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To Love Is to Be Here (The Four Foundations of Mindfulness)
To love is to be really there—body and mind united—and that presence begins with self-love. When mind and body are together, you are truly alive and able to embrace another. If mind is caught in past regrets or future fears, you’re absent even when physically present. The first act of love is to bring your mind back to your body by way of the breath: “Breathing in, I am aware of my body.” Mindful breathing grounds you in the present, frees you from past and future, and becomes the foundation for mindful walking, eating, washing, and every daily activity.
The Buddha’s Sutra on Mindful Breathing offers eight exercises, moving from body to feeling and from strength to healing:
- Aware of in-breath (“Breathing in, I know I am breathing in”).
- Following the in-breath and out-breath from beginning to end.
- Breathing in, aware of my whole body (contemplation of the body in the body).
- Breathing in, releasing all the tension in my body.
- Breathing in a way that brings birth to joy.
- Breathing in a way that brings birth to happiness.
- Breathing in, aware of my feelings (pleasant or unpleasant).
- Breathing in, releasing the tension in my feelings.
Practicing these in sequence nourishes joy and happiness as daily food, strengthens mindfulness and concentration, and readies you to tenderly embrace and transform your pain and sorrow.
