Breathing with Buddha
Many people find it challenging to “meditate” on their own. Our minds are pumping thoughts out all day, making meditation difficult to concentrate on. Perhaps indigestion or knee pain interfere with your ability to meditate. This is where mindfulness can be of great use.
When you take a moment out of your day to focus on what hurts and breathe into that space, it already feels better. I’d like to share some words from the wise and renowned Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich has helped thousands of people around the world, and especially in Vietnam during the war when he found meditation to help him and his people through very difficult times of death and uncertainty.
I find great use of his pocket meditation books, such as “How to sit” which I have provided verses from in this article below, as well as “How to eat”, and “How to love” which I keep on my kitchen table, bathroom, and nightstand. There is a documentary on Thich’s journey called “Walk with me” that I invite you to watch as it has brought me and many of my friends and patients enlightenment.
Sitting alone is wonderful. Sitting with a friend makes meditation easier. There is a Vietnamese saying, “When you eat rice, you need to have soup.” When we sit together, we create a collective energy of mindfulness that is very powerful. We profit from their quality of being and we become a collective organism, each contributing to the quality of the whole.
Sitting together is like allowing the water in the stream to be embraced by the ocean. We can benefit from that energy to help us embrace our pain and our suffering. However, when you are by yourself remember that you are not alone. When you sit on your own, you may like to think of the Buddha as sitting with you. You can say, “Dear Buddha, I invite you to sit with me. Please make good use of my back. When Buddha sits with me, he will make my back upright and relaxed. Use my lungs to breathe and my back to sit”.
The Buddha isn’t someone outside of you. Inside each one of us there are seeds of mindfulness, peace and enlightenment. When you sit, you give these seeds a chance to grow. When you sit, you are like a gardener going back to take care of his or her garden. All the plants and animals in the garden benefit from the gardener’s return. They are so happy to have the gardener back. When you sit, you are coming back to yourself, to your body, your feelings, your emotions, and your perceptions in order to take care of them.
You can write your own practice verse to best help you produce your true presence and get in touch with your true intention. Choose one element that you want to bring into your life and one element that you want to let go. You can use this gatha in concert with your breath to return to that intention.
Breathing in, ______
Breathing out, ______
Here are some examples:
Breathing in, I am aware of tension in my body.
Breathing out, I let go of tension in my body.
Breathing in, I feel cool, clean air enter my body.
Breathing out, I let go of heat and inflammation.
Breathing in, I calm my agitation.
Breathing out, I am at peace.
Breathing in, I swell in the present moment.
Breathing out, I know it is a wonderful moment.
Hi, my name is Gina Galvez, MS, PA-C. I am an integrative Physician assistant and I’ve worked at the Akasha Center for 2 years.
As a prior Professor of medicine and PA of Orthopedic Surgery in NYC, I am so passionate about changing the lives of my patients with chronic pain, fatigue, arthritis and sports injuries using regenerative medicine such as platelet rich plasma (PRP) to facilitate regrowth of cartilage, bone, skin cells and hair! Integrating energetic healing as a Reiki Master can help move stagnant energy and bring peace to your body as a whole.
If you are interested in getting rid of pain, book a 10 minute complimentary visit with me to learn more about the healing powers of PRP and Reiki. Follow me on my Instagram for how to videos and more information on the above @Cellular_Vitality
