Mindful Step 4: Tree Practice—Belly Breathing for Strong Emotions

By: Janetti Marotta, Ph.D.
Private Practice
1655 Stanford Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 494-2347
info@arcfertility.com

Fear is only excitement
Without the breath.
-Fritz Perls

Vietnamese mindfulness teacher and monk Thich Nhat Hanh describes how to use belly breathing to take care of strong emotions. He proposes that whenever we are caught in a strong emotion, we bring our attention down into the belly. He suggests that strong emotions are like a storm. When we are entrenched in the emotional thoughts in our head, it is like standing in an open storm where we are vulnerable to the force of the wild wind and torrential downpour. When we bring our attention to our belly, it is like being rooted to the earth where we are protected and stable.

We can practice mindful breathing by bringing our attention to the rise and fall of the belly, with each in breath and out breath. He advises imagining ourselves as a tree in a windstorm. When we're feeling strong emotions, our head is the top of the tree at the mercy of the wind. Branches are being whipped around, smaller limbs are breaking, and leaves are flying. When we bring our attention to the belly, we are the trunk of the tree; solid, stable, rooted, safe, and secure.

Exercise 4:
Imagine yourself as a tree in a windstorm. Your head is the top of the tree at the mercy of the wind. Branches are being whipped around, smaller limbs are breaking, and leaves are flying. Your belly is the trunk of the tree; solid, stable, rooted, safe, and secure. Bring to mind a situation that is mildly stressful. As you bring yourself in the middle of the difficulty, allow your emotions to whip around as though your head is the top of a tree in an open storm. Now bring your attention to the breath in the belly, feeling the rise and fall, expansion and contraction. Imagine being the trunk of the tree, solidly rooted to the earth, safe and secure.

When your emotional thoughts were whipping around in your head like the top of a tree at the mercy of the wind, how did you feel? When you brought attention to your breath in the belly like the trunk of a tree rooted to the earth, how did you feel? Practice being a tree.

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