Total Relaxation: An Introduction by Brother Dao Hanh | #3

I Listen, I listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.

Dear respected Thầy, dear friends.

Our society nowadays is very fast paced.

Many of us live a busy life.

We all have our jobs.

We have busy families.

Maybe we are still studying and have some stress in school.

And through all these things we have to do,

all these responsibilities and the things that we carry.

We often accumulate a lot of stress in our body.

We have our projects, so we are thinking a lot.

We can be worrying a lot about the things we still have to do or maybe there's something

and it bothers us from the past,

which still leaves the stress in our body.

And this stress

we often do not take the time to relax this

and to release this tension that we accumulate.

And if we do not take time for it, is this can lead to illness as well.

We can become sick, just because there is so much heaviness in our body.

While in Plum Village we have a wonderful practice for that is called total relaxation or deep relaxation.

Total relaxation is one of my favorite practices because it's one of the easiest things you can do.

You just have to lie down and relax.

When we do it at home, we can find a nice, comfortable room.

A room that is warm enough, quiet enough so that we will not be disturbed.

So a place where we feel safe and secure

and we can lie down.

Make ourselves comfortable.

Maybe with a little blanket.

And if you're not comfortable lying down, you can also practice seated.

That's perfectly fine.

You can close your eyes or leave them open,

also both're okay

And while we listen to the bell.

We are awared of our body lying on Mother Earth.

The feeling of her belly rising and falling.

I breathe in and I feel if I'm carrying any tension in my shoulders.

And I breathe out and I allow this tension to release, to relax.

I let them sink into the floor, into Mother Earth.

As I breathe in, I become aware of my heart.

Just a light, tender awareness around my heart.

As I breathe out, I allow my heart to relax.

It is so very beneficial to find time for this in our life.

If it's 10 minutes, that is okay.

20 minutes, even better or 40 minutes, maybe.

It is a time to really be there for yourself.

Many of us kind of struggle with finding a good way to love ourself,

and our teacher always says that to love in the first place is to be there.

And so just by taking this time to be there for yourself,

to be there for all the parts of your body, your organs,

it's a really concrete expression of love, of self-care.

And it is so good to heal in that way.

We have a very helpful tool for that.

On the Plum Village app, you can find many guided meditations.

They can help you to relax,

so you can download the app and go to the section of guided meditation,

put one on and you will be guided in your relaxation.

And if you're lucky, that person also sings some songs for you.

It does not have to be 10 or 20 minutes lying down in the room, but you can also practice it at work,

sitting behind a computer just for 5 minutes or a few breaths,

just to feel where in my body do I have tension.

Ah tension,

I see you and I release the tension into Mother Earth.

And if we can do this throughout today,

there's no big buildup of tension and our body can remain healthy.

And by keeping our body healthy, we also keep our mind healthy.

The body and mind are like two sides of the same coin.

So a relaxed body, so relaxed mind.

If we have trouble sleeping, then we can practice this as well.

Just lying in bed and scanning our body, going through every parts.

Sending our love to our body.

Relaxing our body.

This can help us release the tension.

And it can sometimes be even more restful than than a night of sleep.

And you might also fall asleep, which is perfectly okay.

So I'd say enjoy the practice.

Awaken, spirit of the sun.

I feel you.

Shine in me.

I am home.

I am home.

We are home.

We are home.