Welcome to one of our most basic practices called Mindful Breathing. It is, simply put, being aware of your in-breath and out-breath. At first, we can be mindful of 3 in- and out-breaths and gradually build our awareness and concentration over more breaths, and over a longer period of time. We find that our breath is the most reliable and portable tool that we always have at hand when we are overwhelmed by strong emotions. Our breath is our favorite anchor that we turn to when we need to find our center and reestablish solidity. When we feel a rush of anxiety or boiling rage escalating inside, we resort to calming ourselves with mindful breathing. One of the most simple exercises is:

In – Out

Deep – Slow

Calm – Ease

Smile – Release

Present Moment – Wonderful Moment

The most important thing is to enjoy and not control your breath. It’s okay if it’s short or long or deep or shallow. With time and practice it will naturally become deeper and slower.

“Every time you feel lost, alienated, or cut off from life, or from the world, every time you feel despair, anger, or instability, practice going home. Mindful breathing is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home.”

— Thích Nhat Hanh
Taming the Tiger Within

Sitting Meditation is a time to be still. At Greatwoods Zen and in Plum Village practice centers there is a song called “Happiness is Here and Now”. One line goes, “No where to go, nothing to do.” Sitting meditation is when we can stop and be in our body. We can feel happy. Sitting meditation is a designated time for us; it is “my time.” When our body has stopped moving, it gives our mind a chance to calm down also. Practicing sitting meditation we want to unite our body and mind. This desire to feel our body, to be in our body, to understand our body, to fully embrace our body and to heal our body is an act of love. It takes determination to settle into our body and to become aware of this world within us. When our body is at ease and comfortable, it does not take effort to sit like a mountain – to sit solidly and in freedom.

We all know that when we are unhappy or we have strong emotions, whether pleasant or unpleasant, it is a challenge to be still. What allows us to be able to sit still and be calm is to follow our breathing. This exercise of being aware of our in- and out- breath brings the light of awareness to shine forth onto these strong emotions. When we understand something, or want to understand something, it is much easier for us to be present for it, unconditionally.

Mindfulness of our breath is an anchor that grounds us to our Mother Earth. It keeps us in place even when the winds of thoughts and feelings are blowing forcefully. Training ourselves to be mindful of our breath is like making a best friend. When we have a best friend, we connect more openly with other people, because we have someone to take refuge in – someone we believe understands us well. If our best friend is friends with someone else, then we too can be friends with him or her and at the least manage to hang out with him or her. That someone else, our “next friend” we meet on this path, is our body. Once we have made friends with our body, then it is easier and we have more confidence in making friends with our mind.

Sitting to relax, to enjoy, to understand.

As our practice deepens sitting meditation can become like sitting and having a good cup of coffee or juice with a long time dear friend. You are just sitting and enjoying each others’ company and listening wholeheartedly without any judgment. You are there simply in order to understand, so you can be there for your friend. It is like that with sitting meditation as we get to know our body and mind. We want to sit so we can understand and know how to live our life more fully and happily without regrets. Since we are sitting with our best friend the breath, we feel secure and blessed to have someone so faithful by our side. We do not need to be afraid of “not being enough” because we understand ourselves, and our limits and our potential. We know we have weaknesses but we know our faithful friend will be by our side and shed light on these areas as is needed throughout our life, so we can take it easy. This awareness of “being enough” is a great insight that can only come when we stop and care for ourselves, not allowing ourselves to be caught and carried away by the mainstream of society. We learn to live wisely from our understanding and wish to love life.

Bitesize sitting sessions

We do not need to sit for long. If we can sit peacefully and joyfully for 5-10 minutes in the morning, that is enough to water the seed of stopping and of coming back to ourselves. We can also sit for 5-10 minutes, breathing in and out in the evening before crashing on our bed to knock out for the night. Sitting for short periods like that is enough for us to be more aware of our actions of body, speech, and mind in order for us to develop and grow into a beautiful human being.

Walking meditation can be our closest friend. It is always available, always there for us. Our meditative steps soothe, reassure, comfort and embrace us when we need it most. We practice walking meditation wherever we are, walking from building to building or point A to point B. We practice it when we’re happy, when we’re angry, when we’re lonely, when we’re sad. Walking puts us in touch with ourselves, and with the wonderful and healing elements of life around us. It sets us free from the worries and grounds us in reality.

Not walking like a zombie

To walk in meditation simply means to walk knowing we are walking. Walking like this we’re awake to our steps, awake to our life right here, right now. We put all our attention, all our heart, into our steps. Simply being with each step is enough to bring stillness and freshness to our walking moment.

Synchronizing mind, steps and breathing

We bring 100% of our attention to the contact between our feet and the ground, and we gently combine our steps with our breathing. Breathing in, perhaps we take three or four steps. Breathing out, we take five or six steps. We’re just a breathing-walking being in that moment.

Landing into the present moment

If we are someone whose mind is always buzzing, when we walk, we can really let go of the thoughts whizzing around in our heads: we can let go of tension that may be there, regretting something we’ve said or done, or hurt or disappointment about something that happened in the past; and we can let go of our fears, anxieties and stress about what we’re facing ahead. And we can just focus on our steps. Freeing ourselves from the weight of the past, and freeing ourselves from angst about the future, we land, lightly and freely into the present moment.

Awakening to life, to freedom

We feel the contact of our feet with the ground, and take our steps solidly and freely, rather than trippingly. Each step is our life: we cannot find our lives in the future. So each step is worth taking for real, and not in a hurry. So we gently put all our attention into the point of contact between our feet and the ground. We know when we’re walking on asphalt, or pebbles, or moss, or grass or gravel. We feel that relationship. We feel the breeze on our face, the warm sunshine or chill at dusk. We feel the expanse of the sky above us and the vast earth beneath us. We hear the sound of the birds, the wind in the trees – or the roar of traffic & bustle of life around us. Walking like this we feel a kind of freedom.

Eye of the urban storm

A friend once shared this: I used to walk like this through downtown London on my way to work in the newsroom. I learnt that I could walk freely – but also fast. I could walk fast without hurrying, because I was there with every step. Even though there was traffic, sirens, and stress all around me, I used my mindfulness to bring my attention to the sky, the trees, the river, the earth. I found sources of solidity and freshness, and chose them as my reference point. As I walked I would let go my worries go into the sidewalk, and release the tension in my shoulders and chest. I felt like I was master of my life, and my environment – not carried along by the rush-hour majority, not taking on their stress as my own. My inner-city walking meditations were moments of freedom and of rest, when I was really myself, and really living my life.

Dharma Sharing is, very simply, an opportunity to practice the 4th of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings: Deep Listening and Loving Speech. As a speaker, it is an opportunity for us to share deeply our experience of applying the practice of mindfulness in our lives. It is a time for us to share our happiness and also share our difficulties. It’s a safer space where we can share freely whatever is real for us, whatever is on our heart, perhaps even things we have never felt able to share before.

But most of all it is an opportunity for us to listen to each other. How many times in our lives have we felt that no one is really listening to us? And how many times have we not really been able to listen to our friends and our loved ones because our mind is occupied with other things (or because we’re busy texting)?

In a session of Dharma Sharing, we learn to listen deeply to each other, offering each other our full presence, not allowing ourselves to be carried away by judging or reacting to what the other person is saying. We listen deeply by focusing our attention on our breathing, again and again bringing our mind back to our body and letting go of our thinking. Thich Nhat Hanh says that deep listening has the capacity to heal.

When we share, we share to the whole group. We try to avoid crosstalk, and we definitely don’t give anyone advice. We get enough advice already. The best way to protect the space for everyone is to keep our sharing to our own experience. When we all share our own experience, the wisdom of the group manifests, and we are able to touch true siblinghood.

Also, something we practice in the Greatwoods Zen Sangha, is our vow of confidentiality. Whatever we say in Dharma Sharing is to be kept in confidence, so that we can truly create a safer place for trust and intimacy. In addition, if someone shares something that we would like to discuss with them afterwards, we first ask the person permission to discuss what they shared; this gives them the opportunity to say yes or no.

We also try to be mindful of the time allotted for Dharma Sharing, and how many people are present so that everyone who would like to share would at least get the opportunity. So when there are a lot of people or little time, we try to keep our sharing brief (unless someone is really struggling with something and needs the extra time to be fully supported by the Sangha). When there are fewer people and ample time, we tend to share a bit longer and perhaps more than once. It is always nice to plan enough time so that everyone has the chance to share at least once; but of course no one is obligated to speak, and remaining silent with a supportive peaceful presence along with deep listening is very nourishing.

When we practice in this way we begin to become increasingly skillful, and this practice carries over into our day to day interactions with family, friends, co-workers, bosses, teachers, coaches, clients, etc. When we filter our thoughts through our heart and listen with our true presence, we can truly heal one another one word at a time.

It’s like Sitting Meditation, but Yummier.

Eating is one of the most regular and dependable things that we already do in our daily life. Mindful eating, or Eating Meditation, is a great way to incorporate a regular dose of mindfulness into our everyday practice – at least three times a day! In eating meditation, we take the time to connect more deeply with the food we have before us. Whether it’s a snack, a drink, or a full meal, we slow down to see, taste, and recognize exactly what it is we are putting into our body. Looking deeply into our food, we become aware of the many conditions that have come together for the food to be on our plate. With this awareness, we water seeds of gratitude and compassion for the nourishment we are able to receive at the cost of much energy and hard work, and this awareness then also becomes a source of nourishment for us.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Slowing down is an important part of becoming more present during our meals. We give ourselves full permission to eat in a leisurely, attentive way instead of rushing through our meal to get it out of the way of “more important things.” When we give ourselves time to chew the food carefully and thoroughly, we can connect more deeply with the tastes and textures of our food, and become more aware of the nutriments that we are incorporating into our body. We also have the time to observe and embrace certain habit energies – did we put too much food on our plate? are we eating beyond what our body is needing? are our minds wandering towards the future or the past? are we using the food to nourish ourselves or are we using it to run away from our anxieties and suffering? As we touch old habit energies about our way of consuming, we are able to recognize and smile to them, and then gently set course for a healthier way of eating and living.

Setting aside time to be with ourselves as we enjoy a mindful meal is a wonderful way to lay claim to an oasis of peace in our daily lives. And it’s a practice we can share together with our friends and family, as well.

The Five Contemplations

1. This food is the gift of the whole universe – the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.

2. May we eat and live in mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.

3. May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.

4. May we keep our compassion alive by eating is such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.

5. We accept this food in order to nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, strengthen our community of practice, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.

Resting is a precondition for healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down, and they rest completely for many days. They don’t think about food or anything else. They just rest and they get the healing they need. When we humans become overcome with stress, we may go to the pharmacy and get drugs, but we don’t stop. We don’t know how to help ourselves.

Stress accumulates in our body. The way we eat, drink, and live takes its toll on our well-being. The practice of deep relaxation (also known as total relaxation) provides an opportunity for our body to rest, to heal, and to be restored. We relax our body, give our attention to each part in turn, and send our love and care to every cell.

It’s so important to relax. But our lives can be so hectic, and our minds so complex. That’s why it’s much easier to start with our bodies. We know that when our body is relaxed, our mind will naturally follow. Just as when our body is tense and agitated, our mind will be as well.

Many of us may have a notion that relaxation is something that can only be achieved at a later date, after we have attained [insert life goal here]. Only after we’ve purchased our dream house on the beach will we finally allow ourselves to let go and enjoy. We may feel that we require a day-spa, or a massage, to facilitate our relaxation. We’ve lost confidence in our own body’s ability to heal itself.

But relaxation is something that can occur within the space of a few skillful in-and-out breaths. At first it may actually feel like our bodies are in more pain than before. Without noticing it, our bodies have accumulated a reservoir of tension; the pain has been there all along – we just hadn’t noticed it yet.

Wishing the pain away, wanting to get rid of the discomfort as quickly as possible will not help. The harder we try to force ourselves to relax, the more tense we may become. We have to gently embrace the tension, stress and discomfort with compassion, recognition and acceptance. Allowing our stress to surface so that it can be cared for, this is the key.

After you have located a point of pain, direct the breath towards it. After five minutes of wholehearted practice, the suffering will diminish. Try it – trust your body.

Also, if you have trouble sleeping enough, the deep relaxation practice can compensate. Lying awake on your bed, you may like to practice total relaxation and follow your breathing in and breathing out. Sometimes it can help you to get some sleep. But even if you don’t sleep, the deep relaxation practice can help because it can nourish you and allow you to rest.

Mindful breathing, total relaxation of the body can be done at home at least once a day. It may last twenty minutes or longer. We can practice it either with a group, with our family or alone. When we do deep relaxation in a group, one person can guide the exercise using the guide embedded in the black button below or some variation of it. When you do deep relaxation on your own, you may like to record an exercise to follow as you practice. One member of the family can lead the session for the whole family, perhaps in the living room.

Like chanting, when we sing, it’s very difficult to think of anything else. It helps focus the mind on very wholesome lyrics in the present moment which nourishes us. The lyrics are chosen wisely as tools to help us to wake up more in the here and now. Also, if we are lucky, the songs get stuck in our heads so that we can remind ourselves to practice more often in the future. Many of these songs are written and sung by Plum Village practitioners, some are older and adopted from other spiritual traditions. In either case, we use these songs as a fun way to practice mindfulness!

Use the button below to find a collection of some of the songs we sing at Greatwoods Zen (there are also many more not listed here). For some of the songs listed, there are hyperlinks in the title of the song to youtube or Soundcloud so that you can hear what they sound like. In addition, you can check out the Deer Park or Blue Cliff Sound Cloud pages too. Enjoy!

At times we need to say something to our friend, our parents, or our partner, and we don’t find the right time or space to say it. The practice of Beginning Anew helps us to create a space in which we can share our happiness or our pain in such a way that the other person or people are able to listen and to receive it. The guidelines of the practice help to maintain an energy of peace and openness during the whole sharing, making it possible to for us to truly hear and to be heard. The added presence of a trusted and experienced facilitator in the Beginning Anew session can expand the capacity of the space to hold even quite difficult conflicts and emotions.

You will find instructions on how to practice beginning anew below:

The Five Mindfulness Trainings have their root in the Five Precepts offered by the Buddha. They have been expanded and updated so that they represent a way to bring mindfulness into every area of life. Rather than hard and fast rules, they offer us a path to cultivate and develop actions of body, speech and mind that can create a more healthy and compassionate world.

An Introduction to the Five Mindfulness Trainings from Thich Nhat Hanh

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in oneself, in the family and in society. The second training is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals, couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of deep listening and loving speech to restore communication and reconcile. The fifth is about mindful consumption, to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha to be the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. I have translated these precepts for modern times, because mindfulness is at the foundation of each one of them. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. We arrive at our own unique insight. It is not something imposed on us by an outside authority.

Practicing the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and concentrated, and brings more insight and enlightenment.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices (2009)

Download the Five Mindfulness Trainings Below:

The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings are a modern distillation of the traditional Bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism, and were created by Thich Nhat Hanh in Saigon in 1966.

Monastics and lay friends who have made a vow in a formal ceremony, to receive, study and observe these fourteen trainings are known as “Members of the Order of Interbeing”. The Order of Interbeing, through the Plum Village lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh, belongs to the Linji (Rinzai) tradition of Zen Buddhism.

The first six members of the Order were colleagues and students of Thich Nhat Hanh who worked with him relieving the suffering of war in Vietnam. In joining the Order of Interbeing, they dedicated themselves to the continuous practice of mindfulness, ethical behavior, and compassionate action in society.

Today these Fourteen Trainings outline a way of practicing harmoniously in community followed by residents at all of the international monastic practice centers in the Plum Village tradition, and there are now more than 2,000 lay men and women Members of the Order of Interbeing active in local communities worldwide.

To find out more about the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, and to see how they are being applied in today’s world, please visit the website of the international Order of Interbeing.

This revised version (below) of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings was presented by Thich Nhat Hanh at the Great Ordination Ceremony held in Plum Village in February 2012.