‘When we sit, we bring joy and nourishment to ourselves and to others…We are solid. We are relaxed. We are calm. We are happy…’
Thich Nhat Hanh considers the mechanics of posture and breathing, and reveals how the simple act of sitting quietly, at peace with ourselves and our surroundings, can be a powerful way to strengthen our inner resources.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a world-renowned writer, poet, scholar and Zen Buddhist monk, who lives mostly in the monastic community he founded in France. The author of the New York Times bestseller Anger and the classic work The Miracle of Mindfulness, as well as numerous other books, he conducts public workshops and peace-making retreats throughout the world. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.
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Silence
Anger
Being Peace
Breathe! You Are Alive
Creating True Peace
Fear
Fragrant Palm Leaves
Going Home
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
Living Buddha, Living Christ
The Miracle of Mindfulness
No Death, No Fear
The Novice
Old Path, White Clouds
Peace is Every Breath
Peace is Every Step
Present Moment, Wonderful Moment
The Art of Communicating
The Sun My Heart
Transformation and Healing
True Love
The first thing to do is to stop
whatever else you are doing.
Now sit down somewhere comfortable.
Anywhere is fine.
Notice your breathing.
As you breathe in,
be aware
that you are
breathing in.
As you breathe out,
notice that you are
breathing out.
Many of us spend a lot of time sitting—too much time. We sit at our jobs, we sit at our computers, and we sit in our cars. To sit, in this book, means to sit in such a way that you enjoy sitting, to sit in a relaxed way, with your mind awake, calm, and clear. This is what we call sitting, and it takes some training and practice.
In our daily lives, our attention is dispersed. Our body is in one place, our breath is ignored, and our mind is wandering. As soon as we pay attention to our breath, as we breathe in, these three things—body, breath, and mind—come together. This can happen in just one or two seconds. You come back to yourself. Your awareness brings these three elements together, and you become fully present in the here and the now. You are taking care of your body, you are taking care of your breath, and you are taking care of your mind.
When you make a soup, you have to add together all the right ingredients in harmony and let them simmer. Our breath is the broth that brings the different elements together. We bathe spirit and mind in our breath and they become integrated so they are one thing. We are whole.
We don’t need to control our body, mind, and breath. We can just be there for them. We allow them to be themselves. This is nonviolence.
The energy of mindfulness can help improve your whole being. Just pay attention to your in-breath. Allow it to be the way it is and you will see that the quality of your breathing naturally becomes calmer, deeper, and more harmonious all by itself. This is the power of simple recognition. When your breath is deeper and more peaceful, it will have an influence right away on your body and your mind. Peace and calm are contagious.
Imagine a boat full of people crossing the ocean. The boat is caught in a storm. If anyone panics and acts rashly they will endanger the boat. But if there’s even one person who is calm, this person can inspire calm in others. Such a person can save the whole boat. That’s the power of non-action. Our quality of being is the ground of all appropriate action. When we look closely at our actions and the actions of those around us, we can see the quality of being behind these actions.
Imagine trees standing together in a forest. They don’t talk, but they feel each other’s presence. When you look at them, you might say they aren’t doing anything. But they are growing and providing clean air for living things to breathe. Instead of describing sitting meditation as the practice of concentration, looking deeply, and getting insight, I like to describe sitting as enjoying doing nothing. Primarily, sitting is to enjoy the pleasure of sitting, being fully alive and in touch with the wonders of our working bodies, the cool air, the sounds of people and birds, and the changing colors of the sky.
The term for sitting and being aware is sitting meditation. “Zen” is the Japanese pronunciation of dhyana, which is the Sanskrit word for meditation. Meditation is simply the practice of stopping and looking deeply. You do not need to sit to meditate. Anytime you are looking deeply—whether you are walking, chopping vegetables, brushing your teeth, or going to the bathroom—you can be meditating. In order to look deeply, you need to make the time to stop everything and see what is there.