Breathe! You Are Alive

‘Breathing brings the secret joy of meditation to you. You become joyful, fresh and tolerant and everyone around you will benefit.’ The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing is one of the three most essential teachings of the Buddha. In Breathe! You Are Alive, scholar, poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh unfolds this core teaching, showing how to apply it to everyday life. He explains the methods of conscious breathing that are presented in the sutra and offers exercises for practising those methods today. Moreover, his engaging commentary shows the profound nourishment that can be available to us when we slow down and get in touch with our breathing. Breathe! You Are Alive shows how we all begin to take in peace and happiness with each and every breath.

‘Breathing brings the secret joy of meditation to you. You become joyful, fresh and tolerant and everyone around you will benefit.’ The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing is one of the three most essential teachings of the Buddha. In Breathe! You Are Alive, scholar, poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh unfolds this core teaching, showing how to apply it to everyday life. He explains the methods of conscious breathing that are presented in the sutra and offers exercises for practising those methods today. Moreover, his engaging commentary shows the profound nourishment that can be available to us when we slow down and get in touch with our breathing. Breathe! You Are Alive shows how we all begin to take in peace and happiness with each and every breath.

20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION: Thich Nhat Hanh offers commentary on a key Buddhist sutra and shares 16 breathing exercises and meditations taught by the Buddha himself. According to the Buddha's teaching in the Anapanasati Sutra, maintaining awareness of our breathing is a means of awakening to the true nature of all things and arriving at spiritual liberation. Breathe, You Are Alive outlines 16 exercises of conscious breathing that were taught by the Buddha, together with commentaries and further exercises for practicing them every day and in any situation. Thich Nhat Hanh's insights and explanation give the reader access to the profound nourishment available when we slow down and get in touch with our in-breath and out-breath. He walks the reader through the progression of exercises--from awareness of the physical plane, to the mental and spiritual planes--in a clear and concise manner that is easy to implement. This 20th anniversary edition includes Thich Nhat Hanh's most recent commentaries and practices on the awareness of breathing meditation, as well as his "Breathing and Walking" Gatha (practice verse) set to music.