddha's son, yet even though - I say this again - even though it was his favorite subject to teach, he did not get enlightened that way! He got enlightened through reflecting. In fact, he got the first level of enlightenment just listening to one sentence of another enlightened person.
Sariputta met one of the five first enlightened students of the Buddha, I think his name was Asita. When he saw Asita, he believed "This guy has it, he's got it and I want that." Sariputta was a meditator of another tradition at the time, just an average lay person. But when he saw Asita, he went up to Asita and said "Please. Teach me, teach me. I can tell you have something. What is your teacher's name and what does your teacher teach?" It was traditional to ask in that way. Asita, very modest, said - remember he was fully enlightened - he said, "I am sorry, I am very new to this." Sariputta said, "That is okay, just tell me in brief. Just whatever you know, tell me in brief, I am a fast learner." Asita said part of one sentence - boom! Sariputta obtained first level enlightenment. That was all it took.
A week later, he was a monk ordained under the Buddha, and he was fanning the Buddha on a hot day, listening to the Buddha while the Buddha was teaching some other people. He was just listening to the Buddha teaching other people! And he was reflecting on what the Buddha is saying. Suddenly he gets it - boom! He gets fully enlightened. So here is a guy, although he taught Anapanasati, he didn't get enlightened using that practice, so it makes it kind of interesting, doesn't it? Maybe he saw that a lot of his students were more gifted for that kind of practice, fine. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it is the best practice for everybody. So there are limitations, especially in this day in age with this type of practice. I have not seen the benefits in people who have practiced that way. We lived in Suan Mokkh on and off four different times for up to six months in total and we did not seen the benefits that we see here.