Robert Frost warned, “Unless you are at home in the metaphor, unless you have had your proper poetical education in the metaphor, you are not safe anywhere.” And it’s not just poetic metaphors; metaphors are everywhere in our language in our concepts and many of these come from our physical bodies and the way our…

Thich Nhat Hanh warns, “If we continue to live as we have been living, consuming without a thought of the future, destroying our forests and emitting greenhouse gases, then devastating climate change in inevitable. Much of our ecosystem will be destroyed. Seal levels will rise and coastal cities will be inundated, forcing hundreds of millions…

Another distraction that might arise is feelings of impatience, restlessness, or boredom. Typically, this happens when the mind projects itself into the future or tries to make this practice into something other than this simple looking at the breath. You can acknowledge these feelings, without buying into their stories. They are concepts and hold no…

Why pay attention to breathing? Well, you could pay attention to whatever you like, but breathing confers certain advantages over other objects of attention. First, the breath is always with you and always available to you as an object of attention. You can’t forget to bring it with you; you don’t need any special props…

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