Calm in the Storm & Live Podcast

In this article, we share an introductory excerpt from the new book Calm in the Storm by Br. Phap Huu and Jo Confino — a timely Zen guide for those seeking emotional stability, self-compassion, and inner peace in an anxious, perfection-driven world.

Why We Need Calm in the Storm 

In these times when everything appears to be in turmoil and we can feel powerless to shape our world, it is important to cultivate calm in the storm. When we are stable in our center, we can develop the capacity and resilience to accompany ourselves and others through these difficult and momentous times. We can respond rather than react or burn out. This requires taking time to reflect, a habit that is in stark contrast to our current culture of striving, our expectation for constant progress, and a belief that time is money.

When we’re always looking forward, we sometimes forget to slow down long enough to pay attention to the streams of wisdom passed down to us through many generations that are still as fresh and relevant today as when they first emerged into our collective consciousness.

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Crises

We (Br. Phap Huu & Jo Confino) have both found great treasures in the 2,600-year-old teachings of the Buddha, which offer valuable pathways to help us face the polycrisis—the convergence of multiple, interconnected crises that amplify each other—with stability and presence. We are grateful for the simple and profound way these teachings have been embodied and transmitted to us by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, our teacher, who is known as “Thay” (an affectionate Vietnamese term for teacher). Thay would have said:

There is no path to being calm, calmness is the path. There is no way to stability, stability is the way.

A Simple Path to Peace 

To start benefiting from Zen practices involves no complexity or esoteric knowledge, nor years of formal training. All that is needed to get going is to take the first mindful breath and then to keep breathing with awareness, to take the first mindful step and then to keep walking. Cultivating calm in the storm is neither a sprint nor a marathon.

We can deepen our understanding until our very last breath and share the wisdom we accumulate along the way with others, who can then further develop their own insights and share them in turn with their family, friends, and community. There is no beginning and no end to this path of peace and freedom; we are drops in the eternal river of life.

Why We Wrote This Book

Our wish in writing this book is to share what we have learned about cultivating calm in the storm and our hope of offering you spiritual sustenance and practical encouragement as you walk your own path.

Many people question what it takes to remain hopeful in these difficult times. In this book, we focus our attention on the understanding that while we cannot change the world on our own, we do have the capacity to change ourselves.

Tending to our overwhelm or anxiety offers the greatest opportunity to find our own stability; from this place of centeredness, we can reach out into the world and act with fierce, rooted compassion.

Becoming the Change We Long For

It takes visceral knowing, not intellectual understanding, to bring about fundamental change. If we want to see greater kindness in the world, we need to find our own tenderness within. If we want the world to move away from polarization to deeper collaboration, we ourselves need to find ways to listen deeply to those we believe to be the cause of our suffering. If we want others to feel less isolated and lonely, we need to see past our own beliefs about our separation and disconnection.

Join us for the live podcast in London