There are three styles of practice: letting go, transformation, and knowing the nature of things.

The first style, letting go, is about rules, boundaries, and staying away from what causes harm. For our actions this is important. But if the mind gets trapped in the belief “this is right, that is wrong,” we become tense and wait for a mistake at every step. The traditional image is a pig in a vegetable garden. If someone hits the pig once on the snout, it will never come back.

The second style is transformation. The image here is alchemy: the elixir touches a metal, and the metal turns into gold. We start with the breath as a support for awareness. If you get lost, stay for a while with whatever distracted you. Distracted by a pizza? Watch the pizza. If the breath can be a support, why not a pizza? It is the same with the past or a to-do list: everything becomes a support for awareness. We can also look deeper, for example at panic. It falls apart into sensations, images, voices and beliefs. Remove any one part, and there is no panic. You cannot find the panic itself. So even panic becomes wisdom.

The third style is knowing the nature of things. Awareness, love and compassion, emptiness and clarity are always with us. It is enough to recognize this and to keep recognizing it. Then there is nothing to throw away and nothing to worry about in transformation. Sometimes this is called effortless transformation: you do nothing, but you reach everything.