And then there is the mental effort of focusing awareness on the breath while the mind serves up plans, memories and emotions, not all of them pleasant. “Leave your front door and your back door open,” the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki used to say. Back in the newsroom these days, I’m more able to take a beat amid the stress of breaking news. After the first day on the retreat in June, thoughts of work slipped out the back door. The week ahead would bring fresh headlines, many of misery — more wildfire smoke, contaminated strawberries and deadly tornadoes in the South.

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Persons: Shunryu Suzuki, I’m, Dennis Overbye, “