How to Train a Wild Elephant_ And Other Adventures in Mindfulness - Jan Chozen Bays [0]
AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN MINDFULNESS
Jan Chozen Bays, MD
SHAMBHALA
Boston & London || 2011
SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com
© 2011 by Jan Chozen Bays
Cover photograph © Masterfile Royalty Free
Cover design by Daniel Urban-Brown
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bays, Jan Chozen.
How to train a wild elephant: and other adventures in mindfulness/Jan Chozen Bays.—1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN 978-0-8348-2746-2
ISBN 978-1-59030-817-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Spiritual life—Buddhism. 2. Consciousness—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 3. Attention—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 4. Awareness—Religious aspects—Buddhism. I. Title. II. Title: And other adventures in mindfulness.
BQ5670.B39 2011
294.3′4435—dc22
2011006476
Contents
Introduction
1. Use Your Nondominant Hand
2. Leave No Trace
3. Filler Words
4. Appreciate Your Hands
5. When Eating Just Eat
6. True Compliments
7. Mindfulness of Posture
8. Gratitude at the End of the Day
9. Listen to Sounds
10. Every Time the Phone Rings
11. Loving Touch
12. Waiting
13. A Media Fast
14. Loving Eyes
15. Secret Acts of Virtue
16. Just Three Breaths
17. Entering New Spaces
18. Notice Trees
19. Rest Your Hands
20. Say Yes
21. See the Color Blue
22. Bottoms of the Feet
23. Empty Space
24. One Bite at a Time
25. Endless Desires
26. Study Suffering
27. Silly Walking
28. Water
29. Look Up!
30. Defining and Defending
31. Notice Smells
32. This Person Could Die Tonight
33. Hot and Cold
34. The Great Earth beneath You
35. Notice Dislike
36. Are You Overlooking Something?
37. The Wind
38. Listen Like a Sponge
39. Appreciation
40. Signs of Aging
41. Be on Time
42. Procrastination
43. Your Tongue
44. Impatience
45. Anxiety
46. Mindful Driving
47. Look Deeply into Food
48. Light
49. Your Stomach
50. Become Aware of Your Center
51. Loving-Kindness for the Body
52. Smile
53. Leave Things Better Than You Found Them
Beginning a Sitting Meditation Practice
Suggested Reading
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
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. In truth, making mindfulness part of your life is more like a game of connect the dots, or like a paint-by-numbers kit. Do you remember those pictures where each small area is labeled with a number that tells you which color to use? As you filled in all the brown areas, then the greens and the blues, a pleasing picture begins to emerge.
Mindfulness practice is like that. You begin with one small area of your life, let’s say how you answer the phone. Each time the phone rings, you pause to take three long, slow breaths before you pick it up. You do this for a week or so, until it becomes a habit. Then you add another mindfulness practice, such as mindful eating. 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.
The exercises in this book point to many different spaces in your life that you can begin to fill in with the warm colors of open-hearted mindfulness. I am a meditation teacher, and I live at a Zen monastery in Oregon. I’m also a pediatrician, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother, so I understand well how stressful and challenging daily life can become. I developed many of these exercises to help me be more