The rooted tree

This is a transcript of a six-minute portion of Thich Nhat Hanh's discourse on mindful breathing I listened on YouTube. I find it very useful, so sharing it here.

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The young people who go and commit suicide... because they do not know how to handle a strong emotion. But you are much more than your emotion — your emotion is just a tiny part of you. Why do you have to die just because of one emotion? We have to tell the young people — tell them that they should not die just because of one emotion. They can learn in order to take care of one emotion. If they know how to practice mindful breathing, mindful walking, they can have enough of that energy of mindfulness and concentration in order to embrace and take care of the strong emotion.

In the lying position, or in the sitting position, deep breathing generates mindfulness and concentration in order to take care of our emotion. It is very important to focus our attention on the in-breath and the out-breath, and stop all thinking altogether. The more we think about it, the stronger the emotion becomes. That is why just focus on your in-breath and it will be helpful already. 

Especially when you know how to breathe with your abdomen. Do not just breathe with your lungs. When we practice deep breathing, our abdomen will rise when we breathe in... and when we breathe out, it falls. And in a time of strong emotion, it is very helpful to focus our attention on the rising and the falling of the abdomen.

Breathing in, I know that my abdomen is rising; breathing out, I know that it is falling.

And you stick to the practice.

The strong emotion...

(gong - take 3 conscious breaths now)

A strong emotion is like a storm. A storm comes, and it's there for sometime, but finally it has to go. The same is true with an emotion. And that is why we have to remind the young people that you are not only the emotion, you are much more than an emotion. An emotion is something that can come for some time and will have to go. Don't die because of just one emotion. That person should remember this. And you can tell him or her that when the strong emotion is coming, we should not do anything. We should stop our thinking and just focus our attention on in breath and out breath. And the rising and the falling of the abdomen, whether you are in the lying position or sitting position.

It is like a tree. When you see a tree standing in a storm, if you focus your attention on the top of the tree, you have the feeling of the fragility of the tree. The tree might be blown away. But if you focus your attention on the trunk of the tree, and know that the tree is deeply rooted in the soil, you have another impression. So, our body is also like a tree. And the top of the tree is here (pointing to the head) — the thinking. It is very important that in a time of strong emotion, you should not stay there. You are much more vulnerable if you stay with the thinking. The more you think about it, the stronger the emotion can become. That is why stop the thinking and bring the attention down... down... to the abdomen — a little bit lower than the navel. And breathe in deeply, and focus your attention on the rise and the fall of the abdomen. And you are safe. No thinking. Just breathing. And maybe in five, or ten, or fifteen minutes, the emotion is gone. The next time it comes, you can survive more easily, an emotion like that.

So we keep practicing it throughout our waking hours, even when there is no strong emotion. We invite it in our lives during ordinary moments. Then it is available to us when a strong emotion tries to take us over.