Stumbling In Shore Waters

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Payal Patel

Standing waist deep on the shores of the ocean, a huge wave splashes against me just as I stop to look out at the kids playing in the water a small distance from me. I lose my balance and I fall over, and as I try to get up another big wave comes my way and pushes me off-kilter. Ouch! I stumble forward into the rocky surface beneath me. Laughing – a joy bubbling from deep inside – a feeling of being a kid again arises. As I keep trying to stand up and keep falling over, salty water goes in my mouth. My husband, always amused that I seem to never close my mouth and keep laughing whenever I’m enjoying time in the waves says, “Payal,  why do you keep your mouth open?”

“Something about the mix of water, bare feet touching the Earth, no contact with devices…”
South Pointe, Miami

 Just as I respond, “Whaaat?”, there comes another wave and the same story unfolds again… I finally regain my balance and stand, jumping up to ride the waves and falling away as the waves pass and continue their journeys to the sand.

Enjoying this ride up and down with the ocean’s infinite waves, I forget about my stumbling, falling into the water, and hitting the prickly tiny rocks. I stop to peer at a ship I see in the distance and… bam! Another wave hits! And the cycle of my stumbling and regaining stability begins all over again. 

Something about the mix of water, bare feet touching the Earth, no contact with devices, and being tossed with the water brings me to a place of accepting the ups and downs of stumbling and getting up with so much laughter. Expecting and accepting the force of nature – which is greater than any human – one to which we will break if we do not surrender is somehow so joyful, freeing, and simple.

But it’s not so much the case when we step into the ocean of our experiences. The ways of the world unfold and we are often tossed, we stumble, we fall, we begin to regain stability… and the cycle begins again and continues throughout our lives. No matter how many times this happens, we are upset, stressed, frustrated, angry, and feel like why me yet again? And then we settle into a calm joyful state just before the next wave hits. Unlike experiences with nature, we hold expectations of what our lives should be like as they unfold. Waves of difficulties affect all of us and we more often that not lose our child-like simple composure. The wisdom arising from our surrendering to nature leaves us.

If we had gone to the beach with the expectations of sitting in the warm still waters with waves coming our way when we wished for them, then we would be upset, angry and overwhelmed by being thrown around. We would build a nervousness of when the next waves may come and whether we could survive it or not. But we expect something very different. Well, actually, we don’t really expect anything at all other than sand, water, and sky and being embraced in the arms of Mother Nature. We don’t know if there will be rain or shine, wind or stillness, large waves or small waves, cold water or warm water – we just don’t know. So what is there to expect? And if there is no expectation, then how is there any possibility of falling short of our wishes? We accept the stumbling with joyful laughter without fear of what is coming next or if we will be able to stand – and we don’t get angry at the ocean if we are crushed by a wave.

Action for this Post: 

Until next time, when I will be posting a meditation in which we embrace stumbling on the shores, let’s all begin to practice surrendering to what we cannot change and being fluid like water – rising, falling, and changing course as need be. If a larger wave hits, we remember that it’s just a matter of time, patience and effort before we climb out of a stumble or fall.

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This Holiday Season: Give Yourself the Gift of Hibernation

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Payal Patel
Nature invites us to hibernate so that we can harness and unleash energy that fuels focus, self-trust, creativity, and joy in our daily lives.

It is evening now, and as we head towards the shortest day of the year, it grows dark outside my window before dinner. I feel like staying inside and out of the cold winds and snow laden grass and hills. It is time to hibernate as nature is inviting us to take a pause in our otherwise hectic schedules and constant activities and just sit in quiet space. In the past, this time must have been a blessing for those who felt a constant urge to overwork their minds and bodies to the point of exhaustion. Just 20 years ago, the absence of access to constant activity at late hours helped friends and families have more time to sit together. Students that had a tendency to overextend themselves would naturally be forced to let go and head to bed earlier. Today, devices that helped advance human civilization have also begun to interfere with a clear delivery of nature’s message: 

“Slow down. Take a deep breath. Do one thing at a time. Listen to your surroundings. Sit together with family and friends.”

It’s not an unusual sight to see a group of friends gather for lunch, but somehow, the physical aspect of the gathering still does not fill the distance between them. This is because their minds are absorbed in phones that are ever-evolving to provide more addictive entertainment as each year passes and each new model comes out. We have all seen groups of people, sometimes including ourselves, sitting together but all busy in another world – on a text chain, an email, a website, on social media, a video game or on TV.  

The tricky part is that the devices invented to make life easier often wrap their tentacles around and grasp onto our minds and message our bodies to keep asking for more pictures, news, emails, texts, tweets, instagram posts… until we have lost any recollection of a moment of peace here and now. Even if the cell phone or TV is off, it is still physically there – a reminder of what you could be missing out on. Countless pathways in the brain constantly light up. This constant possibility and presence of activity and stimulation can easily take all of us on a ride even in the pitch-dark of the shortest day of the year.

The irony is that, as nature rests around us, what we are all missing out on is a moment of peace here and now –  complete freedom from activity available at the tip of our fingers.

This interferes with many aspects of ourselves and the quality of our moment-to-moment experiences: our ability to focus on what’s in front of us, finding joy in small simplicities, enjoying our meal and actually experiencing every bite of our meals, listening to others without mental distractions, trusting ourselves and feeling safe alone without the instant access to call others, trusting that our loved ones will be okay on their journeys without “over-checking in” by texting or calling during stressful (or not) times, enjoying a cup of tea with friends, and most importantly basking in the experience of a complete UNPLUG from the volumes of messages swirling in the air of intangible cyberspace around us.

And so, what I call “MODERN HIBERNATION” is not just beneficial – it is necessary! It is crucial as nature sleeps so it can harness energy and materials to give birth to a joyous spring and beckons us to do the same: hibernate so that we can harness and unleash energy that fuels focus, self-trust, creativity, and joy in our daily lives.

How do we hibernate in the modern culture? Read the action for this post to learn how you could try out modern hibernation.

Action for this post: 
 For Dec 23-31 and hopefully beyond…

  1.  Try a 5-day TV fast. Turn the TV off, and listen to your surroundings – whether with family, nature, or a warm cup of hot chocolate by the fireplace or a candle.
  2. Place phones away at social gatherings and designate one or two people to take the pictures.
  3. Cut out the selfies and focus on others.
  4. Try an escape room with friends or family – it brings you into the moment as you work cooperatively to unlock a series of rooms.
  5. Bundle up and go out for fresh air.
  6. Meditate, practice breathwork, exercise, sleep on a consistent schedule, and eat in moderation.
  7. When eating, turn off or put away all electronic devices.
  8. Rather than signing into devices to keep checking on the status of orders, “trust the universe”. Things will either arrive or not arrive on-time – let go – there are only two options.
  9. NO WORK TALK outside of work.  Set aside the talk that not only reminds you of emails, and phone calls, but also separates people into categories of socioeconomic and financial status and values others on their material successes and failures.
  10. Read at night or play a low key board or card game rather than watching TV.
  11.  Take a news fast for 3 Days of your choice. Observe what happens when you don’t read the news for 3 days in a row.
  12. Take 10-hour screen fasts at a time (you don’t get to count sleeping hours!). For 10 hours straight, no looking at any screen.
  13. If possible, go talk to your friends or neighbors in person rather than on the phone.

Posted in Focus & Clarity, HIbernate, Hibernate, Observation, Preparing the Mind, Stillness, Time, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gliding into Stillness after Thanksgiving

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Payal Patel

Black Friday. Deals extended!
Cyber Monday. Cyber week!
Lights flashing in our eyes. Our eyes darting to find great sales and our minds jumping from desire to desire – from a new phone to a new outfit.
Sweets and food stimulating our taste buds.
Our ears alert to numerous conversations.

Thanksgiving is referred to as a Thanksgiving “break” or a time for family – but what we observe is often very different. It becomes a time of over-stimulation of the senses and the mind, which is also noted as a sense organ in Indian philosophy. The mind, if over-stimulated, gives a sense of groundlessness, affects our mood, plays games with focus and logical thought processes. We could lose perspective of what is truly important in the very moment and be carried by the “wind of stimulation” to take part in activities that are not truly nourishing but rather time-fillers that feel good only in the moment. Adrenaline pours out and circulates in our bodies. Our nervous systems, messaged again and again, are exhausted by the time Thanksgiving time is over. Depleted and exhausted, perhaps having lost the opportunity to be present and mindful with family and friends, an emptiness arises. Instead of experiencing connection to others, we may feel momentarily “high” on consuming objects – caffeine, food, clothes, gadgets, ads, movies.

Perhaps, because, in our individualistic communities, we are not used to habitually connecting with each other without the distractions of modern day life, we also don’t realize how depleted our already stressed reserves become at times like these. In other words, even if we are around others, our minds may be on “alone-mode”.

How can we, as the frenzy continues into the holiday season, truly celebrate life and relationships that nurture us? It is by first reconnecting to ourselves and disconnecting from everything else. When I turned my calendar to December a few days ago, I came across this beautiful quote:

A thousand secrets are hidden in simply sitting still.

-Karlfried Graf Durckheim

And this is the perfect time of year to practice! As day slips into night before dinner and the sun often gathers its rays before the rays can even shine on our faces.

Action for this Post: Glide Into Stillness
This will be especially beneficial if you need to reset your mental focus and release nervousness.


And so, we practice gliding into stillness. If you can have dinner by 7:30 p.m., that would be great. If not, that’s also fine. Wait for your food to “feel digested” as a lightness enters your system and begin by closing all the shades so street lights do not enter through the windows. Shut off all devices – iPads, laptops, cell phones. Then turn off all the lights in your home, noticing the stillness that this creates. Continue this until you reach the room in your home where you feel most warm and comfortable. Turn off the last set of lights and sit in silence, by yourself or in the company of others, with your eyes wide open to the absence of artificial light. Allow your jaws, shoulders, and abdomen to relax. Sitting in silence you may hear sounds that you would otherwise miss – maybe even the subtle sounds of the breath. Place all responsibilities on the side and just sit in stillness, noticing that nature is asleep and beckoning you to rest. You may even close your eyes after a few minutes but this exercise is especially calming with eyes open (at least for me!).

If sitting in complete darkness is uncomfortable, light a candle and place it at a distance. Sit for as long as you like…

Then, slowly turn on the minimal number of lights to make your way to bed or your next activity.

Posted in Focus & Clarity, Observation, Preparing the Mind, Self-Regulation, Stillness, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Seeing Through Murky Waters

Posted on September 8, 2019 by Payal Patel

There is a beautiful stream that flows down the street from my home – it enters from one end, flows under the street bridge and emerges on the other side. I love going to stand on the side of the bridge where the water flows away from me – though most of the time, it looks quite still. For the last three years, I would spend some time looking around at the greenery that grows around the stream and enjoying the sound of the water. This past summer I became very curious about whether fish and other animals lived in the stream. I had wondered about what lives here before but the water was so murky that I just never bothered to look for any signs of life for longer than a minute.  

But this time, I had also gone to the stream with a different purpose in mind. It was to unwind after the school year and allow my mind to rest – not doing anything in particular… just being in the moment, taking in all that nature presented before me. So, I just stood and enjoyed the water. Its murkiness, the occasional ripples, and then of course all the sounds of life around the stream – rustling leaves and different bird calls. Just watching, just being…

Before I knew it, I began to see rocks on the floor of the stream and the texture of the floor became more apparent. I was actually seeing through the water. Minutes passed…

And wow! There was a fish… and then two…three…ten! Just watching, just being… 

A school of fish came into sight in the once murky waters. It was as if the water had mysteriously become clear. A man who was walking by also stopped to peer into the stream. I told him about my experience and we both watched the stream. After a while he said, “Look at those crab-like fish.”  I looked, and where I had once seen rocks, I saw crab-like fish moving ever so slowly into holes between rocks and making their journey from one rock to the next. I stood there, continuing to watch as the moments unfolded, immersed in the sites within the murky waters and sounds around the stream.

I began visiting the stream everyday and the same process would unfold. The water would look murky, mixed with mud, and slowly grow lucid. The clutter would fall away and life in the water would come to life. As 15 or 20 minutes passed by, it felt as if the chaos of dirt mixing with water fell away and left a clear view of the life that truly existed in the stream. On one occasion, what looked like a large rock turned out to be a snapper turtle.

There is a big IF to the experience of course. IF I allowed myself to be still and immersed in the present moment, then the underlying clarity of the water revealed itself. IF I had gone on Twitter or my email and texts, I would have never penetrated the initial murkiness that veiled what truly existed.

I keep thinking of these times at the stream as schools around the country are opening and classes are starting. The transition from summer vacation to the school year is a process of moving into uncertainty and overwhelm at times. Who will my new teachers be? What exactly makes up the course I am taking? What do I wear to school so I “fit in”? Will the school year be filled with nourishing relationships with peers, teachers, counselors, principals, etc.? Will I be able to do it? Who will I sit with at lunch? How will I get my lunch? Who do I go to if I need help? How do I meet new expectations as I enter the next grade level? There are SO many more questions I could list here. On top of the “newness” in this transition, you may be avidly checking Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, email inbox, and endless texts so you don’t miss any of the “organized chaos” of the start of the year.

Wow! Just writing of a tiny slice of the tons of questions and social media outlets made me want to take a step back and take a deep inhale and full exhale. So how does this have anything to do with the stream?

Well, the transition to school is complex – it’s murky. It’s chaotic and not grounding at first. The feelings that arise about the next 10 months and the bombardment of social media cloud the clear calm waters of the mind. Feelings about a new year (an unknown) rise and fall. Thoughts about your first encounters at school are in flux. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, shopping, an endless stream of negative “breaking news”  fill the mind, stimulating it and leaving it restless.

This overabundance of stimulation hinders our ability to think clearly and see what truly enlivens our beings. Our minds, as murky as the stream water now, struggle to see beyond the constant flux of thoughts, emotions, and external stimulations. To see through the murky stream of a new school year, we must step back and unplug for a bit. As a teacher, my preparation for the new year starts when the previous school year ends. But it’s during the weeks that precede the new school year that we also feel some of the same things students feel. 

We all are, at the core, learners and subject to the same experiences that manifest themselves in different ways depending on our position – student or teacher, business owner or employee, artist or technician (the list goes on). 

So, I sat down a month ago and started a three-week social media fast. I also restarted several grounding rituals that I had dropped over the summer. I did not read the news for about a month. I spent time with my family, spent time tending my plants, and also experienced Ayurveda –  the sister science of yoga – an extremely powerful antidote to some of the unsettling effects of modern life. In this process, the chaos and murky waters of my mind began to subside into stillness.

I began to see what tasks truly need my attention to move forward during this transition and beyond with confidence and clarity. For me, this included the following:

  • A filling breakfast.
  • Earlier dinners so I can sleep earlier.
  • Not multitasking when eating.
  • Turning off ALL notifications on my phone apps.
  • Regular exercise and breathwork.
  • Regularly connecting with family/friends

I was so surprised that, after making my list, and beginning to implement it (many of the items are old habits with some tweaks), LIFE FELT MUCH SIMPLER. I was unplugging from what was unnecessary. *joyful sigh of relief*

What can students do at this time? Let’s take a look at “Action for this post” (below).  

Action for this post:

Try at least one of the following. If you can do more that one that is great! But making lifestyle changes towards simplicity and clarity are best made in small steps so that we can build long-lasting healthy habits.

  • Turn off notifications from as many social media apps as possible.
  • Keep your phone beyond arms reach at night.
  • Turn your phones off and do not keep them out in class (it’s best to keep them in your lockers!). The mind is in a habit of checking the phone and feels a sense of urgency to do so – this will significantly undermine your efforts to learn.
  • Do not touch your phone unless necessary past 7 pm.
  • Engage in positive social company by avoiding negativity and unkind gossip.
  • Organize all of your binders, notebooks, schedules, and keep an organized list of when each teacher is free for extra help. Keep this organization going by re-organizing as needed every two weeks.
  • Identify and get to know a few trusted adults that you feel comfortable going to if challenging situations arise.
  • Make self-care a priority – take deep breaths every morning and every evening and stretch or exercise for 5 minutes before school.
  • Set an intention that you will not give up even when things get very challenging and remind yourself of this intention on a regular basis.

This next bullet, over time, has tremendous positive and powerful effects on the way you think about yourself:

  • Stop saying “I’m stupid/dumb/an idiot/not good enough” or “I’ll never get this” or “No one likes me” or “Why should I try?”. Not saying these things (which aren’t true about anyone!!) will weaken their wiring in your mind.

Finally:

  • Come up with your own lifestyle change that you think will support your ability to stay grounded and don’t hesitate to reach out to a trusted person when you feel overwhelmed.

NOTE: In the next blog post, I will present a reflective meditation to help the mind assimilate the material in this article! Stay tuned!

Posted in Focus & Clarity, Observation, Preparing the Mind, Stillness, Time, unknown | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Recultivating the Fearless Child-Mind: Part II

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Payal Patel

Being a child is one of the most fascinating experiences – the mind journeys into realms and places that adults often struggle to imagine. In the fixed daily path we follow day-in and day-out, our minds get used to routines. Breaks in routine are often experiences that break open the fears, unhelpful habits, and sadness that lie deep within all of us. These unknown experiences, “breaks in routine”, open us up to the moment-to-moment uncertainty that is the reality of our existence. But as children, play and imagination were the doors through which our minds made meaning of each moment and this play allowed an expression of our fears, worries, and sadness in creative ways, allowing us to learn about ourselves and the world. While complete chaos threw us off, we generally did not fear new experiences – well, that is, until we were conditioned to fear that the world was not always a safe place. We heard scary stories in the news, the test-driven culture drove us to places of discomfort, and seeing bullying or teasing at social events made us wary.

In the learning process, the fear of opening up to each moment, which ultimately unleashes insights and creativity, bars our ability to process new concepts, experiences, and skills in meaningful ways – ways that go beyond just the textbook and help us explore and understand the world around ourselves. And so, the purpose of this meditation is to embrace wandering pathless while tending to our fears, without any specific aim, just as we did once when we were children. We hope to engage our minds, through imagination, in the fearless, joyful, and engaging play of learning. Join me in this unique meditation below – it’s quite different from my other ones and I hope you find it helpful, enjoyable, and a bit adventurous 🙂

Posted in Anxiety, Beginner's Mind, Curiosity, Preparing the Mind, Self-Regulation, Walking | Leave a comment

Recultivating the Fearless Child-Mind

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Payal Patel
A curious walk into an unknown place…

Do you remember hoping for a huge storm as a child – one that threw out the electricity so you could sit in the dark, tell scary stories, or play with flashlights? For example, I remember playing tag using flashlights with neighbors through the darkness and winds between our windows. This is the mind of a child – ready to embrace the unexpected non-routine aspects of life and fully embrace surprises.

Today, do you ever hope for the same random chaotic events to take place now and then? I know I certainly do not with the exception of a snow day when I am lacking on sleep. If the lights and heating go out, I don’t feel as much of an adventurous energy surge through me as I did when I was a child. It always seems that we are on some mission as adults – play and goal-empty paths are few and far between. Chaos, the unknown, and a break in routine are too much and sow fear in most adult minds. To fill the space, we jump to a screen on our tech devices that can tell the the answer to everything we want to know (or so, we want to believe) right at our fingertips. Somewhere along the way, we got fooled into believing that uncertainty forebodes the possibility of failure and the death of something (our routine, our work plans, etc). And so we close our minds when thrust into vague and unclear situations, just as we instinctively close our eyes if we thought something was going to hit us. Note: While we may consider vacations to be a break in our routine and an exploration of a new place, it is nevertheless planned and so inhibits an immersion into true open-ended exploration.

In order to unwire this resistance to major changes and glide through the throes of change with complete curiosity and wonder, we must return to our healthier child-like (not childish) patterns of experiencing newness. Since we may have left this part of ourselves behind a long time ago, it will take patience and practice to open up. This openness is a prerequisite to learning – diving into unknown realms (subjects, skills, situations) and playing with each moment as it unfolds, much like a baby plays with a new toy for the first time. It it not scared, it is just curious and, like we all want to do, the baby is just “trying to figure things out”.

When drinking tea this week, I came across a beautiful quote on the tag of my teabag:


“There is pleasure in the pathless woods.”

Lord Byron

I embraced this quote and saved the tag as a reminder to walk into the unknown future and explore my mind with curiosity rather than resistance. It is when we are pushed out of our comfort zones, in a healthy manner, that we discover, observe, wonder, dream, and innovate.

In the next post, I will present a meditation that helps us embrace each unfolding moment with a child-like mind, rather than anxiously (or depressively) shutting off our minds.

Action for this post:

Regardless of how many items are on your agenda and what you had planned for some day this month, take a few hours to stroll out into a store you never stroll into, go on a path in the woods, a street downtown, sit by the window and stare into the outdoors… do something spontaneous with a warm heart – welcome the experience and observe all that unfolds without any predictions about the future.

Posted in Beginner's Mind, Curiosity, Preparing the Mind, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy New Year 2019 :)!

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Payal Patel

Time can be viewed in many ways. Generally, we think of time as passing and so it forms a line – which is why many of us learned to store knowledge of historical events on timelines. However, we humans love patterns and structure. And so, we assign a cyclic nature to our clocks to count days and we then apply this cyclic nature to the months or seasons to count years. In many cultures, in fact, the yearly calendar follows the moon and the cycles of the moon. School calendars are also cyclic – starting from the beginning to the end and starting all over again. This is very reminiscent of circles or the mandala…the deeper we steep ourselves in each cycle, the deeper our understanding of ourselves grows.                         

As one cycle dissolves, a new cycle is born. And here we are, for those of us who follow the Gregorian calendar, at the end of 2018. So many experiences and details of the past year have shaped our minds and influenced the pathways of our thoughts and behaviors. They have dissolved into our beings and we have an opportunity to begin another cycle as if it’s a blank slate.

In the labyrinthine caves of Time.

This why it is essential to look back and reflect:

  1. What events dissolved and left a negative taste in my mind? Have I allowed myself to process these experiences rather than let them sour my mood and behaviors?
  2. Was I honest with myself? In other words, did my thoughts and actions align with each other? Or did I allow peer or social media pressures or those in positions more powerful than mine influence me to change in ways that disagree with my values?
  3. Was I kind and honest to others? Note that this does not mean you please others and say what they like to hear. It means you offer honest help – whether it is picking up a stranger’s fallen bag items or sticking up for what is right even if it means disagreeing with your whole peer group.

I wish everyone a wonderful New Year 2019 filled with learning, growth, laughter, good times, and great adventures!

Posted in Reflect, Time, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Self-Regulation VI: Walking Into Longer Days

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Payal Patel

Winter solstice has passed and we are finally climbing out of our journey into progressively shorter days (and of course, by that I mean fewer hours of sunlight). As we moved into the darker days of the winter, we may have noticed that it was more difficult to wake up or feel energized. We felt like hibernating under the covers in our beds or staying warm at home with warm foods, saving our energy.

However, the busy external world does not stop to note our bodies’ needs for energy conserving activities or activities that would counteract the dullness building up inside. For example, I noticed how important it became for me to go to bed earlier, practice breathwork, and swim regularly. But if we don’t stop to listen to our bodies, our work, school, and success-oriented, result-oriented mindsets will never allow us to notice the changes going on in our internal worlds. How do we feel with less sunlight and darker mornings and afternoons? What parts of us feel emptier with less heat and increasingly cooler winds? Do we notice our cravings for certain foods rising or falling?

There is a useful tool that can be used to get in touch with our inner clock, which reflects the clock of Nature, not that of busy ever-changing economic and social landscapes. It is called walking meditation. In this meditation we consciously observe every movement of our bodies as we walk on green grounds or barefoot on the floor. As you begin to walk, whether it be in a pattern (i.e., around your home in a circle again and again) or without any predetermined pathway (allowing yourself to follow your intuition), notice the pressure of your feet and the various points of your feet on the ground and the weight of your body flowing through your hips, into your knees, and eventually onto your feet. Observe the flow of your arms. If your mind wanders, use a mantra that matches your movement as you place your feet down: “Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, …”

Glimpse of Sunlight

If you tend to get obsessed with perfection of movements, you may choose to not pay attention to your body’s movements. Instead, you may choose to look around and take in all the sights you observe through the visual field, all the sounds you hear, and the scents you smell.

In setting the intention to observe yourself (or your senses) as you walk and move slowly, you give yourself the opportunity to get back in touch with yourself and determine what you may need in this moment. I am not referring to needs of buying a new outfit, table, or bag. I am referring to the need to perhaps get more sleep, spend less time on the screen if your mind is jumping around, or meet with a friend without tech devices that steal your attention away from conversations and bonding moments. Something I realize is that I sometimes find the need to just turn off my cell phone, laptop, and lights and just sit in natural light in silence, taking in what exists around me in my home. You may be surprised how much you don’t notice until you stop to do so!

Note: I know some of our readers are in the Southern Hemisphere, so some of this will be more directly applicable in about half a year :D! Walking meditation is of course something you can do anytime of the year.

Posted in Focus & Clarity, Observation, Preparing the Mind, Self-Regulation, Stillness, Walking | 2 Comments

Self-Regulation V: The Mandala Practice

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Payal Patel

The mandala is an ancient symbol that represents the universe. It serves as a microcosmic representation of all that exists within us and in the external world. Mandalas have an intricate circular symmetry made of geometric patterns.

Years ago, I came across a practice that hooked my mind – I couldn’t stop thinking about it because it was just so intriguing. Tibetan Buddhist monks gather to create exquisite mandalas with special colored sand during rituals (see video below). At the end of the ritual the sand is gathered, destroying the deeply significant and symbolic mandala that was created with hours of diligence. The hours of perseverance and focus on the meaning of the mandala of course brings about an attachment and connection to the work and the final piece in its last stages. In destroying what was made, the monks practice letting go of the end result marking the knowledge that all things are ephemeral.

In our everyday life, we get attached (varies by age) to grades, accolades, physical appearance, money, and social status. While students may get caught up in their grades (the end result) or the number of friends they have (again another number that is the end result of social interactions), adults also face the same experience. Adults may get obsessed with how much money they make or with climbing up a social hierarchy ladder, which are the end results of hours of work and maybe degrees.

It is no surprise humans are wired to value the end result of endeavors and hold onto them as if their worth depends on these end results. Based on evolution, we are wired to hold on to all that helps us survive – the results of tribal wars over land or the competition for a mate. The only difference is that most of us reading this article are not struggling to survive and so the intense hold on end results does not benefit us. Instead, it breeds anxiety, insecurity, mean competition, and probably a whole list of related physical ailments.

It is said that, when asked about what is most surprising about humanity, the Dalai Lama replied:

Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

We are literally afraid of loss as if our survival depends on one home, one job, a more than sufficient paycheck, one SAT score, one state exam score, and one performance review.  In order to practice letting go, we must immerse ourselves in the process of each moment unfolding with childlike curiosity – not like a machine that is just intent on creating an end product. 

The action of this blog post revolves around a mandala coloring practice in which we rewire the mind to engage in the process and let go of the result. Read on to practice!

Action for this post:

Print out or draw your own mandala. See this site for mandalas you can print for yourself or get inspired to draw your own: https://printmandala.com/

Every day, spend only 5 minutes coloring the mandala (preferably with colored pencils or crayons) bringing your attention to the sound of the utensil on paper and each stroke of color filling the empty space. Put your crayon or pencil down at the 5 minute mark. Do they same every day until you complete the mandala, suspending any judgement of your work.

Then, upon its completion, recycle the mandala paper in your bin. This marks the end of one exercise, a process and experience in which you let go of the end product.  

Posted in Anxiety, Color, Curiosity, Focus & Clarity, Mandala, Non-Judgement, Observation, Preparing the Mind, Self-Regulation, Stillness | 1 Comment

Self-Regulation IV: A Gratitude Meditation & Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Payal Patel

Before I begin I would like to I dedicate this post to Swami Tadatmananda (Swami T hereafter), who taught me about meditation in addition to many other practices. I offer a meditation, below, that is a variation of what he taught me.

One of the most memorable classes with Swami T fell on Saturday mornings after Thanksgiving every year. In this special Thanksgiving class, we learned how to cultivate gratitude for the myriad of gifts in our lives. I remember Swami T always joked that many people must have come from previous days of feasting and Black Friday shopping. And now here we were – ready to delve into ourselves – or were we, I wondered?

When we are just busy eating and feeding ourselves followed by intense shopping to fulfill our wish list desires, what are we actually doing? Well… there are lots of things, but I would not say self-regulating falls high on many of our lists as we feast and run out for Black Friday shopping. We are over-stimulated by tastes of sweets, dinner, music, lots of conversations, and lots of people. Then, as if we hadn’t fed ourselves enough, we dash out as stores open, to consume (thus the word consumer) more and feed our closets and homes, which we consider extensions of ourselves, with Black Friday sale items. The mind’s attention is constantly shifting, from one flashing sale sign to the next, store to store, bumping into dozens of people, surrounded by noise. And, as the mind is stimulated by all these things, the mind is set on constantly looking for things to satisfy ourselves from the external world.

There is also another side to Thanksgiving or any other holiday. The holiday could trigger emotions – good or bad – for many people as they may not be around family (or being around families could also trigger emotions). Perhaps food or streaming of movies or games to fill time  is just an attempt to fill emotionally empty parts of our innerselves. Regardless of how the holiday is processed, we are just trying to fill ourselves in one way or another. We feel more satisfied just for a day or so… until we feel empty and in need of more.

Swami T’s main point as he introduces the gratitude exercise for the class (and the discussions of course change from year to year) is that in the midst of looking for more and more so that we fill in missing pieces to ourselves with the outside world, why not take a few moments to also turn inwards and see that all the contentment we are constantly running after lies right within ourselves? Our happiness and contentment does not lie in external items, circumstances, and the mere number of people around us (you may have heard the idea that it’s better to have one true friend than be friendly with a hundred people).

We may run after the newest toys (if we are kids), newer cars (as adults), the latest cell phones (all ages!), and the coolest shoes because we feel as though we are more complete having them when, in fact, bigger and better possessions don’t equate to a sense of fullness inside. If we have a bike, we want a car; if we have a car, then we desire an SUV; if we have an SUV, perhaps we want a truck; if we have a truck, then the next piece is a boat… You get the point! (Some of you may have heard this example from one of Georg Feuerstein’s interviews.)

But if we just stopped for 5 minutes to practice being grateful for what we already have, perhaps we may be quick to experience greater contentment in this very moment. All of a sudden, we may not feel such an urgent need to run around to each and every sale during Black Friday and we may not continue to eat more sweets when our stomach is telling us it’s time to stop!

What is gratitude? Gratitude is a character trait (or a quality) that helps the mind to acknowledge and be thankful for what we have. Gratitude exists in the mind, not in the new cellphone in our hands or the new shoes we bought. Therefore, the way to cultivate gratitude is to turn inwards and reflect.

When Swami T held gratitude meditations, he guided the class through their entire lives, stopping at each junction noting the important people and experiences in our lives that we are grateful for. It brought tears to the eyes of many students as we walked through every segment of our life thus far – we recalled that a grandmother or guardian figure held our hand so we could learn to walk and remembered faces of those who truly cared for us and stepped in during times of crisis. We recalled people that protect and help nourish our society (i.e., a nation’s military, firefighters, social workers, lawyers, teachers, nurses, doctors, custodial staff, and EVERY SINGLE job that contributes to order and safety and progress).

In my variant of this meditation, below, I focus on only one day – today – from morning to the present moment. It is important to find a quiet place and a comfortable position so that you can focus with minimal disruption. Join me below :)!

Posted in Gratitude, Metacognition, Observation, Self-Regulation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment