To be in the here and in the now is the basic practice of Buddhism. In our daily life, our body may be at one place, but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind may be caught in the regret or sorrow concerning the past, or worries concerning the future. Often, we are locked into the prison of the past and are not able to live the present moment deeply.But if you know how to bring your attention to your in-breath and breathe in mindfully, you will be able to release both the past and the future. If you bring your mind to the present, you will be able to release both the past and the future. In the Sutra on Mindful Breathing, the Buddha advises us to use that practice in order to become alive, and in order to release the tension and stress in our body.We know that Anathapindika was a very wealthy merchant. One day he came to visit the Buddha with 500 colleagues, and the Buddha gave them one teaching — how to be happy right in the present moment.I think of that teaching of the Buddha as very relevant to our times when most of us are so busy thinking of the future. We don’t have the time to take care of ourselves; we don’t have the time to take care of the people we love.But when you practise mindful breathing and go back to yourself, you are established in the present moment. And you find that there are many conditions for you to be happy right in the here and in the now.Breathing in, I am aware of my eyes.Breathing out, I smile to my eyes.The practices of mindful breathing and mindful walking help us to come home to the present moment in order to be in touch with the present moment. To be in touch with the wonders of life that are available. If you are not in touch with the refreshing and healing elements of life, you cannot be nourished, and you cannot go very far.When you love someone, the best gift you can offer him/her is your presence. To love means to be present — to be there for him/her. When you are extremely busy; when you are preoccupied with your worries, your fears, or with your projects, you have no time to be there for the person you love. That is why my definition of love is to be present for the person you love. If you know the practices of mindful breathing and mindful walking, with one breath or with one step you can bring your mind back to the body, and become available in the here and in the now. And when you are truly there, you have something very precious to offer him/her, the person you love — your true presence.This is a mantra we can practise today — to offer our presence to the person we love — but it is effective only when you are really established in the present moment. When you know that you are fully established in the here and in the now, you are free from the worries about the future and the sorrow concerning the past, you can go to your loved one and practise this mantra.The second mantra is to recognise the presence of your beloved one.You know that your beloved is very precious to you. You should say to him/her — Darling, I know that you are here, alive, and I am so happy.To be loved means to be recognised as existing. When you recognise the presence of your loved one as something very precious to you, you embrace that person with the energy of awareness and mindfulness. With your attention, your mindfulness, that person will bloom like a flower.Believe me, if you practise the second mantra, you will change the situation. And I would like to insist that the mantra is effective only when you are fully present in the here and in the now.— Excerpted from ‘Touching the Footsteps of the Buddha’, edited by Shantum Seth, with permission from Aleph