Think of our ancestors who had to fight for daily survival. They did not have the luxury of questioning why things happen the way they do. They were too busy just surviving. Now that modern humans manage daily survival more easily, their big brains can get them in trouble. They think too much. Those big brains always need a job. They think even when we don’t want them to think. Right in the middle of a yoga practice I’ll notice my brain is still pestering me. Somehow when I make art my brain actually stops pestering me, because I am at peace doing what I love. In yoga it is sometimes more of a struggle to quiet that big brain of mine, unless the practice is very physically demanding.
But even when that big brain bothers you, remember what the first master of the Zen Center in San Francisco and Carmel Valley says. Shunryu Suzuki, in one of my favourite books by him, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind says in his chapter entitled Mind Weeds,
“ We say, ‘pulling out the weeds we give nourishment to the plant.’ We pull the weeds and bury them near the plant to give it nourishment. So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some [mind] waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you. So you should not be bothered by your mind. You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.”
No comments:
Post a Comment