Calmness

During an Empowered yoga practice we implement a three-tier approach to synchronizing the mind and body—steadying the eyes in one spot, attention to respiration, and the awareness of the body. As you move from posture to posture the focus is on what is happening right now. You narrow your vision, deepen your breath and then drop into your body. A sense of calmness comes over you and you are now in the present moment—the zone. You are not there too long before you lose your attention and your focus shifts over to a thought. A thought leads into another thought and in essence you have left the room. Your body is there yet your mind is off somewhere else—daydreaming or strategizing your next move in life.

At some point you realize you are daydreaming and not present. You then label your experience by saying to yourself, “thinking” and then return back to an inhale. Once again you are back in the zone. Inevitably you will lose your focus and become preoccupied by thinking. You will catch yourself once again and label it thinking and return to the breath. This process of catching yourself lost in thought, labeling it and then returning back to the breath is the foundation for developing a yoga practice.

In the Pāli language this technique is called Samatha meditation often translated as calm abiding. Due to the speed at which our world is moving many of us are living in a perpetual state of anxiety and agitation. We are not sleeping enough, not using our bodies enough, thinking a lot, eating processed foods that create stress on our digestive systems, thus affecting the other eleven systems within the mind and body. The strange thing is that most of us are unaware of this. It is not until we sit still with no stimulus or entertainment that we can begin to feel what is driving our lives.

As we learn to make a commitment to a practice of calm abiding we can begin to have a shift in our lives perspective. Cultivating calmness creates clarity, and clarity leads to wisdom. Wisdom is becoming our experience of what we learn within the space that is created when we become calm and present. At first this might not mean sitting still in meditation. You can start off with driving without the radio on. You can walk or run without the iPod. The options are endless for creating calmness within your life.

Search for ways that you can create calmness throughout your day and notice how good you feel when you are calm. It is from this place that you can clearly start to navigate your life in the direction that promotes peace and happiness.

Face to Face

This past weekend, I participated in the Shambhala Level One Sacred Warrior training at our Empowered Yoga Wilmington location. During discussion on Sunday, one participant wanted to know why we were not made aware of the schedule beyond when to arrive and depart. He was directly referring to the amount of time we spent in meditation on Saturday. 

He said it would have been nice to know the schedule so he could have planned and prepared. I could not help but laugh with him because I was watching my mind numerous times as it kept asking “When is this going to be over?” The hilarious part of this all is that sitting in mediation, you are just working on relaxing and doing nothing—sounds easy right? Most of us have no idea how fast our minds are moving until we sit down and do nothing. No music, no TV, no cell phone, nothing. We begin making excuses as to why meditation is not for us. We rationalize how our minds are different than other people’s minds. It is our mind’s way of strategizing right out of what it is most afraid off—stillness. 

Once we sit still and see our speedy minds we come face to face with our lives. It scares the heck out of us. We spend most of our adult life staying busy and strategizing our next move in life. Once we sit still, that perfectly oiled strategizing machine starts to strategize when we are going to get up and start moving again. As you sit longer, the strategizing loses its power and you start to drop in. Having more experience in mediation than he, I was aware of the process we were going through. It is much like a runner who has to break through the wall in order to get to the runners high. There is a build up of pressure within the mind and then finally it lets go. The feeling you are left with at the end of the process is……..well beyond words. Something you have to experience. 

It is at this point that you begin to understand why we are called human beings and not human doings. Now I am no expert or master in meditation yet it is my experience that this process is an integral aspect of human life. Learning to come face to face with your life—what is it that makes us want to stay busy? Are there things we are avoiding—truths that we simply cannot face? Or is it just that our ambitious nature has taken us so far away from being human that we have lost the true essence of happiness which is beyond material possessions and accomplishment? There is a true joy that one can cultivate in learning to be still and realizing that this moment is enough – that we are alive and that this precious life is fleeting day by day. 

When we come face to face with our minds; this is where you can begin to make friends with yourself. Getting in touch with our lives through mediation is truly one of the greatest acts we can do for those around us and the world. Getting in touch with our lives and the direction our lives are moving can help us refocus and become aware of our ability to steer our lives in certain directions that are going to reduce suffering and increase happiness and joy. For me this is truly part of being empowered.

Where is your attention?

Just the other day a friend asked me how I was doing—I replied great! She said, really? I said yes really. I just finished giving two of my children a bath and I have a wonderful wife and a great life. She said what about business? I said business is the most challenging it has ever been, but I don’t think anyone in business is saying things are great. She said doesn’t that bring you down? If I let myself focus on what is wrong in my life I will not be so great—I am careful as to where I focus my attention.

In the practice of Hatha Yoga you are cultivating the ability to be still and pay attention to your internal environment. When you cultivate concentration and the ability to be still for prolonged periods of time, something really special happens—you begin seeing the fluxing nature of reality. Thoughts come in and thoughts go out—the breath comes in and the breath goes out. You begin developing a relationship with the awareness that is able to see the flux. You no longer get dragged around by ups and downs of life yet instead see the impermanent nature to all of it.

Pause throughout the day and notice how much your moods, thoughts, and attitude shift. The more often you see this truth the more space you will bring between your awareness and your mental and emotional states. You will cultivate the ability to discern and redirect your attention. Over time the awareness will grow. Now keep in mind this is a life practice —an integral part of being empowered.