A good practicioner should know how to practice mindful deep breathing with our abdomen when there is a strong emotion. It's like holding the trunk of a tree during the time of a storm. If you look at a tree in the backyard, you see that if you focus your attention on the top of the tree, you have the impression that the tree is very vulnerable. It can be blown away by the wind anytime. But when you focus your attention on the trunk of the tree, you see that the tree is deeply rooted, in earth, and you see that the tree will stand. So we are like a tree. The brain is only the top of the tree. And during the storm of the emotion we should not stay here (points at head) and continue to think and to imagine - we should bring our attention down to the level of the navel, the dantian spot, and we should follow the practice of mindful breathing, deep breathing, and pay attention only to the rise and the fall of our abdomen. And then you feel safe and the emotion can not do anything to us. There is only one thing to remember; an emotion is just an emotion.
Awakening the heart with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
- August 14th, 2011
- The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUKiN11FARE @ ca 37:25
