Cultivating Calm and Ease: Immersive Contemplation Guided by Thich Nhat Hanh

Our breathing should be

pleasant

should bring us joy.

If it happens that you don't know

what to do

the right thing to do

is to go back to your breathing

and enjoy your breathing

because your breathing is enjoyable.

In, out,

deep, slow,

calm, ease,

smile, release,

present moment,

wonderful moment.

This exercise

is very pleasant to practice.

You drive your car

and you can practice

this short poem for your breathing.

You seat on a bus or on a train

and you practice also

in, out,

deep, slow.

And suppose you are washing

the dishes in the kitchen

that is a time also to practice

in, out, deep, slow

and smile to yourself,

smile to your presence,

and your dishwashing.

Breathing in,
I know I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,
I Know I'm breathing out.

We summarize these two sentences as

in, out.

Breathe in such a way

that you enjoy your in breath

and out breath.

It's a very simple exercise and yet

if you do it you realize miracles.

Trust me.

Breathing in and enjoy it.

Breathing out and enjoy it.

And be one with your in breath,

be one with your out breath

and become fully alive,

fully present in the here and the now.

That is nothing less than a miracle,

that you can produce at any time

in your daily life.

Breathing in,

I know I'm breathing in,

breathing out,

I know I'm breathing out.

In

Out

When you do like that

mindfulness is there,

concentration is there

and life is there.

You stop all your thinking,

your projects,

you are one with breathing,

it's wonderful.

After a few minutes

of breathing like that,

the quality of your breathing
will increase

by itself.

And you might like to try the second line.

Deep, slow.

It means,

breathing in, I know that

my in breath has become deep.

It has become deep by itself,

not because of your intention

to make it deeper.

If you practice in and out

for sometime

naturally your in breath

will become deeper and slower.

When mindfulness touches something

it improves the quality of that something.

And that's why your breathing

has become more harmonious,

calmer,

and that produces more pleasant feeling

within your body,

and your consciouness.

So deep, slow, means

breathing in I notice

that my in breath has become deeper,

breathing out,

I notice that my out breath
has become slower.

Now your in breath and out breath

has become deeper and slower,

more calm, more harmonious.

It helps your body

to be more calm and more harmonious.

And also it has an effect

on your consciousness,

on your mind.

So when you pracitce deep - slow,

of course, the pleasure is greater

just because the quality of the breath

has increased.

And later on you may try

the third line of the gatha.

calm, ease.

Breathing in I feel calm

within my body and my mind

Breathing in I calm the activities
of my body,

I calm the formation called body.

Breathing out I calm the formation

which is called feeling.

So this is exactly the practice

recommended by the Buddha

in the sutra on mindful breathing.

Experiencing the feeling I breathe in

experiencing the feeling I breathe out.

Calming the feeling I breathe in,

calming the feeling I breath out.

Calm, ease, means

breathing in I feel calm

within myself,

not only my body is calm

but also my feeling has become calm.

So you experience your body,

you experience your feeling,

and you breathe in and out

in order to calm

the formations,

first your body

and then your feelings.

Ease means

breathing out I feel at ease,

I ease everything,

I take everything at ease,

I take time to live

my daily life.

I am not in a hurry,

I feel wonderful in this moment,

it means ease.

You feel light,

you don't feel burdened

by your worries,

by your afflictions.

You feel that you have the freedom

within yourself.

You feel being yourself,

not a victim of your worries,

not a victim of your past,

and your worries about the future.

Calm

Ease

And of course,

this exercise is also very rewarding,

very pleasant.

Breathing in a I feel calm

within my body, my feelings

breathing out I feel very much

at ease within myself.

I take everything at ease.

In

Out

Deep

Slow

Calm

Ease

and then smile released.

Breathing in I smile.

Breathing out I let go.

I let go of my projects,

of my worries about the future,

of my regret concerning the past,

because the present moment is
so wonderful.

And I am capable of touching

the wonders of life

in the present moment.

Breathing in

I smile.

And this smile has the capacity

of releasing all the tensions

that are left on your face,

on your body.

This is a smile of a victory,

this is a smile of love and kindness.

directed to your own body,

to your own feelings.

And when you breathe out

you become released.

Nothing as important as your peace,

as your stability,

as your freedom,

your ease.

You cannot exchange

this valuable things for anything else.

So your released here means

you have become yourself,

you are capable of releasing

all your chaos,

your ideas,

even your ideas of happiness.

Each of us is caught

in our idea of happiness.

We believe that will be truly happy

when such conditions are available.

So you have an idea about happiness

and we don't know that

that very idea of happiness

is the obstacle

for our being happy,

And if you are capable of releasing

that idea of happiness,

happiness will be born in you right away.

There's a young man who think

that he can only be happy

if he get that degree,

that diploma.

There's another young person

who said

that if he cannot get into that position

he cannot marry that person,

and then happiness will not be possible.

So we set up conditions for our happiness

and we are caught in that idea.

But happiness can come to us

at any time if we are a free person.

Why are you committed
only to one idea of happiness?

When you are committed

to one idea of happiness,

you limit your capacity

of being happy.

And if you let go that idea of happiness

then happiness can come
from any direction.

One country might be caught

by one idea about happiness.

The whole nation may think

that unless we embrace that ideology

and realize it, will be not future

for our country.

And maybe during fifty years

or seventy years

we are caught by that idea of happiness.

And we have created a lot of tragedy

within our country, our people,

just because you get caught in

one idea about happiness.

And maybe fifty years later

or seventy years later

You find out that

that idea of happiness

has been an obstacle for happiness

for the whole nation.

So if you are lucky,

you can release that idea.

As individuals we also commit

the same kind of mistake.

We invent an idea of happiness,

we cling to it,

that's why many of us cannot be happy.

So releasing,

releasing things,

let go of things,

it is a very important purpose.

And among this things,

the idea of happiness,

look,

let us look deeply in
our idea of happiness.

And you may find out that it is
exactly that idea of happiness
that has prevented us to be happy.

And this teaching
is very clear in Buddhism,

breathing in

I smile

I know happiness is possible

at any moment,

the wonders of life are available

at any moment,

I can touch them,

I can be happy

without any condition.

And that is why

breathing out I can

release.

You are very smart

if you can let go of these things

that have prevented you to be happy

in the past.

You can be extremely happy

just sitting there and

breathing in and out.

You enjoy the miracle of life.

So smile, release

can bring you a lot of happiness.

You need to be nourish by that joy

and happiness

and that joy and the happiness

can help to heal the wounds

within your body and your soul.

And finally,

the last exercise

proposed in the gatha

present moment,

wonderful moment.

Breathing in

I establish myself in the present moment.

Breathing out

I know this is a wonderful moment.

If someone comes and ask you

this question:

Has the most wonderful moment of your life
arrived or not?

We might be embarrassed,

we may say that, well,

it does not seems it has arrived

but I strongly believe

that it will arrive soon,

otherwise my life will have no meaning.

But if we use our intelligence

in order to look

we know that

if we continue to live

exactly in the way we have live

our life during the past twenty years

not mindful

always running

always trying to escape

that most wonderful moment about life

will not be likely to arrive

in the next twenty years.

That is something logical

but in this teaching you learn

that you have to make

the present moment into the most wonderful moment of your life.

Because the present moment

is the only moment avalaible.

And if you know how to go back to it,

to be fully present

to touch the wonders of life in
that moment,

that moment can,

can become the most wonderful
moment of life

and you know you have the capacity
of doing that.

And by very simple practice like

walking,

breathing,

smiling,

touching mindfulness, the beauty
of life, the wonders of life

you can make paradise,

you can make the kingdom of God
available to you

in here and the now.