Observing inflows of fresh air
Watching outflows of hot air
Awareness of in breaths, out breaths
Invaluable endeavor
Action sounds simple, yet difficult
Attention soon rapidly scatters
Thoughts effortlessly followed
Mind wandering uncontrolled
Practice enhances facility
Quickly bring focus back
Breathing in, breathing out
Mind eventually settles
Untamed mind calmed
Training a commitment
Diligence worthwhile
Clarity manifests with ease
Nothing is ever really good
Nothing is ever really bad
Beyond common equality
Equanimity understood
Right behind what’s revealed
The hidden immediately there
The two being not dual
Aspects of the same coin
To always be in the moment
Seeing as IT is, in totality
Not discriminating, preferring
Complete acceptance liberating
Body and mind in harmony
Working together producing bests
Burden magically disappears
Transcended with being present
Right mindfulness in breathing
Body and mind made whole
Can only be experienced
Power of unity in here in now
Nancy Ko
The diligent practice of mindfulness in breathing has helped me through the years, saving me
from lasting agony. Decades of having cysts, hearing they could turn cancerous at any time,
chemotherapy, double mastectomy, ongoing cancer treatments powerless to bring me down.
Moments of confusion, anger, despair, fatigue, fear, frustrations come, but they don’t linger with
mindfulness in breathing.
I wrote this poem for a niece who sees her patients dying from COVID-19 with the wish that may
this poem help bring ease in times of extreme challenges.
