Sweet, sweet summertime, and lying on the driveway watching the clouds go by has inspired me...
In Christian scripture, there is a principle that finds a beautiful parallel in yogic meditation. The address for the Biblical gem is Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, II Corinthians 10:5, when he teaches that they can take every thought captive in order to make it obedient to Christ. I know obedience isn't a popular idea for many at the moment, but if we exchange the phrase "obedient to Christ" for something like "benevolent", "compassionate", even "positive" or "healthy", it starts to blend right in to a yogic worldview. As a matter of fact, even the kind of jihad that is the Muslim battle for self-perfection echos the same idea. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the mat:
When we practice, yoga teaches that we are meant to let ourselves surrender to each position, breathing into what we are trying to strengthen, while we relax everything else; never tensing against a stretch, never engaging more than is necessary to exist in a place with ease and smooth breath. As well as being everything else it is, physical practice is a practice of non-reaction. So, extending the same practice of non-reaction to one's mental state, yoga teaches practicioners to let her thoughts (called chitta vritti, or mind-chatter) pass in front of her consciousness like clouds in the distance. She practices being a calm, peaceful, smiling observer of her thoughts as things seperate from herself, in order that she can choose which clouds to focus on, and make shapes with.
It's liberating, really... the realization that I don't have to feed and carry around every thought that pops into my head, especially since a good number of those thoughts are just the left-over, drifting clouds of harder, sadder storms that have already passed by.
(I know I'm getting ready to mix my metaphors, but it's such a nice transition from my last post, I can't resist!) It's like decorating a house: selecting which thoughts to cultivate and make mantras... which impressions we will let turn into definitions of the world around us, and of ourselves, is like choosing what will make our mental houses beautiful, nurturing, healthy and happy. And when we have practiced living in our brains this way long enough, what castles and gardens we will have to roam around in, and retreat to, and entertain in!
