Catching a Virus
I think I caught something today. I started feeling it in the "Yoga Body, Buddha Mind" workshop.
Now, everyone around the YJ office knows I'm somewhat of a germiphobe -- I avoid highly-trafficked door handles and wash my hands constantly -- so the the bug came as somewhat of a surprise. I should've known that David Nichtern and Cyndi Lee would be contagious.
"Mindfulness is a virus -- it should creep out and infect all areas of your life," David said. I knew he was right.
David and Cyndi combined Samatha meditation practice with asana to create more than six hours of complete (and sometimes painful) mindfulness. The class was broken into a mix of vipassana-like meditations, followed by asana sequences, tied together by the thread of breath and the task of staying present.
The first sitting meditation of the workshop felt a little restless and uncomfortable, as did the first Adho Mukha Svanasana. But by the end of the afternoon session, both the final meditation and down dog felt comfortable, if not therapeutic.
Cyndi led us through some vinyasa, encouraging us to re-evaluate the way we approach our asana. We paused in our down dog to observe how it felt -- and what it required -- before making the adjustments that had become habit for so many of us. A discussion followed on the origin of action in the body. When we lifted a leg in down dog, Cyndi urged us to reconsider where the movement was coming from. The answer? "Arms and legs are the origins of action -- no movements are initiated by your core," she advised.
photos by Susan Slattery
In the afternoon, David urged us to "find the joy in life, rather than finding a torture chamber of competing irritations." My mind flashed back to the two-and-half hour nightmare commute to the airport on my way to Boston. As if reading my mind, he continued. "The conventional mind views obstacles as a roadblock. The Buddha mind views them as opportunities." I pondered how to change my perception of a literal roadblock (Highway 1, the usual route out of my hometown of Half Moon Bay, is closed 'indefinitely' due to rain damage) into an opportunity. Excellent fodder for the plane ride home...
Then came metta (lovingkindness) practice. I found myself comfortably going back to the metta practice I had undertaken last summer:
"May you be safe and protected."
"May you be healthy and strong."
"May you be happy and peaceful."
"May you awaken to your true nature."
We sent the lovingkindness first to a loved one, then to ourselves, then to a neutral person in our lives, then to someone who we find challenging or irritating.
Have you ever practiced metta? Who would be your subjects of lovingkindness? Share your thoughts by commenting below.