An Exercise in Mindfulness-by Dr. Weil

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An Exercise in Mindfulness-by Dr. Weil

My book " 8 Weeks to Optimum Health " contains an exercise in

mindfulness created by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk. The exercise

can last a few minutes, or up to half an hour, and is based on

breathing and visualization, in which you imagine your body has

become one with the earth. Here are the instructions:

Lie on a bed, or on a mat or on the grass in a position in which you

are comfortable. Don't use a pillow. Begin to take hold of your

breath. Imagine all that is left of your body is a white skeleton

lying on the face of the earth.

Maintain a half-smile and continue to follow your breath. Imagine

that all your flesh has decomposed and is gone, that your skeleton is

now lying in the earth 80 years after burial.

See clearly the bones of your head, back, your ribs, your hip bones,

leg and arm bones, finger bones. Maintain the half smile, breathe

very lightly, your heart and mind serene.

See that your skeleton is not you. Be at one with life. Live

eternally in the trees and grass, in other people, in the birds and

other beasts, in the sky, in the ocean waves. Your skeleton is only

one part of you. You are present everywhere and in every moment. You

are not only a bodily form, or even feelings, thoughts, actions and

knowledge.