Yogas Citta Vrtti Nirodhah
Yoga is establishing the mind in stillness.
In this hectic world we live in, we have become very good at multi-tasking. And stereotypically women are better at this than men. But to what end?
From the moment we get up in the morning, to the moment we fall asleep, our minds are constantly churning. In the shower, we are thinking about what present to get mum for her birthday. During breakfast, we are preparing notes for a work meeting. We eat lunch in front of the computer and on our commute home we are thinking about how to make dinner, put the kids to bed and still get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Is this endless mind chatter serving you? Or do you feel like you are stuck on a hamster wheel, at risk of falling if you drop the ball for even one second?
If this sounds like you, I invite you to try an experiment. What if, for one day, everything you did during your day was carried out mindfully? That is, every activity, however mundane, receives your complete, devoted attention. If you are brushing your teeth, all of your attention is focused on brushing your teeth. When you are sitting on the bus, you are simply sitting on the bus. Not checking your phone, not planning the rest of your day, just observing.
If you are new to this practice, you will quickly notice your mind wandering. Do not get frustrated. Your mind is just doing what it has been trained to do. It will take some "un-training" for your mind to realize that it is allowed to let go from time to time.
Whenever you become aware of your mind wandering, gently bring it back to the present moment. It can be really hard for your mind to surrender control, especially in the beginning. If this is the case for you, you might like to make use of some training wheels, such as listening to relaxing music and focusing on your breath.
You can also carry around a little notebook to jot down important reminders. This way, you can write down your thought and let go of it, safe in the knowledge that it will still be there waiting for you when you need it. But before you commit your thought to paper, I suggest you ask yourself honestly how important this reminder is to your health and happiness.
So what if you forget one of the ingredients for your dinner party tonight? It could spark an outburst of creativity in the kitchen and provide a talking point for your guests. So what if you forget to iron your favorite blouse? Will wearing a different top affect your productivity at work? Only you can answer these questions and the answer will be different for everyone.
The point of this exercise is not to create added pressure in your life and give you extra material to beat yourself up about. You can not succeed or fail at the exercise. It is simply an invitation to become more aware of the wanderings of your mind and find moments in your day where you could benefit from cultivating a little more stillness.
If a whole day of practicing mindfulness sounds like an insurmountable hurdle at this time, why not pick one activity every day to focus your full attention on. It could be anything from drinking a cup of tea to emptying the dishwasher, or even going to the toilet! Whatever works for you and your schedule.
I look forward to hearing about your experiments!
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