The Miracle of Mindfulness: Thich Nhat Hanh’s Life-Changing Message

Discover how to break free from the cycles of chaos and distraction with the powerful wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Father of Mindfulness. In this episode of Beyond the Book, we explore his classic work, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and uncover how small, intentional practices can lead to radical peace and clarity.

Learn how mindfulness changes your brain, heals your heart, and transforms your life, one breath at a time. We’ll also explore Thich Nhat Hanh’s legacy as a peace activist, his teachings on Engaged Buddhism, and how mindfulness can be a spiritual tool and a practical force for change in the world.

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Transcript

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Today I'm going to tell you how to live free. I invite you to be mindful with me right now. The small moments of presence, the subtle choices of intention. They're super powerful. They're transcendent. And they break these loops that we get stuck in. We're caught in these micro cycles of clutter. These medium cycles of stress and these macro cycles of disconnection. We're not connected with these things around us and with these things inside of ourself. And we keep spinning. We're not fully living. We're just reacting to things. And there's another way. There's a better way. One of the biggest early proponents of mindfulness meditation was the Buddha Zen master. Thich Nhat Hanh He wasn't just a Zen master. He was also called the father of mindfulness. This guy, he helped invent the genre. And the book I'm reviewing today is called The Miracle of Mindfulness. So what makes mindfulness different from other meditations? we know meditation is powerful. It's diverse. You've probably heard of moving meditation like tai chi or yoga, maybe traditional sitting meditation, maybe that kind of meditation you think of, you know, typically if you watch TV show or movie. But mindfulness meditation is this game changer. It's not just spiritual, it's also scientific. Research shows us that mindfulness can reduce anxiety and depression. It can improve our cognition. So we're going to think better if we're mindfully meditating. It increases your body satisfaction. You're going to feel better. It's going to lower your risk of a cardiac event. It's going to strengthen your immune system. And it's literally going to restructure your brain in these positive ways that have been shown in studies. So you go out and you mindfully meditate for 20 minutes a day, and you're actually going to change the neuroplasticity of your brain. so it's not just this thing about inner peace. We're we're actually talking about a superpower here. So why don't we all do it? Maybe because we've forgotten how to be here, present right here in this moment. But mindfulness brings us back to this present moment. It's a fountain of youth for your mind, for your body, and for your soul and your spirit. Thich Nhat Hanh was a peace activist. He was from Vietnam, and he was forced to flee there because of the Vietnam War. And he peacefully protested the war and he was critical of all parties. He actually ended up in exile in France, but he ended up traveling all over the world to preach and put forth this message of peace. He did it while spreading this Zen message that he had. he was a force. He really believed in what he was doing. And people listened to him. When he walked into a space, he took it up and people watched. People paid attention, And it led to the spread of this Zen Buddhist thought around the world at that time. this book is a spiritual classic. It's an easy way for you to get into the practice of mindfulness. And Thich Nhat Hanh really relates stories that make it easy to relate Zen Buddhism and that tradition to your daily life. He weaves it with these practical instruction on how to do mindfulness meditation and how to do these breathing exercises. It's easier to learn something when we have someone that's making it relatable. It's like having this friend that's really wise and walking down this path with you, and that's what he does here. The universe would love if you would give us a sub by hitting the watermark in the lower right hand corner. He was a really important figure in the modern spiritual movement. We probably wouldn't be where we are today if he hadn't come before us. Mainly because he coined the practice of this engaged Buddhism. he wasn't satisfied just being the spiritual being and waiting for everything to be resolved around him on his own. He thought that to be spiritual and Zen was to go out and apply those principles to the real world around him. he could see this immediate and concrete change in the world. this is where we run into the concept of merging spirituality or religion with the real world all around us, making the world a better place. in practical terms. This is the theme religion and spirituality isn't just bettering ourselves, it's about helping the world, loving our neighbor. Improving your community because we should care when our neighbor is hurt. And we should care if someone on the other side of the planet, halfway around the world, is dying in a war. It's our problem because they're a part of us, because everything's a part of us, and we're a part of everything. It's that pantheistic whole, the interconnectedness of it all. It's kind of the point you can't break yourself off and separate yourself from the whole, because we are the universe, and the universe is us. Thich Nhat Hanh, says the service of peace. The service of any person in need. The word service is so immense. And then he goes on to say, our families, our classmates, our friends, our own community, we must live for them. For if we cannot live for them, whom else do we think we're living for and that's really important to pay attention to. But I also have to caveat all of that with before you can change the world, you have to change yourself, and you have to start with yourself. Putting yourself first is literally the least selfish thing that you will ever do. You'll have to overcome some serious conditioning from society because they don't want you to put yourself first. They want you to think that you have to go do all of these things for all of these other people before you put yourself first. And that's opposite. The idea is that if you fully love and support yourself, you're going to automatically lift up the whole world around you. Mindfulness is part of this journey to be whole within yourself. It's how you set off on your journey to see the universe and know the divine. And you see base consciousness or nature or many other names that it's called. And then you're able to, once collected and centered and grounded, go out there and completely change the world around you just by being peaceful and centered and grounded within yourself. You're going to change the world. But then you can go out and take action. Like Thich Nhat Hanh says, to take this Buddhist Zen state, this mindful practice and go put it out into the world. Let's look at mindfulness in practice. We all get lost in our thoughts. Maybe you're doing something, but you're thinking about something else. Or somebody else, or somewhere else. And you might be with someone, but you're thinking about other things, so you're not really actually with that person. You're somewhere else. You may be physically present with them, but you're not actually there. So what's the point of that interaction? Why are you doing that? You might be eating a meal, and you're not even conscious of the food that you're consuming. You're not experiencing the beauty of the feel and the taste of the food. You lose touch with the base actions. And all these aftful activities around you. Even within you, you can bring it back to this moment. Be here today, and you're going to experience all this really cool stuff inside. That's when you're engaged with life and you're plugged in. Have you ever actually intentionally lived this plugged in existence? It's this amazing thing. We all get distracted, and when you practice mindful meditation, it brings you back. You learn to connect with yourself and with the world that you live in. You can see things that you didn't even know were here. There's all this stuff happening around us. There's all this stuff happening inside of us that we miss because we're not really here. You get to know yourself. You get to know others better. And the more you do it, the more vibrant your entire life is going to be. Mindfulness spreads out from your meditation sessions, and it carries throughout your whole day. So it's magic. It's not supernatural. It's this natural magic all around you. And please believe me when I tell you. You know, the more I practice mindfulness, the more I notice the world differently throughout the whole day, even after I practice my meditation. It's this amazing thing. It's also about small reminders and subtle change. One of Thich Nhat Hanh signature teachings is the power of subtle change. He teaches the practice of a gentle half smile, and you can try it right now. It's not a forced grin. It's just this quiet smile to yourself and it can shift your entire energy. Suddenly, you're in a more positive, different place. In his book, he shares specific mindfulness meditations for real life struggles that you may be having. There's meditations for dealing with anger or resentment, for regaining your motivation, for finding calm in chaos. And we often need to find our calm in chaos. And he'll teach you how to do that. He emphasizes the power of breathing in every spiritual tradition. Pretty much talks about the power of breathwork when it comes to your spiritual path and your journey. Thich Nhat Hanh says whether or not one is live depends on whether one is mindful. We have to strip away all the barriers in order to live as part of the universal life. So when we start to practice mindful meditation, we come into the wholeness of the universe. This book is more than a guide. It's an invitation to slow down, to be here, to start living from a deeper place. Mindfulness isn't something that you wait to be good at. It's something that you start right now. You start small. You breathe. You smile. Meditate for a few minutes and you're going to witness the miracle of life and the miracle of yourself unfold around you and inside of you. And the conversation doesn't have to end here. Come be part of a community that gets it at Kishar.org. And please like this video. If you want us to keep making content just like this. Until next time, I wish you peace in your journey.