Our net of Indra

Loved watching this Richard Freeman video about the "net of Indra" that we are all trapped in...

Video here

"As you dig into any one thing, you start to find out that it's made of everything else."

Learning to be silent

“Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.” 

~Pythagoras, Greek philosopher and mathematician (~ 500 B.C.)

Yesterday was the first day of a weekly meditation session at the medical school. We met in the student lounge and were led through a pre-recorded 10-minute mindfulness meditation.

This worked well because 1) it was not much time out of people’s busy days (about 20 minutes), and 2) not much organization was necessary (all we needed was a recorded meditation on a computer with speaker).

Sitting quietly in a room with people is something we rarely get to experience these days. We walk with our ipods, we turn on the tv at home, our phones are constantly attached to us awaiting the next text or phone call.

One of the things I love most about practicing mysore-style Ashtanga yoga is the silent sharing of space with people. Usually, we actively avoid this space, as we constantly try to fill silences with chatter or background noise. But there’s a lot we can learn and share in silence, too.

Check out this short video of the beautiful silence in an Ashtanga mysore class (from Richard Freeman's 2009 Teacher Intensive):

Pythagoras reminds us of the importance of this silent space. We need it to listen, to absorb, to think, to create. Schools and hospitals are perfect places to provide this… and I can’t wait for the day when the hospital I work/teach at has a morning mysore program! 

Getting entatic

Here’s a new word for you:

Entasy: An introverted and reflexive flow of consciousness.

In everyday experiences consciousness adverts towards the world. It is extrovertive and projects outward toward sensory objects. Entasy, in contrast, denotes an introverted and reflexive flow of consciousness. The yogin’s awareness turns back upon itself and reflects upon its own nature. Entasy is also a useful term because it contrasts with the feelings of excitement associated with being ‘in ecstasy.’ 

(excerpt on entasy from an essay on Samkhya philosophy during Richard Freeman’s Teacher Intensive) 

Entasy is the opposite of ectasy, which literally means “standing outside oneself.”

In the science world, when an atom or group of atoms is an entatic state, it means that it is in a geometric or electronic condition adapted for function.

If we apply this to humans, an entatic state would mean a state in which the mind is shaped and prepared for function.

The practice of yoga and meditation helps cultivate this entatic state by helping us identify our mental chatter, negative automatic thought patterns, illusions, distractions, and more. We then gain more control over our thoughts and become better prepared for general life functioning.

(And now I'm off for some entasy in my first ever Iyengar class in Philly!)

Being an imperfectionist

This is one of my favorite lines from the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 3, verse 35) and it’s been on my mind lately:

“Better is one’s own law though imperfectly carried out than the law of another carried out perfectly.”

5 things I’m imperfectly carrying out right now:

1. Career choice: Do I chase the conventional markers of success (high paying specialty) or pursue my interests and passions (which may be less prestigious)?
2. Relationship timeline: Do I attempt to fit into the traditional timeline of dating, engagement, marriage, babies by mid-30’s (aaah!) or let go of that and follow the timeline that works for my life?
3. Yoga practice: Do I stick to the strict ashtanga practice every or sometimes skip around, add, and experiment?
4. Food: Do I follow a specific dietary set of rules (vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, yogic, etc) or follow my own system that works for me (and which might be subject to change)?
5. Meditation practice: Do I sit in lotus position for a specified amount of time or do I allow for different approaches (such as getting up and going for a mindful run)?

I think I like being an imperfectionist.

Just a little meditation

Every morning after asana practice, Richard would have us do sitting meditation for at least 10 minutes. I'd like to continue that now that I'm back home (here’s why), but it's HARD to create new habits and I find myself falling back into my old routines.

It’s already known that long-term meditation improves concentration, attention, mood, and stress levels. But what about those of us who just do it for a few days here and there? Does that help us focus our attention, limit mental chatter, or improve functioning? Or is it something we would have to keep up for months/years before it would be of any help?

Good news! This study just came out showing that short-term meditation (4 days for 20 minutes/day) has measurable benefits.

They looked at 65 people with no prior meditation experience, splitting them into two groups: one group did mindfulness meditation for four day (20 minutes/day), while the control group listened to The Hobbit on audiotape.

The meditation group had the following benefits when compared with controls:

• Decreased fatigue
• Decreased anxiety
• Improved attention
• Improved working memory
• Improved executive functioning 

That’s after only 4 days! This makes me wonder about other changes might happen in the body after just four days of meditation: Blood flow in the brain? Cortisol? Inflammation? Oxidative stress levels? Telomeres/telomerase?

It's nice to know that even if I don't sit and meditate every day, at least a little is still helpful.

Why I will do it again

I made it through the meditation weekend! Nothing terrible happened (actually, absolutely nothing happened), but I did learn that I’m clearly not as advanced in my sitting practice as others. My roommate came home saying she felt fantastic with more mental clarity and more physical energy...  really?!! I think I felt the exact opposite.

A few lessons learned:

• I hold a lot of tension in my jaw. Every time I checked in on it, it was clenched! Smiling gently helped release it temporarily. (Sitting meditation may look relaxing from the outside, but it was definitely causing me stress...  wonder what my cortisol level was.)
• Practicing asana before sitting definitely helps. I practiced in the early morning on day #2 and found sitting much easier and more comfortable than day #1.
• My mind cannot relax if my body is not comfortable. If my foot is asleep or if I have an itch that wont go away, that is the only thing I can think about... so I would do whatever it took to be comfortable.

Why I will do it again (but in shorter intervals... probably not for entire days at a time!):

• Time and space with no distractions. It’s a rare thing these days to have time alone with only our mind. No other distractions whatsoever… no phone, no emails, and no responsibilities.

• Reminder of impermanence. Sitting and watching our thoughts and emotions, we begin to see how impermanent they are. Fleeting desires. Fleeting anger. Annoyances that come and go. The temporary nature of pain and suffering. 

• Reveals mental habits. We can observe and learn the habits of our mind: thoughts that repeat themselves, memories that re-play, worries or anxieties that surface, future events that we plan and envision. Once they are identified, they can be better controlled.

• Practice practice practice. As our meditation teacher told us, this sitting practice is just like first learning the Sun Salutations in asana practice: first we emulate where we sit there and “pretend” to be meditating, and then with practice we eventually begin to discover it for ourselves (and sitting meditation eventually becomes enjoyable).

• It's about the process. My struggles with this are all part of the process. Discomfort, frustration, anger... it's all part of it. Just like when we're working on a new challenging posture, it's about the process, and not, as Richard would say, "the hallucination of a goal." 

Meditation lessons

We are spending the weekend meditating. Both Saturday and Sunday... all day. I am nervous.

Some meditation lessons that I'm trying to remember:

• Take care of duties first (to your children, relationships, family, job, etc): Once your ducks are in order, then a contemplative practice becomes easy. Richard’s example: Don’t leave your baby with a stranger so that you can fly across the world to go to a yoga/meditation retreat! Duty first.

• Be simple: Just sit and be comfortable (in whatever posture works for you... and yes, a chair is okay!).

• Sit up straight: “Sit as if you were awake!” Richard says. “If sitting with a bad posture, you will become encrusted with old thoughts… It’s impossible to be depressed if you sit up straight.”

• Avoid fidgeting: Fidgeting is the mind trying to distract itself.

• Let thoughts come and go: Observe them.

• Do not repress anger and desire (which will arise): These are extremely useful! But unfortunately, these emotions are usually attached to an object (i.e. a person), and then they become destructive. As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Hold your anger.” Be mindful of these emotions/passions, and then they can be transformed (and detached from the object). 

• Become a "residualist": Enjoy the “residue,” seeing perfection in the imperfections. Richard said, “What other people find ordinary and boring, we find fascinating and beautiful.”

Hope these help get me through the weekend...