No Recipe for Success

Meditation doesn't want to be formulaic, consistent and predictable. It's not like cooking a preplanned meal in accordance with specific instructions. It's more like cooking from a pantry that's stocked with varying ingredients, while trying to satisfy dietary requirements that differ daily. The playing field is always shifting. Our needs change, as do the means to meet them – sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.

Developing skill in meditation isn't about learning the correct technique and perfecting its execution. It's developing the sensitivity to clearly observe one's inner world, and honing the instincts to adjust goals and tactics on the fly.

It's an art not a science, and should feel more like exploring, investigating or listening than working. It does require serious dedication, but shouldn't be taken all too seriously, on the cushion. Effort should be applied to clarifying intentions, not to practicing quietude. Meditation should be thought of as an act of surrendering, rather than accomplishing. Although it's commonly a pleasant side effect, we don't meditate to improve ourselves. We meditate to lose our selves.

Kinda hard to do when following directions.

Garden of the Mind

Things just pop up from the ever fertile soil of our minds. Thoughts, images, emotions, vague inklings, brilliant insights, everything that arises within is a gift from beneath the surface of consciousness. It may seem like the mind creates them, because that's where they're acknowledged. But it really only discovers and labels them. In truth, our flowery thoughts only exist within the field of fixed ideas, and we only perceive that part of our mind because of the foliage that's growing there.

Many take their garden as a given condition and ingest whatever sprouts up. But we don't have any moral obligation to anything growing there, and can weed freely and choose which ones to nurture, in accordance with our values and priorities. We can sow seeds and transplant notions from other's gardens, and we can change or reconfigure it, at any time.

Like any garden, it's never complete. It's a continually evolving thing, that is ever waiting to be re-envisioned, reinvented and molded into a new and unique entity.

Step back, walk around it and take a good look. After a reasonable assessment, grab your shovel and pruners, select some healthy seeds or a hand me down bush and get to work – begging your pardon, get to play.

Not all Breaths are Created Equal

I haven't a clue how many times I've encouraged others to be aware of their breath, and I really can't think of a more important or meaningful thing for people to tend to.

The breath of life. Quite simply, without our breath as a constant companion, we wouldn't be here. When you think about it in those terms, each and every breath we take sustains our existence over the next few minutes. And, not all breaths are created equal. The fullness of the inhale, the completeness of the exhale, the places and durations of pauses, the pace and intensity of its movements, and the attitudes and focus' all tint the neutrality of pure prana, en route to our cells and synapses.

The quality of each moment of life is greatly influenced by the quality of the last few breaths. And it's all completely free for the taking. (Well, you might have to “pay” attention.) It's like the universe has provided us with an absolutely abundant larder and granted us open access to it. Each breath is a scoop of vital life force that splashes into our heart centers and cascades throughout our bodies and minds in a perpetual play of give and take. “Excuse me. Might I please borrow another cup of prana?”

First, one has to take the time to get to know the breath, in all its guises, and observe the corresponding effects on the body and brain. Then we can develop the skill to intentionally influence our state of being through conscious control of the breath.

It may seem like a huge commitment to endeavor to hold perpetual awareness and mastery of our breathing. But it “pays off in spades”, often, in unexpected ways. Our breathing is always happening, and it takes as much energy to ignore something that's so “in your face” as it does to pay attention to it.

The breath is always affecting the way the mind works, shouldn't the door swing both ways?

For all intents and purposes, on a personal level, our lives are as we perceive them to be. If there's a way for us to manage how we experience and react to our world, doesn't it seem like something that deserves the highest priority? And it's as easy and natural as ... well, breathing. The body already knows how to utilize the breath, demonstrating its prowess through such acts as: yawning, sighing, coughing, crying, gasping, laughing, grunting, moaning and humming.

If only it required something that could turn a profit. Then, at least, there'd be some infomercials out there pushing the message, too. Instead, you've just got the likes of me. I broadcast my words into the air and across the expanses of cyberspace in the hopes that someone will hear me, take a little time to ponder my thoughts and receive some new insights or a fresh perspective.

Accepting that your breath is largely responsible for how you see and feel, in each passing moment - if you're not in control of it, then who is? Shut off the autopilot. Pay attention and take charge. It's the obvious choice, when you look at your options.

How do you want to feel over the next minute or three? Imagine it and invite your breath to help you bring that feeling to life. Whether you acknowledge it or not, your breath is always actively feeding your being for the immediate future, shaping and coloring your every experience.

Breathe wisely.

Strivin' for Thrivin'

It may surprise you, but one of the worst things that could happen to you is to get everything you want, to have a perfect life, to be completed. It's the quest for “better” that gets and keeps us going, that inspires fantasy, ingenuity and ambition, that sparks our evolution. Without cause for motivation, we'd all wind up lazy, fat and discontent.

Change being the only constant - even if everything was absolutely perfect, it wouldn't stay that way. But let's fantasize for the moment that it could. If all the pieces came together and stayed arranged, just so, our minds would soon grow weary of the status quo. It's just the way we're wired. Can you think of any prize that you've ever gotten that you didn't tire of or lose excitement about sooner or later? I can't.

Imperfection and impermanence are our friends. It's a choice to fret and despair over the imperfection of present circumstances - and not a particularly helpful one. (Ideally, at that point, woe becomes the motivating imperfection, and steps are taken to make oneself feel better.)

Embrace the opportunity to overcome life's difficulties. Relish the challenge of recreating yourself, over and over. Thank those who create obstacles for you. When an accident happens or you shoot yourself in the foot, consider it as a lesson, digest it and move on. Greet the uncomfortable and unexpected as old friends who are here to help you learn and grow.

Living isn't easy, and we shouldn't want it to be. It's not a matter of staying on the sunny side of the street or dawning those rose colored glasses. Sure, we enjoy our experiences more when we maintain a positive attitude, but it quite simply makes us better, as people and as a species, to have to figure things out and do the work to make things happen.

Enjoy the struggle and strive to thrive.

Rubber Band Bodies

During asana practice, teachers are always talking about the edge, referring to a point where the body reaches its limit. The term is a grand misnomer. When we think of an edge, we envision a clean sharp well defined line. There is no such beast in the body.

Imagine taking a rubber band between fingers and thumbs of both hands and then moving them away from each other. At some point the slack is pulled taught with no resistance. If you were to continue opening the space between your hands, tension would grow in relation to the lengthening of the band. At some point the strain reaches its maximum and any further movement would result in its breaking.

When we practice asana, our muscles respond very much the same. Our “edge” encompasses the entire range from barely noticeable, to extreme, resistance. Given that, in life, more effort generally yields better results, it's no wonder that so many push their body to the point that the rubber band is about to snap, and then push more. This, however, is unquestionably a case where less is more.

It requires more than a superficial passing acknowledgment that practicing yoga asana about communing with the body, not achieving mastery over it.

Again. Practicing yoga's about communing with the body, not achieving mastery over it.

Yoga asana is great exercise, and there's nothing wrong with taking it as no more than that. True, it may be discounting the most valuable aspects of it, but that doesn't detract from the positive benefits of the exercises and the value of a regular practice.

Even if one thinks all of that “one big family, love the earth, vibrational harmony, spiritual evolution” stuff is all a bunch of crap, that doesn't change the reality of our physicality. The body has its own self protection mechanisms. It doesn't care if its some thug in a back alley or its own mind on a yoga mat whose trying to bully it. It reacts the same.

As you play with your rubber band, it's simply better to hold back from applying maximum force. That way the body doesn't go into defensive mode. If you do feel compelled to go for the gusto (because it can feel really good) it's best to modulate your efforts, so that the muscles don't settle into lock down.

And unlike rubber bands, the body has moods and weather cycles and seasons. A rote strategy doesn't work when the team has different players every game. The coach has to assess each time, and modify the game plan accordingly, in order to get the best results. So slow down and play nice.

It's not mystical, touchy feely or new agey - “Just the physiological facts, ma'am”.

The Caesar Syndrome

When the “Dog Whisperer” goes to meet new clients, they always think it's going to be all about training the dogs. But it always turns out to be the “masters” who need to be trained, in order to bring their relationships into a healthy balance.

People come to yoga expecting to train their bodies to conform to their wills. But in the end, it's the will that has to be trained to accept its role as a part of the whole, and invite a unified relationship of body, mind and spirit.