{"id":2011,"date":"2021-01-13T09:45:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T09:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/mindfulness-in-a-time-of-dis-ease-breathing-through-cancer-covid-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2024-12-03T18:45:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T18:45:33","slug":"mindfulness-in-a-time-of-dis-ease-breathing-through-cancer-covid-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/mindfulness-in-a-time-of-dis-ease-breathing-through-cancer-covid-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness in a time of Dis-ease: Breathing through Cancer, COVID & Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Mindfulness in a time of Dis-ease: Breathing through Cancer, COVID & Climate Change<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Megan Sweas<\/a><\/strong>\n \n January 13, 2021<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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This article was originally published in Mindfully Speaking<\/a>, with the support of CRCC\u2019s global project on engaged spirituality<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

My mind was racing. I couldn\u2019t sleep despite the fatigue of the first trimester of pregnancy. It was a month into the pandemic shutdown, and the next day, I had to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

As if balancing work, childcare and pregnancy in the middle of a pandemic was not stressful enough, a routine ultrasound had found a growth in my bladder. Its removal was essential<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I tried a meditation taught by Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh: Breathing in, I dwell in this moment. Breathing out, this is a wonderful moment.<\/em><\/p>\n

But as I breathed in, I thought of the thousands of people in isolation, struggling for each breath in this very moment. Breathing out, I knew that life could end easily. Breathing in, I felt the fragility of my breath. Breathing out, the moment did not feel so wonderful.<\/p>\n

Was I doing this right?<\/p>\n

2020 has been the year of the breath. The coronavirus pandemic stole the breath of more than 300,000 Americans, while the suffocation of one man under the knee of a police officer sparked protests across the country. Widespread wildfires choked the air across the West Coast and around the world. On an everyday level, it is hard to ignore your breath each time you choose to don a mask, or not.<\/p>\n

Meditating on one\u2019s breath has likely helped countless people sleep at night during these long months of quarantine. But for me, it woke me up to my own and others\u2019 suffering.<\/p>\n

During this year of crisis after crisis, my breath became my guide. In the process, I saw how mindfulness is a tool not only of personal wellness but also social change.<\/p>\n

A New Year\u2019s Retreat<\/strong><\/p>\n

As 2020 began, my family and I traveled to Plum Village, a mindfulness retreat center established by Thich Nhat Hanh in France.<\/p>\n

Even in the middle of the winter, the drive to the country retreat center was beautiful. Narrow country lanes were lined by vineyards and green pastures, and the sky was bright blue above us. The fields of grapes were dormant, and quaint towns and tasting rooms were boarded up for the winter, easing my husband, toddler and me into the slower pace of life.<\/p>\n

\"\"Plum Village is surrounded by vineyards and fields in the Bordeaux region of France.<\/i><\/p>\n

When we arrived, a young monk showed us and other retreatants around the grounds of the Upper Hamlet, located on the top of a hill surrounded by trees. As our tour concluded, the sunset burned a brilliant red through the trees\u2019 barren branches. We pulled out our phones to try to capture the moment in pixels.<\/p>\n

The monk stood silently.<\/p>\n

We had a lot to learn.<\/p>\n

Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went to Plum Village as a longtime admirer of Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s books and as a journalist reporting on the continuation of the famous Vietnamese Buddhist teacher\u2019s legacy more than five years after he was\u00a0silenced by a stroke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"A picture of Thich Nhat Hanh sits at the head of the table in the dining room of Plum Village\u2019s Upper Hamlet, where he lived until moving back to Vietnam.<\/i><\/p>\n

Thay, as followers call him, is one of the most prominent promoters of mindfulness in the West. He is also known for having coined the term\u00a0\u201cEngaged Buddhism\u201d<\/a>\u00a0during the Vietnam War, creating an ethical way of life for young social workers who were addressing the poverty and violence around them. He established Plum Village after being exiled to France for his activism against the war.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Plum Village has hosted retreats for refugees, veterans, climate change activists, teachers, people of color, young adults, businesspeople, police, politicians, health care workers and more.<\/p>\n

Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s approach is \u201cWhere is the suffering? Let\u2019s have a retreat,\u201d Brother Ch\u00e2n Ph\u00e1p Dung told me during an interview.<\/p>\n

A lotus grows not out of marble but out of the mud, Nhat Hanh is known for saying. The path to enlightenment requires an understanding of suffering.<\/p>\n

Fear<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though I was there as a journalist, I, too, brought suffering to Plum Village: fear of societal collapse due to climate change.<\/p>\n

My \u201ceco-anxiety\u201d has been exacerbated by motherhood. Nothing brings me more joy than being a mother. But when my first child was born during a hot summer two years ago, I cranked up the air conditioning, worried about her dying of SIDS while I slept next to her.<\/p>\n

Then I lay awake, worrying about our emissions\u2019 effect on our planet.<\/p>\n

At the same time, babies were being separated from their mothers at the US-Mexico border. I held my own baby tightly and cried. What were we doing to this next generation?<\/p>\n

My fear for their future is one reason I wanted to interview Brother Ch\u00e2n Ph\u00e1p Dung and Sister True Dedication.<\/p>\n

\"\"Left: Brother Ch\u00e2n Ph\u00e1p Dung. Right: Sister True Dedication.<\/i><\/p>\n

Prior to becoming monastics, Ph\u00e1p Dung lived through the Vietnam War and Los Angeles\u2019 civil unrest in 1992. True Dedication had been involved in anti-war protests after 9\/11. Both represented their community at the Paris Climate Accords.<\/p>\n

I wanted to believe that the Plum Village monastics held the secret to how we could survive as a society and reduce the suffering of the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

They told me to come and see for myself.<\/p>\n

A Global Ethic<\/strong><\/p>\n

During our weeklong retreat, we practiced sitting meditation and walking mindfully through the French countryside, aware of the crunch of the gravel or squish of the mud under our feet.<\/p>\n

We ate vegan food slowly, thinking about our diet\u2019s impact on the world.<\/p>\n

We listened to our fellow retreatants describe their experience with the Five Mindfulness Trainings \u2014 the protection of life; social justice and generosity; responsible sexual behavior; deep listening and loving speech; and mindful consumption. These practices help those who have committed to them \u2014 an estimated 250,000 people \u2014 reduce their own and others\u2019 suffering, and notably, not contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n

\"\"Walking meditation at Plum Village New Year\u2019s retreat 2020.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"Formal lunch at Plum Village New Year\u2019s retreat 2020.<\/i><\/p>\n

When I interviewed Sister True Dedication, she explained Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s teaching that in order to win peace, activists must first embody peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re guided by his insight that systemic change is built on the collective consciousness, and collective consciousness changes by the rubber hitting the road, and people really transforming their way of daily living,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

I had brought my family to the New Year\u2019s retreat seeking a path forward.<\/p>\n

Little did I know that a societal collapse would come so soon after we returned home.<\/p>\n

Quarantine<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the novel Coronavirus spread throughout the world, offices closed and I started working from home. From afar, I watched Plum Village close its doors to its usual stream of international visitors and transition to online programming.<\/p>\n

Brother Ph\u00e1p Dung, one of the monastics I had interviewed, gave a Dharma talk at the beginning of the pandemic that was\u00a0shared on YouTube<\/a>. \u201cThis is a moment where the whole planet is required to go on retreat, mandatory and supported by all governments,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n