## Highlights If we know how to breathe in properly, we can generate the energy of joy just like that. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn492999wc57k58j0sqqbh21)) p By practicing mindful breathing, you generate harmony and solidity ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn4934wnec30af4dv4bkr5e6)) Your entire body becomes the object of your mindfulness. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn493naq2ez6m19grt6q92r9)) We breathe mindfully to be aware of the body formation. *Breathing in, I’m aware that I have a body*. *Breathing out, I know my body is there*. That is already awakening. Don’t look for enlightenment somewhere else. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn49dsn8k9898795f79xbzp8)) ^lu0wxf There are three elements of awareness we need to bring together to be fully present. The first is the breath, the second is the body, and the third is the mind. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn49h0k37jcb9fyp90s1xmxg)) ^td3l4v Taking steps and breathing in and out, you can say, *I arrive in the present moment*. *I am home in the here and now*. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hn49t3xwvmma75mh85f2jjg6)) ^lhl6mo ### New highlights added February 1, 2024 at 10:36 AM When you’re practicing mindfulness of your body, your body becomes the only object of your mindfulness. *Breathing in, I know my body is there*. *Breathing out, I know my body is there*, When mindfulness is strong and focused like that, concentration is born. The object of your concentration is also your body. When mindfulness and concentration are powerful enough, you can make a breakthrough into reality, and you get insight, realization, and you discover things. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjv4pbxwg93j7mfe4wymy61)) ^8d3dy5 To meditate means to generate these three kinds of energies. You don’t have to ask for them to come to you from outside. Everyone has the seeds of mindfulness, concentration, and insight within himself or herself. With the practice of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful sitting, we help these seeds to manifest as energies. These are the three kinds of energy that make an enlightened being. They make you awake, bring your body and mind fully together, and put you in touch with all the wonders of life. You stop running and trying to look for happiness somewhere else. You see that happiness is possible in the here and the now. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjv5zy68b3jbmtjkfxag5tr)) you are really concentrated on your breath, insight can come right away. You may get the insight that you are fully alive, and to be fully alive like that is a miracle. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjv9f4mcb1sgybm3f25ab27)) ^b7dp0l - 💭 This is why you can get creative ideas during walks? There are many insights that can happen while you breathe in mindfully. You breathe in and you realize that your legs are still strong enough for you to walk, jump, and run. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjvasjv47swjnqattxjtep8)) ^iurk2z - 💭 Insight is just objective appreciation of the nature of life In the experience of joy, there is some excitement involved. But in tasting happiness, you feel more calm, more contented. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjvn87sqxps3fx1v70h2wa5)) - 💭 Joy is dopamine, happiness is serotonin When we have freedom, insight, mindfulness, concentration, we can be happy right here and right now. Just sitting, just breathing, just taking a shower, just brushing our teeth, just walking—doing these things with mindful appreciation can be a lot of happiness already. Part of practicing well is knowing how to produce joy and happiness and keep them alive as long as we wish. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjvq0587a1m2cr2g4trg004)) ^xp5s7m - 💭 Why psychedelics are enjoyable - get to just observe and appreciate First of all, with mindfulness we can nourish and heal ourselves with positive things. Secondly, with mindfulness we can embrace and relieve our suffering. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjw1r9fe2a5hvkv3nw4b9x3)) As the two kinds of energy—the energy of restlessness and the energy of mindfulness—encounter each other, there will be a change, and transformation will take place. In the energy of mindfulness there is peace and concentration. Even just being aware that you’re restless or angry will already bring some change. In the beginning it may be 5 or 10 percent. As you continue to follow your breathing, there will be a complete change, and loving kindness, the opposite of anger, will arise. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnjw2gw7k9bd517za3mxf0sg)) ^do689d ### New highlights added February 5, 2024 at 7:45 PM When there’s an emotional storm going on inside you, don’t get stuck up there in your head where thoughts are racing through. Stop the thinking. Go down and embrace the trunk of your body, down at the level of the abdomen. Focus your attention 100 percent on the rise and fall of your abdomen, and you’ll be safe. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hny4nw3z9jk9na8wbr4af117)) ^ivl4pd If every day you practice mindful abdominal breathing for five or ten minutes, you’ll naturally remember to practice when the emotion comes, and you’ll survive the emotion very easily. And each time that happens, you’ll have more and more confidence that the next time a strong emotion comes along, you will not be afraid anymore, because you know how to handle it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hny53gx2r7tf2rmb3c7cj7rh)) ^bo2w3w As you go about your day, you may forget that you have a body. Are you truly alive during those hours? Or are you alienated from your body, your mind not with your body, during that time? We need to practice going back to our breathing and coming back to our body as much as we can during the day. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hny62f56y44482n6npmcpqr6)) ^zxsotg