How to Train a Wild Elephant_ And Other Adventures in Mindfulness - Jan Chozen Bays [31]
When we find ourselves caught up in the compelling and complex inner screen of our mind, we need to remember that we have an option. We can shrink or “minimize” the current screen down to a small icon on the bottom of the mind-screen and open up the serene blue sky of our inherently boundless, clear mind. A few thoughts drift across the screen, like wispy white clouds. We are lifted above the narrow world of “I, me, and mine” to a place of serenity. The small icon of our worries and plans can be opened up whenever we wish.
Just as the blue sky is always above us, even when we cannot see it, so it is with our perfect Original Nature. Even when our mind-state is cloudy and our emotions are raining, our Original Nature is always there, shining brightly within us and all things.
Final Words: We can break out of the dark and narrow prison of self-absorbed mind and find freedom in the luminous sky mind.
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Bottoms of the Feet
The Exercise: As often as possible during the day, place your awareness in the bottoms of your feet. Become aware of the sensations on the bottoms of the feet such as the pressure of the floor or ground beneath the feet, or the warmth or coolness of the feet. It is particularly important to do so whenever you notice yourself becoming anxious or upset.
REMINDING YOURSELF
The classic method for remembering this task is to put a small stone in your shoe. A less painful, though probably less effective, way is to place notes that say “Feet” where you’ll see them, or cutouts of footprints in appropriate locations on the floor. You could also set your cell phone or timer to ring at certain intervals during the day, and whenever you hear the ringer, turn your awareness to the bottoms of your feet.
DISCOVERIES
Through this mindfulness practice, people noticed that ordinarily they walked about without paying much attention to their feet, unless their feet were hurting or they stumbled. If people were caught up in thinking, moving their awareness from the head to the feet had the effect of settling the mind. This probably occurs because the bottoms of the feet are as far as we can get away from the head, where we often seem to think our “selves” are located. We identify very closely with our thoughts and give our mind/brain an exalted status. Many of us unconsciously view the body merely as a servant of the brain—the body is equipped with feet to transport the commanding mind around, and with hands to get things the mind thinks it wants, such as doughnuts.
We often begin meals at the monastery by sitting in silence and placing our awareness in the bottoms of our feet. It helps to bring mindfulness to eating. We’ve also found that when we are aware of the bottoms of the feet, our balance improves and we are more sure-footed.
Martial arts and yoga emphasize being aware of the feet and mentally extending a sense of connection or roots down into the earth. This gives rise to both physical stability and mental equanimity. When we become anxious, the mind becomes more active, like a hamster in an exercise wheel, spinning around, trying to figure out how to escape mental or physical discomfort. Doing this task, people discover that when they bring awareness to all the tiny sensations on the bottoms of the feet, the flow of ever-changing physical sensations fills the mind completely and there is no room at all for thinking. They feel less top-heavy, more anchored, less likely to be pushed about by thoughts and emotions. Dropping awareness into the bottoms of the feet clears the mind and lifts clouds of anxiety.
DEEPER LESSONS
Our mind likes to think. It thinks that if it is not thinking, it is failing at its job of guiding and protecting us. However, when the mind becomes overactive, the opposite occurs. Its guidance becomes shrill, even cruel, and its constant warnings fill us with anxiety. How can we put the thinking mind in