How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness
with Jan Chozen Bays
During the month of November, we'll be reading Jan Chozen Bays's How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness at the Tricycle Book Club. Pick up a copy and join the discussion below.
People often say to me, “I’d love to practice mindfulness, but I’m so busy I can’t seem to find the time.”
Most people think of mindfulness as something they must squeeze into an already full schedule of working, raising children, caring for a home. Making mindfulness part of your life is more like a paint-by-numbers kit. You begin with one small area of your life, let’s say becoming aware of the earth beneath your feet. Several times a day, particularly while walking, you bring your attention to the earth that supports your steps. You do this for a week or so, until you’ve added the color of attention to that daily activity.
Then you add another mindful practice, such as eating mindfully. Once this way of being present is integrated into your life, you add another. Gradually you are present and aware for more and more moments of the day. The pleasing experience of an awakened life begins to emerge.
What we call peak moments are times when we are completely aware. Our life and our awareness are undivided, at one. At these times the gap between us and everything else closes and suffering disappears. We feel satisfied, actually, we are beyond satisfaction and dissatisfaction. We are present. We are presence. We get a tantalizing taste of what Buddhists call the enlightened life.
These moments inevitably fade, and there we are again, divided and grumpy about it. We can’t force peak moments or enlightenment to happen. The tools of mindfulness, however, can help us close the gaps that cause our unhappiness. Mindfulness unifies our body, heart and mind, bringing them to focused attention. When we are thus unified, the barrier between “me” and “everything else” becomes thinner and thinner, until, in a moment, it vanishes! For a while, often a brief moment or occasionally a lifetime, all is whole, all is holy, and at peace.
On tricycle.com we will be doing a new mindfulness exercise each week for the month of November. I’ve selected exercises that relate to the theme of gratitude. These are four of fifty three exercises that I included in the book How to Train a Wild Elephant, published recently by Shambhala Publications. We have been doing mindfulness tasks for twenty years at the monastery where I live. Once a week we pick an exercise, and at the end of the week we have fun discussing what we have discovered as we 
attempted the task. We’ll have a similar discussion here at the Tricycle Book Club. Please try this first exercise described below and write in during the week to tell us how it’s going! Also, keep an eye on the Tricycle blog for exercises throughout the month.
Jan Chozen Bays, MD, is a pediatrician and a longtime meditation teacher. She is the author of Mindful Eating and lives outside Portland, OR.
Mindfulness Exercise # 1: Gratitude at the End of the Day
The Exercise
At the end of the day, write a list of at least five things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. At the end of the week, read it out loud to a friend, partner or mindfulness companion.
Reminding yourself
Keep a notepad and pencil or pen beside your bed or on your pillow so you can write a list each night before you fall asleep.
Discoveries
When people first do this practice, they often think that they will have trouble making a list of at least five things they are grateful for. However, they are surprised to find that when they start, the list often grows longer. It is as if a long-neglected faucet is turned on, and the flow doesn’t shut off. This is a lovely transformation into the mind-state of ongoing gratitude.
Research shows that people who keep a “gratitude journal” or express gratitude verbally show a significant increase in happiness and decrease in depression.
We may know people who are naturally grateful. To be around them lifts our spirits and brightens the day. The Buddha spoke of “cultivating” our mind, letting unwholesome emotions and thoughts wither away while strengthening wholesome ones. How is this possible? It is an energetic phenomenon. Anything that is fed energy will grow. It may seem artificial at first, but when we deliberately cultivate gratitude, we will gradually become naturally grateful people. (Conversely, if we cultivate negative mind states, jealousy or criticism, they will become who we are.)
ok - I remembered how to log on (!! it's the password thing)
went to Amazon and the book is on its way.
I found a journal.
It is next to my bed.
With a pencil.
and I am grateful for Tricycle.
Cynhat,
Thank you for undertaking this mindfulness exercise!
It's one of my favorites.
I find that it closes the day and sends you off to sleep in a positive mind state.
Jan Chozen Bays
Dear "cynhat",
Your "inane" comment [your words, below] reads like a lovely poem! It has the very simplicity of mindfulness pouring from it. It is rather like the tiny spring that begins the headwaters of a great river.
Thank you,
Kj
I was thinking exactly the dame...it does read like a small poem! Well said, Kjourney2 and cynhat!!!
How good of you to answer my rather inane comment. I think the positive mind state lingered past sleep and into waking because all day I found myself catching thoughts before they could turn angry or frustrated, and finding small humorous moments that usually I wouldn't notice. Oddly, for me, gratitude seems related to being able to laugh at myself. This is a skill I've been unable to cultivate - and now, here it pops up! Well, thank you. I look forward to the Amazon package in my mailbox.
I am going to do this, starting tonight. Thanks for the idea :-)
Welcome, Katy !
I am grateful for all the people in unknown places --- maybe around the globe --- who are supporting each other in practice for these four weeks.
Jan and other Book Club participants,
I am starting off by being grateful for meditation, a practice I enjoyed prior to 2004 when I returned to work. I have decided to get back to it, I am long overdue. I am number one in the county library queue for the book, but I have started a morning and evening sitting practice and have a Gratitude Journal started. I just subscribed to Tricycle again and was excited to see this internet-based opportunity.
Paula
Hi Paula,
When I was busy with a young family and full time work, I stopped meditating for a while. When I began again, it was such a relief. I thought, "Oh, now I remember why I used to do this!"
I found that the key was to meditate every day. On really busy days, it might be just five minutes in the morning before I headed out the door to work, and five minutes before I fell asleep. Even that much made the whole day go better. Five to thirty minutes a day worked better, I found, than waiting until I had 2 hours on the weekend.
Let us know how your re-entry into meditation goes.
I have kept a gratitude journal off and on for a number of years and am grateful for being directed to tricycle. The on line book club - I have wanted to be involved in a book club for a number of years, current book on mindfulness meditation - I have practiced mindfulness meditation but not for many years and have wanted to get back into it and the gratitude journal is familiar to me and just what I need to push me from the contemplation stage to the action stage of change. Thank you.
Hi Kathy,
You are an old hand at gratitude journal practice, so please share your experiences with us.
I've found that a "sabbatical" from meditation is helpful once in a while. (For me, it usually happens when I visit relatives over the holidays.) When we're doing something like meditation all the time, we forget what it does for us and begin to take it for granted. If you stop for a bit, and then start up again, you experience it with beginner's mind again.
Let us know if your experience is different this time.
Just received the book yesterday and looking forward to diving in !
I am grateful for many things in my life but must say I am grateful for Tricycle for all the work they do...for all the online retreats they arrange ...and for all the teachers who share their wisdom and experience !
I have never kept a journal before but DO meditate each morning when I rise and before bed as well....perhaps a journal is what the doctor ordered ? _/\_
thank you
Hi More Music person,
The "journal" doesn't have to be fancy. Just a small notebook or piece of paper by your bed, so you remember to write a few things down before you go to sleep. OR you could keep the paper and pen next to you when you meditate. At the end of your meditation session, for a minute or so, you turn your mind to what you are grateful for, and then jot it down.
Do you play music? We have a marimba band at the monastery (see us on Youtube under Musical Monks of Zen Perform Fury 3). We play marimba here to help people get over the notion, "I can't play music" and also because playing music together is a joyous mindfulness practice. You have to play your part AND listen to everyone else. One young man who was concentrating very hard as he played for the first time said, It's the only time that I can remember that my mind has been quiet!"
Hi Jan...
We met via Facebook...there my comments appear as "Judy Worth Friedsam". I was a professional musician for many many years back east (NYC) where I am originally from...drummer...but now I write music in my little apartment studio in Northern Calif. http://www.myspace.com/worthmoremusic1
I love the Zen Marimba group ! You guys are terrific...AND if the drummer ever gets tired of jammin' with you all OR an additional Marimba or another percussive instrument is called for....I might relocate
_/\_
Indeed..playing in an orchestra requires that everyone play their part..unless it is written in unison like many of the old charts of the big band days... My Dad taught me about this as he used to play with many of those old big bands of the 30's & 40's (The Dorsey Bros, Abe Lieman, Vincent Lopez, Eddy Dutchin, etc..)
I have many little notebooks so I will dedicate one here...to thoughts of gratitude and to that of gratefulness. I must admit, I have cheated to some degree in that I have peeked (actually read) 1/2 the book already and absolutely adore the lessons you offer....
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~ Chinese Proverb
........and yours is definitely a perennial !
Even when you think you are doing well in this practice, along comes a wise person with another suggestion to highlight what you think you already know but from another perspective. It often proves to be a skilful thing when you take up an idea suggested by an experienced teacher, even if you dont at first agree with it or admit it may benefit your practice. I, for one will get a journal sorted out this very evening.
With metta to Tricycle and all its companions in the Dharma :)
Hi Marlo,
One of the things I love about practice is just what you said -- that the Way keeps on opening up in front of us. It seems to be a never-ending journey of discovery.
Thanks for joining us.
I actually purchased a copy of this book over a month ago as it intrigued me and I was hoping the contents would be a springboard to introduce daily mindfulness practice into my life. So, I was so pleased to see Tricycle featuring the title in this month's book club discussion. It's the perfect motivation to act, as some have already stated. And the gratitude journel is a great exercise. I plan to start this weekend and continue to join in this discussion.
Thank you, Tricycle, for this opportunity.
Hi K Reilly,
My hope in writing the book was that it would help people let go of the notion that they need lots of time in order to practice -- and to inspire people to be creative about their practice. It does help A LOT to be supported by a community that is practicing along with you.
Thanks for joining us.
It's great to hear so much gratitude from all of you and it's gratifying to hear that you are getting so much out of this. Our gratitude also to Jan Chozen Bays, who has generously offered to lead this discussion and to share her wisdom with us! – The Editors
Here are the "Deeper Lessons" to go along with the mindfulness exercise of "Gratitude at the End of the Day": http://www.tricycle.com/blog/deeper-lessons-gratitude-end-day
Thank you, everyone, for joining in this gratitude practice so sincerely. Although the plan is to introduce a different mindfulness practice related to gratitude each week for the month of November, I recommend keeping your gratitude journal going for the whole month. It helps establish gratitude as an alternative to our mind's tendency to end the day by chewing on the things that it thinks went wrong today and the things that it is anxious about for the morrow..
Here are some variations on this practice you might try.
1) Instead of waiting until bed time, you can take a moment several times during the day and ask. "Is there anything I'm grateful for at this moment?" See if anything arises. After I learned to use the gratitude journal, I changed to this practice, which I call "many moments of gratitude." It seems to be very effective in changing my mind state if I detect that it is beginning to go sour.
2) If you are going to bed with a partner, before you fall asleep, you can tell them three things about THEM that you are grateful for. It can take your partner by surprise, but it can be very sweet.
Wow. This is a really timely topic for me. I have been struggling to keep my practice going amidst the pressures and stress of my job. It's been so difficult, in fact, that I have just about given up. But, I'm going to follow along and participate in this discussion. The first exercise is a very good one. I've read studies about how gratitude affects depression and happiness. I'm also going to make a commitment to sit for at least 15 a day.
Hi John,
Welcome to this group.
Quiet sitting is the medicine we all need. I seems to be good for all our ills.
Even five, ten or fifteen minutes a day.
Even three breaths, done with awareness.
And then, three more.
I've been meaning to get on with this reading and hope that by doing so now will
not be too late.... never too late! I will download the book today on my Ipad and
use a fresh new journal to keep a log of my discoveries of gratitude. I think many
people loosely say that they are grateful but being specific I think is what makes
being mindful so terrific. Thank you.
Hi D,
No, you are not too late.
Even if you just do the gratitude exercise, that's all you need (although the others are fun, too).
. Just ask "Is there anything right here and now that I might feel grateful for? and leave an empty space and see what pops up in it.
It's often surprising to find that it is the small things that pop up when we look for what we might be grateful for -- a warm jacket in the cold wind, a vacant seat on the subway, a cup of hot tea or coffee in our hands
I do grateful lists in the mornings and one I try to do every morning is, I am so grateful I can swing my legs off the bed, put my feet on the floor, and walk down the stairs. I work for a hospice and most of our patients can't even get their legs off the bed without help, much less get a hold of the floor and walk. I try to open my eyes with gratefulness, for little every day things we take so much for granted.
Hi J,
It's wonderful that you begin each day with gratitude. It's the best antidote for the days we wake up out of sorts or crabby.
You are right about taking things for granted. I have a friend who woke up almost blind one morning. Retinal detachment, totally unexpected.
I find that I take health for granted until I get a cold. Then I think, "This is dreadful! Medical science should cure this plague upon humankind!" When I recover, it feels so good to be healthy. Then I start to take health for granted again. I even take waking up for granted.
Hi
I have just found this page on the website, what a wonderful idea, to bring mindfulness to gratitude in this positive way. Will start my journal tonight. Have recently returned to mindfulness practise this will enrich that practise, and opens up many possibilities for integrating mindfulness in daily life. Find the idea of many people all over the world doing this supportive, less isolating. Many thanks Jean
Hi Jean,
Welcome to the practice group.
Yes, it warms my heart to think of people all over the world practicing with me. I didn't really grasp the reality of this fact until I met a group of Chinese nuns. We are never without a sangha.
Please share what you discover returning to mindfulness and doing these exercises.
Hi Everyone,
Here is the mindfulness exercise for week two:
Mindfulness Exercise # 2: The Great Earth Beneath You
The Exercise
As often as possible, during the day, become aware of the great earth beneath you. When you are not outside, you can use your imagination to “feel” the earth beneath the sidewalk or the floor.
Reminding yourself
Place notes with the word “Earth,” pictures of the globe or small dishes with dirt in them in appropriate places in your environment.
Discoveries
At the monastery we began this mindfulness practice each day by touching our forehead to the floor/earth as soon as we got out of bed. It seemed like an odd practice at first, but we all came to appreciate it. To wake up, stand, and immediately kneel and touch the forehead to the ground helped us begin the day with humility and with gratitude for the earth that holds us to itself. We ended the day with the same bow before bed, an acknowledgment and expression of gratitude to the ever-supportive earth.
All day long we humans are walking and driving around on the surface of the earth and we are almost completely unaware of the huge ball that is our platform for life. Zen Master Maezumi Roshi used to say, “You’re up in your head!” when he saw someone who looked distracted, ruminating on something. If our attention is extended through the bottoms of our feet into the earth, we feel rooted, less swayed by thoughts and emotions, and more solid.
The Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth... a miracle we don’t even recognize."
I want to thank my 34-month-old granddaughter for teaching me this mindfulness exercise November 6th! She and I went for a walk along a nearby street lined in maple trees and I saw the world through her eyes as she decided to lay down in the leaves that were still soft and moist beneath each tree. She naturally expresses such love for the Great Earth and everyone she meets. It really is part of my mindfullness practice to have her visit each month. One of the trees had a strong limb only four feet high and fairly horizontal so I was able to lift her to sit there while I held her. I am so grateful for that tree for being there for her, for us.
Hi all
This book is my best friend and Jan my teacher since I started a new job which requires staying in a hotel on weekdays. I am training aged care and mental health modules to 4 groups of care attendants -an intense certificate course over six months. The course provides an opportunity to research, develop and bring a person centred approach into the care facility. This lovely book gets quoted regularly and we have done some of the exercises, some students have really had a lightbulb moment in realising the value of remaining present and not trying to fill the space they are in with words (often to patch up deep distress) back in my room away from home in the Irish countryside I could feel lonley, challenged, stressed, exhausted and overworked, instead I write a reflective journal, read passages of this little book and practise. I am also learning the value of resting!!!!
A jewel indeed,that is of tremendous value
Thank you Jan.
Hi lgr,
So glad to have someone from across the Atlantic ocean join this practice group.
I'm very happy to hear that the book is useful to you and to those you are training. I wrote it as part of a vow to write several books that would help lay people in daily life practice, since in the west the majority of practitioners (even many who are ordained) live lay lives..
Isn't it odd that our mind thinks that the best way to deal with the normal stresses of daily life is to be minimally present or to go unconscious? Being present takes effort at first, repeatedly-- repeatedly ! -- noticing when your mind has wandered away, but eventually it becomes a source of energy and happiness to be present, even with difficult situations . . .. like changing an elderly person's diaper.
Since many of us will need personal care and maybe even diaper changes as we age, I'm glad to hear from you that caregivers are learning how to be more truly present, more patient, and to relax into listening instead of chatter.
I used to envy people that were in larger cities who could have an active sangha, or be able to go to retreats to supercharge my practice. What a joy to know how Tricycle is using their site to enable us to be in sangha/retreat mode no matter where we live. There is no excuse not to engage and grow. Gratitude IS the antidote to the ills we suffer. Thank you so much for doing this!
Hi Daisy Mom,
Yes, the more I do the practice of gratitude, in little pauses throughout the day, whenever I find my state of mind going "south", the more I feel as you do, that gratitude practice is the antidote to all the ills we suffer.
Once my teenage sons took a trip to Tanzania with their dad. They did not do a tourist trip, but did things like riding on local buses, complete with chickens, pigs, multiple breakdowns, and having to stand for hours or sit on each others' laps because there were not enough seats. When they returned and got off the plane, I asked them, "What did you learn?" They said, "We are so grateful for toilet paper, hot running water and soap." I replied, "Then the trip was worth every penny."
I am looking forward to the arrival of my book from Amazon. Thank you, Jan, for hosting this book discussion. Even without having the book to read, yet, I am finding the discussion thread very interesting and most enjoyable.
I am now keeping a beautiful Daybook beside my bed to jot down my daily gratitudes. I "used to" do this, some years ago, but, like many practices, it fell away with life's changing nature. It is truly lovely to bring it back, and I AM grateful. I haven't yet found someone to read it out-loud to, but my cat listens very well. I find that just the practice of giving it voice helps to make the experience of gratitude more visceral, alive, for me.
I love our new exercise. As this is the time of year I put my plantings "to bed" for the winter here in upstate NY, it is a perfect time for me to bring a deeper awareness to this practice. Many of my outdoor plants become indoor plants for for winter, and I will have the blessing of being able to touch them every day, grateful for their growing slowly, holding the earth's energy and balance in their branches and down into their roots, for next year's growing season. Most importantly, letting the plants remind me that my own feet are my soul's roots to the earth, and allowing my connection to earth flourish, even in this season of winter.
May all Beings be Free,
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,
I think that reading your gratitude list to your cat is wonderful.
They listen so quietly.
Cats are grateful just for a lap. Or a source of warmth, like a radiator or a fire.
I'm doing the same thing here, cleaning out the old squash and tomato vines, picking the last winter squash. It always amazes me that you can combine a very small seed, some water and sunlight and the earth will pretty reliably grow that small seed into a 4 foot kale plant that we can eat from all winter, or a 20 foot tree that bears a hundred pears. Like you, as I pull up the old plants and untangle their roots from the soil, I feel grateful for the millions of years of harvest the earth has supported.
I enjoyed reading about your Earth practice. It must feel good to 'winter' along with your outdoor plants like you do. I may have to try that.
When I read the 2nd mindfulness exercise I felt resistance. I also live in the North (Maine), and have brought in geranium plants for the winter. Reading your post was the perfect way to begin this practice. Thank you!
Deeper lessons from "The Great Earth Beneath You": http://www.tricycle.com/blog/deeper-lessons-great-earth-beneath-you
The Great Earth beneath us here in Oklahoma is shaking it is so grateful for the rain it finally got after a gruesome summer of record breaking heat and drought. Three earthquakes in three days. Maybe the Earth is trying to say "thank you".
Hi jgoble,
The earth seems to want to shrug sometimes. Maybe you're right, in gratitude for the end of being parched. Or just to relieve tension. Or to tell us, "Remember, you uppity humans, you can use me but you can't control me."
I'm so glad you got some rain. When some of my garden crops fail (tomatoes and corn are chancy in Oregon) I think of the pioneers whose survival over the winter depended upon a good fall harvest, which in turn depended upon the rain coming at the right time in the right amounts. I'm grateful that all my life, I haven't had hat particular worry --- about survival from November to April. I've always had enough food to eat.
Hi Jan and others in the group,
I was able to pick up the book at the library Saturday and start reading right there in the extra quiet time when a library first opens on a Saturday morning. I want to comment on several passages from the Introduction. I could spend the rest of November in this group just absorbing and discussing this Introduction. Anyone else feel this way?
I like the passage on page 3 "When we aren't present, it makes us feel vaguely but persistently dissatisfied. This sense of dissatisfaction, of a gap between us and everything and everyone else, is the essential problem of human life." That is perfectly put and perfectly what I need to realize at this time in my life!
I love the section beginning on page 5 "The Benefits of Mindfulness". I have never read the benefits put in so many insightful ways. On page 7 in the section "Mindfulness Conserves Energy", Jan writes "Unfortunately the mind, in its anxiety for us, tries to make plans for a huge number of possible futures, most of which will never arrive." I have been doing this for the past three years excessively mostly due to my anxiety over finance - mine and The World's! If I can stop doing this and let mindfulness conserve my energy, I believe I will return to the sense of security that is ours naturally.
I could go on, but I think I'll wait and see if others want to discuss the Introduction in this way.
Paula
Hi Paula,
Thank you for the feedback. It makes me happy to find that the book is helpful.
I think that anxiety is very pervasive in our culture. It's odd that this is true in THE most affluent nation. I realized this when I was in India, and was surprised to see more happy people on the streets and on village dirt paths than on the sidewalks in America. I particularly remember two little girls in rags, happily playing in the dirt in a train station, and an old man who awakened in a doorway where he'd been curled up sleeping all of a cold night. When he opened his eyes, as soon as he saw me, he smiled benevolently. Are we Americans so anxious because we are worried about losing the abundance we have? Or is it a cultural trait?
I try to detect when my mind has switched to "anxious mode" and then drop right away into the present moment. If I ask, "Is there anything I am grateful for at this moment" it helps. This (cold) morning it was "heat" and "eyes to see the red maple leaves" and " my husband's home from a trip." Lots of small things.
If my mind starts worrying about financial futures, I begin a little internal dialogue, "Has there ever been a time when you did not have food?" "No." "Clothing?" "No." Shelter? " "No." "For 66 years you've been beautifully supported. Why start worrying now? Please stop and enjoy this life, beginning with this very moment. " It helps me switch out of anxiety and into mindful presence.
I hope we will get a little discussion going.
Are people making any discoveries as they try the exercises? Jan Chozen Bays
Hi Paula:
Yes - my book arrived and I've read the Introduction a couple of times. This evening again, out loud to my husband, whose business (of 30 years) seems to be slowly failing. Fear - 'the worry about the huge number of possible futures' has been gripping him for many months. He seemed much lighter this evening and went off to sleep gently. ahhhh.
This book has succint, believable information about mindfulness, without impossibly elaborated visions of nirvana. I appreciate it.
and - the earth-practice has been good; barefoot walking through
grass
mud
rocks
my feet found jasmine in bloom......the earth's reply to my attention
and the ants didn't bite!
Week #3 exercise?
Hi Everyone, Below find this week's exercise.
Mindfulness Exercise #3: Gratitude for the Body
The Exercise
For one week spend at least five or ten minutes a day a day with this practice. It could be during your meditation time. Sit down in a comfortable chair and breathe normally. Rest your awareness in the sensations coming from one body part, such as the eyes. Before you move your attention to another body part, silently say, “Thank you (name body part) for ________.” Leave a blank and see if anything arises in that space. For example, your mind might say, “Thank you, eyes, for seeing things all day long.” It’s OK if nothing arises; just move on to the next body part. Be sure to include body parts that are having difficulty or discomfort.
Reminding yourself
Post the words “gratitude for the body” in critical places, such as on your mirrors, in the area where you meditate, or on your pillow. If you’d rather use an image, it could be a body with a big heart in the center.
Discoveries
A fair number of people have resistance to this task. They keep “forgetting” to do it. Eventually they discover that underneath the resistance lies aversion toward their body. Subtle resentment toward the body can accumulate in the mind, especially toward the parts that aren’t functioning perfectly or don’t meet our standard of perfection, our nearsighted eyes, our stiff joints, our belly fat, our thinning hair, our aching back. Many people do not know that they feel unhappy with a body part until they do this practice. Other people discover that they would rather be “in their head,” thinking thoughts they can control, rather than practicing mindfulness of the body with all its mysterious and even frightening sensations. What does that short, sudden pain in my head mean? Could I have a brain tumor? There is so much that happens to our body that we cannot control, including getting sick, growing old and dying. We can come to feel threatened or even persecuted by our body. Why won’t it behave as a perfect, maintenance-free, perpetual machine?
Coming in late to the group. Just wanted to share love with Chozen - good to see you in this format. I have had the book for a while and scanned through it. Now I can play catch up and REALLY be mindful via the reading of the book, the mindful exercises given, and through this media contact, as well. Blessings.
Hi Diane,
Welcome to our little mindfulness group.
I did the "gratitude for the body" exercise last night with the people at our temple in Portland. I asked them to include body parts that were having trouble. One person did it for his sinuses, another for her lower back, another for his arthritic joints. When they meditate on a body part, many people discovered that their bodies have been working so hard for so many years, trying to take care of them. Cars and washing machines and well pumps don't last for 50 or 60 years without problems, so why do we expect our body to?
It's one of my favorite meditations to do first thing in the morning when I discover that I'm feeling annoyed at my body, for being stiff or achy, or not able to do all I could do in my 30's. It's like a healing balm, gratitude is.
Here are Jan's "Deeper Lessons" from exercise #3:
http://www.tricycle.com/blog/deeper-lessons-gratitude-body