I only mean that right at the moment where my exhalation turns to inhalation (and to a lessor degree where inhalation turns to exhalation), observing the activity without altering the activity requires that I be waking up or falling asleep to it- that is to say, in a state where I am observing the action but the normal linkage to conscious motor response is not in effect. This is tricky, because the loss of conscious control in waking up or in falling asleep can result in a hypnic jerk.
What I have found is that close attendance to my sense of location in space and allowing that location to shift sponteneously (“dropping body and mind”?) is conducive to waking up or falling asleep.
That’s what I mean.