Take a Cigarette Breath

I’ve always said that smoking is the American meditation. (Maybe the European one, too?) Taking a moment for yourself, focusing completely on your breath, noticing all the little sensations in your lungs, skin, and brain — isn’t that what meditation is all about? Yes, you could choose nicer companions than tar and ammonia. But let’s not neglect the little health routine that you’ve learned from smoking…

Read the whole thing at the Huffington Post: Take a Cigarette Breath

I was thinking the other day about what I wanted to be in the future. When I grow up. I want be someone who practices yoga and meditation every day.

Then I realized — I am that person, RIGHT NOW, if I practice yoga and meditate today. It’s not like “I want to be a world-famous photographer” where you have to build a portfolio and a reputation over years and years. All I have to do is practice yoga and meditate today. And tomorrow. And repeat. It’s an identity that’s defined by habits, not by goals. Verbs, not nouns.

I’m going to major in linguistics.

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

— William James
quoted in Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Times has a profile of Tibetan monk Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, “The Happiest Man in the World.” He’s released a new book called Joyful Wisdom describing his methods.

In his book he recounts being extremely anxious as a child in Nepal, having had what a Manhattan psychiatrist would likely diagnose as panic attacks, and how he cured himself of this chronic anxiety by making his fears the focus of his meditation. He has had to earn his good cheer.

Rinpoche has studied both Western science and Tibetan Buddhist meditation in detail. He’s participated in scientific studies of meditation; since he’s spent over 10,000 hours meditating he’s considered an adept. (That’s the threshold for excellence, according to research.)

One form of meditation that seems particularly conducive to happiness, and stress reduction, is mindfulness meditation. This is generally a practice of observing the thoughts, body, etc, without trying to change anything. A clinical study of beginning meditators at a high-stress office, practicing mindfulness meditation thirty minutes a day for eight weeks, left them “saying that instead of feeling overwhelmed and hassled, they were enjoying their work.”

If you’d like some instruction in this practice, I know that Om Factory and New York Insight offer guided classes appropriate for all levels. Allyson Pimental and Michael Fayne, who teach the class at Om Factory, said that mindfulness meditation has been shown to help heart disease, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, depression, and many other ailments. My very first class at New York Insight got rid of a clenched jaw I hadn’t been able to close for two weeks. (Yes, I was a little stressed out.) I’ve also heard good things about the Dharma Punx talks at Lila Wellness. But there are many great centers around town, and many classes are by donation. So go try one on!

Well, I’m back in the city again. A few days in Florida with my mom filled me up on oranges (and blues and greens). I feel sunny inside, even if it’s not so much outside.

With the return to city life came the return to Twitter, CNN, texting, and emails. (I could have continued them through my trip, but chose to take a fairly full break.) And, happily, the Times, which today published a great article on the science of concentration. We know we’re living in the Age of Distraction; Winifred Gallagher wrote Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life to refocus our attention on our control of the matter: “…your choices determine your experience, just as William James said.” (‘My experience is what I agree to attend to.’)

It’s like that old Ann Landers advice: no one can take advantage of you unless you let them. We can only be distracted by incessant emails if we choose to obsessively check them, or keep that notifier on. We can choose to wake up and run to our devices, or we can choose to first gather our thoughts at another table.

But what about those taxi rides / offices / airports / companions full of noise and distractions, out of our control?

Ms. Gallagher advocates meditation to increase your focus, but she says there are also simpler ways to put the lessons of attention researchers to use. Once she learned how hard it was for the brain to avoid paying attention to sounds, particularly other people’s voices, she began carrying ear plugs with her. When you’re trapped in a noisy subway car or a taxi with a TV that won’t turn off, she says you have to build your own “stimulus shelter.”

And a bit of practical advice:

She recommends starting your work day concentrating on your most important task for 90 minutes. At that point your prefrontal cortex probably needs a rest, and you can answer e-mail, return phone calls and sip caffeine (which does help attention) before focusing again. But until that first break, don’t get distracted by anything else, because it can take the brain 20 minutes to do the equivalent of rebooting after an interruption.

The last interesting takeaway was about scientists’ use of rhythmic light to assist our concentration. Regular, tiny pulses of light can create gamma waves in the brain, which are associated with focus and perception. This direct synchronization of neurons is interesting — I’ll be sure to consider strobe lights for my office — but I’m surprised the article did not mention music, a much more accessible assistant. Electronic music, with its lack of narrative and focus on atmosphere, does a great job of consolidating the fluctuations of the mind. (I posted a few favorite albums for yoga last month.) As background music, it’s often better than silence for concentration. There are even albums like “The Brainwave Suite” that promise to create alpha, theta, or delta brain waves with various ambient soundtracks. (I don’t know why they left out gamma.)

So, hopefully we can all learn to focus amid the symphony of modern life a bit better. Or we can stay on our smart phones, walking straight into traffic, and wait for Darwin to weed us out.

Theologue by Alex Grey

So we’re sitting comfortably. What’s next?

With the focus between the eyebrows, there’s a slight buzzing. Like a fly circling in front of the forehead. With further attention the pulse becomes noticeable, a slight throbbing pressure. The eyes are still dancing around; once they are still, the head will become darker. As if you’re in a theater, watching a projection on the back of your forehead, and they’ve just dimmed the lights. All of this is very subtle; it would be drowned out by the TV or a single thought.

In mindfulness meditation, we would watch the errant thoughts and sensations arise and depart. In this meditation, we’re seeking union with a chosen object, the point between the eyebrows, our center of intuition. We can hold in our minds the question “What is real?” to anchor our search, WITHOUT trying to solve it. Just returning again and again to the questioning: is this buzzing real? is this pressure real? is this darkness real?

Be receptive to healing, be receptive to feeling.

What is real? We look at a photo, and know that it is an image, not real, but it depicts a time and place and object which WAS real. We look at our bodies, and they have changed since the year before, the day before, the second before. What is reality?

Dive into the question without trying, without “figuring”, without “meditating”. Fall into the question as if falling asleep. Absorbed and absorbing the resting state.

Dive into the sensation between the eyebrows, the pulses like waves of the ocean, rippling outward through the body. Feel each breath slowly amplify the quiet quiet hissing and buzzing. Listen, and listen again. Feel every sound like an echo on the forehead. Let the mind be completely absorbed.

This practice is rejuvenating yet calming. The thoughts and body have fallen away, a new layer of the self shines out. Meditation is a space in which we listen to all the millions of subtle sensations going on inside our skins, and give energy to our inner workings. Thirty minutes before bed each night is excellent; we often waste that much time just “getting to” sleep. Try it as your homework for the next month.

This is a cute article, shared by my dad, about the lessons our pets can give us in happiness. The tips read like a guide to mindfulness meditation. The author is Cesar Millan, better known as The Dog Whisperer.

What Your Pet Can Teach You

Allyson

Mike

Last night I went to the inaugural meditation class at Om Factory. Led by Allyson Pimental and Michael Fayne, two clinical psychologists, the class introduced mindfulness meditation (also called insight meditation) as a technique for mental wellness.

Apparently this form of meditation, in which you simply observe the body and mind without trying to change anything, is effective in treating heart disease, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, depression, and many other ailments. You simply observe the breath, without any expectations. In contrast to Hindu forms of meditation, which often try to create a perfect stillness in the mind, this Buddhist form of meditation focuses on accepting the present, moment by moment.

I’ve been meditating off and on for a few years, but I’m trying to establish a daily practice now, and I find that a guided meditation really helps to refocus my energy. Our 15-minute session flew by, and I felt significantly calmer afterwards. Most of the students (7 in total) had not meditated before, and there were question-and-answer opportunities throughout, so the class is fine for new beginners. Mike and Allyson are both extremely articulate, experienced practitioners.

The class takes place every Wednesday from 7–8pm at Om Factory. The class is taught collaboratively for now; eventually they will start alternating weeks. Highly recommended.

Sri Dharma Mittra

Dharma Mittra, the inimitable (or eminently imitable) senior teacher, just emailed these tips for the new year:

1. Spend time Meditating. Meditation is unbroken concentration and the most effective type is self-reflection. Spend at least 15 minutes meditating every morning.
2. Get serious about your practice! One must get serious and simply attending class is not enough. Spend at least 15 minutes each morning doing Asana and focus on the main ones: Headstand, Shoulderstand, Plow, Fish and Cobra.
3. Drink lots of green juices and remember the first Yama, Ahimsa. As long as you are involved with violence, your meditation will go nowhere.
4. Understand the five subtle bodies or sheathes so that you can commence negating them at once.
5. How you begin something is of great significance. If you begin the New Year with a big mug of coffee, it sets the wrong tone for the entire year to come. Begin 2009 committed to the attainment of Self-Knowledge.
6. Outside of the three main texts, The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Yoga Padipika, read and study Swami Sivananda’s Self-Knowledge as it contains all the answers.
7. Dedicate the fruit of all action and be nice to everyone. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

I found them inspiring and hope you do too. Lots of good ways to start the new year here. I did my 15 minutes of meditation and asana this morning; it was great to be reminded that it’s not how much you practice, but how regularly, and that the basic principles are the most important achievements.

If you’re ever in New York for New Year’s, I highly recommend Dharma’s New Year’s Eve classes. The vibe is intense and uplifting. He did not do the midnight celebration last night, but taught his regular 6pm Asana and 7:30pm Meditation/Psychic Development. The former is an open-level vinyasa class, the latter is chants and breathing exercises to purify and strengthen the mind. Both began with Dharma talks that really cleared my mind. (And then my evening was free to see Blonde Redhead at Terminal 5!) The center is chanting 108 Hanuman Chalisas all day today, so if you’re near 23rd and 3rd drop by for a little spiritual high.

PS — You can download Swami Sivananda’s book, and others, for free at The Divine Life Society.

When I first started meditating, it was not what you’d call meditation. I’d sit down, close my eyes, try to focus, and promptly have a panic attack about all the things I should be doing besides SITTING ON THE FLOOR DOING NOTHING.

Gradually, I learned that there is some actual technique to this hobby. Yes, it’s incredibly simple, but in the same way that running is simple — you can still trip on a rock or run into a tree.

Lesson number one: Sitting on the floor is a posture, just like Triangle or Down Dog. There are alignment tips that will make it way more comfortable. Alignment is even MORE important in a meditative pose, since you’ll be holding it for ten, twenty, sixty minutes. I used to get so mad at myself for fidgeting, until I realized IT’S ANOTHER ASANA and set up properly. Now, I usually spend the first couple minutes of my meditation adjusting my pose; I guess that’s actually the pre-med. :)

• Sit against a wall to start. We all know that the spine should be straight when meditating, but we might not realize we’re not actually sitting straight. Hard-core meditators might say this impedes the flow of energy or something, but I became WAY more relaxed and upright when I learned where vertical actually was. Plus, the pressure of the wall against my shoulder blades let my breath actually expand my lungs.
• Elevate the hips, so that blood can flow easily to the knees and the hip flexors can completely relax. Even if you’re in Full Lotus, sit on a blanket or a block.
• Cross the legs comfortably. You’ll have to experiment with this one — what’s comfortable for thirty seconds is not necessarily comfortable for thirty minutes. When you find that whoops, you’ve chosen an excruciating position, just make a note of that for next time, adjust your legs slightly, and begin your meditation again. (Note: any movement restarts your meditation, so you’ll probably have several short meditations in your early sessions, not one long one.) Don’t worry about getting to Lotus — the only thing you feel there is “wow, my back is straight!” Worry about your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and back, and what they’re telling you.
• Rest the hands easily on your thighs or lap. Palms face down is slightly more calming, palms face up is more open, and one palm in the other (non-dominant hand on top, thumbs touching) is more focusing.
• Release the shoulders. I have to roll them forward, up, and back a few times to get them to relax and hang straight. When they’re relaxed, you’ll be able to feel your sternum rising and falling with the breath.
• Elongate the neck. This is a tricky one. Your neck curves slightly forward, so you want to straighten the curve just a little by moving the chin an inch backwards, as if you’re pressing the back of your head into someone’s raised hand. You just want the muscles at the back of the neck to relax, so you have to make sure your big bowling ball of a head is not hanging forward. If you’re a yoga practitioner, you can stop doing ujayi now ;)
• Relax the face, including the eyes, ears, and tongue. It’s amazing how much tension we hold in the face. How many people have you seen on the street with a furrowed brow ’cause they’re thinking so hard? I used to feel like I should say something to them… until my mom said I do the same thing! The hardest part about releasing your habits is actually noticing them. A lot of times someone else has to tell us; that’s why we go to yoga class. (If you tend to stress, cup the hands and touch the center of the forehead. Draw the fingertips away from each other, across the forehead, to release stress. Repeat at the hairline, the crown of the head, and down the back of the head.) Let the eyes relax like bean bags in the eye sockets. Pointing them towards the tip of the nose (not up towards the Third Eye) will help.

OK, now you’re comfortable. You can have a nice meditation just slowly scanning through these points, finding the millions of subtle sensations inside the skin. If you train yourself to actually admit your knees are hurting a bit, or your stomach is aching, you will prevent injury and answer your own questions about diet and lifestyle. If you find any points of pain, spend a little extra time focusing there. Just notice what thoughts flow through your head as you focus on each part of the body. And relax.

Tomorrow I’ll cover some the mental pieces.