Managing intense emotions can be likened to steering a ship through a stormy sea. Just as a ship relies on its anchor to stabilize in turbulent waters, we can use mindful breathing to anchor ourselves during emotional turmoil. Regular practice of mindful breathing is essential. When an emotional storm hits, having this anchor allows us to remain grounded, calm, and resilient.
Understanding Emotions
Emotions can be compared to passing thunderstorms. They arrive suddenly, unleash their force, and eventually move on. Preparing for these emotional storms can make a significant difference in how we experience them.
Mindful breathing serves as our anchor, helping us stay grounded when our emotions become overwhelming. By practicing mindful breathing regularly, we train ourselves to use this technique naturally and effectively during times of distress.
Practical Steps for Mindful Breathing
When you sense an emotional storm approaching, it’s important to drop everything and focus solely on your breath. Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Placing a hand on your abdomen, feel the rhythmic rise and fall, much like watching the waves of the sea. This deep belly breathing helps stabilize your mind and body.
Imagine deep breathing as the ballast in a ship that helps maintain stability. Breathe in deeply, allowing your stomach to rise as high as possible. When you breathe out, bring it down as much as possible. If you are sitting, place your hand on your abdomen to feel its movement. If you are lying down, do the same.
Instead of staying at the surface level of your thoughts, bring your attention down to your abdomen, focusing on the rise and fall.
During a storm, if you look at the top of a tree, you will see the branches and leaves swinging violently with the wind. The top of the tree represents your mind during emotional turmoil. Instead, focus on the trunk and roots of the tree—your abdomen. This shift in focus helps you remain grounded. In this way, you can avoid being swept away by the storm of your emotions.
Embracing Emotions with Insight
As you practice deep breathing, keep alive the insight that you are more than your emotions. You are composed of many elements—form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. An emotion is just one part of you, and like a storm, it will pass.
With the practice of mindful breathing, you can handle any emotion that arises. You have survived emotions before, and you will continue to do so.
It’s crucial to remember that mindfulness also means recollection. You may know many things, but applying that knowledge in moments of distress can be challenging.
A young person overwhelmed by strong emotions may believe they are only that emotion, leading to feelings of hopelessness. We must remind them—and ourselves—that we are much more than our perceptions. Emotions are impermanent; they come, stay for a while, and then go.
Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Mindful breathing not only helps us calm our body, feelings, and emotions but also cultivates insight. As soon as you achieve concentration and insight, you develop mindfulness. Continuing this practice deepens your concentration and brightens your insight, enabling you to handle any pain you experience.
A good practitioner of mindfulness knows how to generate feelings of joy and happiness at any moment of the day. Recognizing the many conditions of happiness that already exist in the present moment makes joy possible instantly. This is the art of happiness, and mindful breathing nourishes and heals us.
The Art of Suffering
Mindfulness also teaches us to handle pain. Imagine meeting your anger with a gentle smile, saying, “Hello, my little anger. I know you are there, and I will take good care of you.” By acknowledging and embracing your anger, you don’t need to suppress or run away from it. With the energy of mindfulness, you can be present with your anger, irritation, and loneliness. The first function of mindfulness is to recognize things as they are, and the second is to embrace and calm them.
The energy of mindfulness embraces anger like a loving mother holds her baby. After a few minutes of practice, you experience relief. This is the art of suffering. With just one session of mindful breathing, we can transform the pain and afflictions within us.
Suffering and Happiness
There is a deep connection between suffering and happiness. Suffering plays an essential role in creating happiness, much like mud is necessary to grow a lotus flower. Instead of running away from suffering to find happiness, we should learn to use suffering to create joy, understanding, and compassion.
Buddhism teaches that happiness and suffering are interconnected. Without experiencing suffering, we cannot cultivate understanding and compassion. By coming into contact with suffering and examining its nature, we develop deeper insights and compassion. This compassion begins to heal us and the world around us.
Sending our children to a place without suffering denies them the opportunity to learn and grow. It is through encountering and understanding suffering that they learn to love and find true happiness. This is why there is suffering in the Kingdom of God. It provides the fertile ground for cultivating understanding, compassion, and ultimately, happiness.
Navigating emotional storms with mindful breathing is a profound and compassionate practice. By preparing ourselves through regular practice, we can handle the most intense emotions with grace and insight. We are much more than our emotions, and by embracing and understanding them, we can transform suffering into happiness and resilience.
-By Saurabh Gupta
