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Breathing with the Inner Child: Transforming Pain into Peace
Children begin the Q&A by sitting close to Thay, holding the microphone, and together breathing in and out three times before asking a practice-focused question. Questions may be asked aloud or written for Sister Pine; five or six go first, then teenagers and adults.
Thay emphasizes that breathing in and out mindfully was the day he “began to learn the practice of mindful breathing” and discovered he could “bring peace into his body and my mind.” The sutra on mindful breathing’s exercises are:
- focus on in-breath and out-breath only
- recognize body while breathing in and out, unifying breath, body, and mind
- release tension in the body as you breathe
- use right thinking to transform painful feelings and emotions
Inviting the child within to walk, sit, or have tea with you, you remind him or her each day, “I know that we have grown up as an adult. We have means to protect ourselves,” so fear “will stop slowly.” Memories of the past are “only pictures, images” that continue to project films of suffering unless you “abandon the cinema hall and come into real life.”
Being Peace was proposed over Doing Peace because “if you are peace, then what you do will be for peace.” Peace in the body must come first—releasing tension, relaxing, healing pain—so that peaceful feelings and emotions can follow. Mindfulness, concentration, and insight give the faith and capacity to deal with whatever future or present difficulties arise.
