Friday, September 24, 2004

Yoga - Part II - 5 minutes of undivided attention

In the end of my Yoga class, after an exhaustive section of stretching mixed with power exercises, the teacher asks for all the participants to lie down and try to relax all the muscles of the body. "Lift your feet and drop, lift your waist and heavily drop, lift your hands and drop". After we all release the stress with a mumbling mantra she finally says: "Try not to move one muscle in your body. Think of Nothing. Feel everything!" In the begning I admit I couldn't stay still for 30 seconds. I always had some itching. After three months I have reached the stage in which I stay still BUT "Think of Nothing" is just impossible. I have created this exercise in my mind where I see this very clean white sink, the images come to my mind and they immediately go down the drain. When the sink is white again it means that I am not thinking of anything but then my five minutes of "undivided attention are gone" Ugh! :O(
It starts with: "OKay, I will not move one muscle. Hum, I have to clean the bathroom today... Oh Nooo... What am I gonna have for dinner? Subway, Chinese or KFC. I can't stand the same options. I have to find something new, or maybe I should start cooking, I would save money, but waste time... Hum, Chinese tonight. He likes, he likes me not, he likes me, he likes me not. I am starting to like him a lot. Should I call him or should I wait for him to call? What about all these kidnapings on Iraq ? I hate the fact that the nations don't do anything just because it's only one or two people who are gonna be beheaded. For God Sake, what about the family of these people? Can these fucking chiefs of state stop thinking about numbers and start thinking about individuals who are in a horrific situation. What about the situation in Sudan and the Hurricanes Ivan & Jeane, the school in Russia... So much destruction... Okay, okay, calm down, I need to relax. This is time for my relaxation... Maybe I should write this on my Blog". Next thing I hear is "Turn to the side, sit down slowly. Thank you for this wonderful class".

1 Comments:

At September 27, 2004 at 12:11 AM, Blogger SK said...

I'm with you on the clearing your brain. It works in overdrive and telling it not to work is like not talking about a pink elephant in the room.

If you figure it out, please share it with me grasshopper!

(When I was in a yoga class and they told everyone to relax - one lady got a little too relaxed and, well, let one rip. yeeeech!)

 

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