...
How do you love yourself?
First of all,
you breathe in...
(laughter)
mindfully...
and you become aware
that you have a body.
Breathing in, I know I have a body.
The body is a very important part of yourself.
You spend two hours with your computer,
you are stressful,
and you don't know how to stop
and you forget completely that you have a body
during these two hours.
You are looking for something
in the future
in your work
while your body suffers.
So the first act of love is
to breathe in and to go home to your body
Breathing in...
I know I have a body.
Hello, body!
I'm home!
I'll take care of you.
So to be aware of body,
is to... the beginning of love.
And when mind is home to body,
mind and body are established in the here and the now.
And you might notice two things...
With the practice of mindful breathing,
the first thing you notice is that
your body is a wonder.
You have to rediscover
that your body is a wonder.
Biologists and others have been trying to understand the body
that is a masterpiece of the cosmos.
The body is a wonder.
The body is the seat of consciousness
the consciousness of the cosmos.
And you don't know the value of your body.
Your body contains all information of the history of the cosmos.
In every cell of your body
you can recognize the presence of your ancestors.
Not only human ancestors.
but animal, vegetal and mineral ancestors.
And all your ancestors are still alive in your body,
with their weakness and with their strength.
You might have taken your body for granted,
but it is a wonder.
Your brain...
the neo-cortex...
is a very...
very...
sophisticated kind of organization.
The cosmos have come together
in order to produce this wonder
which is your body.
And if you can get in touch with your body
you can get in touch with the whole cosmos,
with all your ancestors,
and also with all the
future generations
that are already inside of your body
to manifest later.
Do you have the capacity to appreciate that wonder that is your body?
Mother Earth is in you.
Not underneath,
or all around you
but in you, also.
And Father Sun is also in you.
You are made of sunshine.
You are made of fresh air,
of fresh water,
And to be aware of that wonder,
and to value that wonder,
can already bring you a lot of happiness.
Breathing in, I know I have a body.
And you can enjoy having that body.
And you can get in touch with the history of life,
you can get in touch with your ancestors.
Your body contains all information concerning the cosmos.
And that kind of awareness can be...
healing, can be nourishing.
The second thing that happens when you go back to your body,
is that there maybe tension and pain in your body.
Because you have allowed tension and pain to get accumulated in your body for a long time.
You have not loved your body for a long time.
You have made your body suffer.
So, mindful breathing allows you to be aware of that.
And suddenly you want your body to suffer less.
And that is why you breathe out in such a way
that you can release the tension in your body.
That is an act of love
directed to your body.
And these exercises of mindful breathing. Mindful breathing
is available in the sutra
Ānāpānasati.
So, breathing in, I'm aware of my body.
Breathing out, I release the tensions from my body.
That is an act of love
directed to your body.
It's really concrete
because the question is 'How do I love myself?'
To love yourself is to recognize your body and to release the tension in your body.
And then when you breathe in and out...
you bring your mind home to your body
and you recognize the many
refreshing and healing elements
available.
So you can generate the feeling of joy,
a feeling of happiness to nourish yourself.
That is an act of love.
For a person practicing mindfulness,
it is not difficult to generate a feeling of joy,
or a feeling of happiness.
Basing on the fact that you
are surrounded by many refreshing and healing elements.
You have so many conditions of happiness available in the present moment,
so there's no problem generating a feeling of joy
and a feeling of happiness
by the way of mindful breathing.
And that is exactly how to love yourself.
To allow yourself to be nourished by feelings of joy, feelings of happiness.
And then, when you practice mindful breathing,
you might be aware that there's a painful feeling,
a painful emotion arising,
and you know that there are
exercises of mindful breathing
that can help you to embrace - recognize and embrace - your pain and your sorrow
and help you to suffer less.
One, two or three minutes of mindful breathing
embracing your pain and sorrow
can help you to suffer less.
That is an act of love.
To love ourselves is possible with the practice of mindful breathing
or mindful walking.
When you recognize the suffering in yourself,
you can
calm it down
and you can go further.
By embracing your suffering,
listening to it,
looking deeply into its nature,
you might discover
the roots of that suffering,
the kind of perceptions that have given birth to that kind of suffering.
And you begin to understand your suffering.
And you find out that your suffering carries within itself the suffering of your father
or your mother
or your ancestors.
Unstanding your suffering, you understand the suffering of your father,
mother, ancestors.
And understanding suffering always bring...
always brings
compassion
that has the power to heal
and you suffer less.
That is also an act of love.
And when you suffer less,
you can help the other person
your son, your daughter
your father, your mother, your partner
to suffer less, also.
If you understand his or her suffering,
you can
you don't suffer more
anymore
And you are motivated by
the energy of compassion in you
to do something to help the other person to suffer less.
And when the other person suffers less,
you suffer less
and you have more joy.
That is the way to love yourself.
And...
you will not be able to love someone else
if you don't know how to love yourself.
And that is the teaching of the Buddha
and to love yourself
is very concrete.
With our in-breath and releasing the tension in your body,
you take care of your body,
you take care of your feelings and emotions.
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