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Healing with Every Breath: The Four Nutriments of Mindfulness
Healing begins with each in-breath: as we breathe in, we generate calm, concentration, and harmony—not only for ourselves but also for our ancestors, our children, and the whole world. Total relaxation, touching the earth, and the eight exercises from the Buddha’s teaching on the body and feelings cultivate joy, peace, and happiness during the practice, especially when it is supported by a community.
Thay then presents the Sutra on the Flesh of the Child and the four kinds of nutriments, true keys to physical, mental, and social health:
- Edible food: eating in a way that preserves compassion.
- Sense impressions: protecting our “skins” of mindfulness so as not to be invaded by poisons (violence, fear, etc.).
- Volition: identifying and nourishing our deepest desire—whether it is destructive or carries the seed of bodhicitta.
- Collective consciousness: choosing an environment (family, workplace, or community) that radiates peace and loving-kindness.
Mindful consumption (the Fifth Mindfulness Training), together with the practice of the mindfulness bath to transform emotions and mental formations, becomes the path of individual and collective emancipation, the guarantee of true and responsible freedom.
