Taming the Monkey Mind: Experimenting on the Monkey

Posted on by stilllearning2b

Mr. Sandmonkey (78/365)

What?  You didn’t think that my ruminations on my monkey mind were going away just because I completed the 28 day challenge, did you?  Of course not; this monkey demands attention and gets ornery if he’s ignored for too long.

First, a disclaimer:  No monkeys were harmed or experimented on in the making of this post.  You can go ahead and back off now, PETA.

When I undertook this meditation challenge, I was most concerned about staying with daily practice.  In the past, I had slid out of the habit faster than my work clothes at the end of a hard day.  But, that hasn’t been the case on the go-round.  I dutifully meditate every day for at least a few focused minutes.  I do it without thinking.  It has become habit.

Get it?

For some reason, this bothers me a bit.  Maybe I’m overthinking this (totally possible given my analytical nature), but it seems like I should be mindful about mindfulness.  Intentional.  For a time, I was experimenting with different guided meditations, various chants, and assorted music.  I did walking meditations and silent meditations.  I feel like I’ve turned it over to autopilot recently.  I tend to go for the same chant generated by the same app, plug in the same headphones, lie on the same spot, and just go.

Is this good?  I am practicing, after all.  I can’t help but feel like I’m slighting my monkey; however.  If I don’t actively pursue different options and continue to read about meditation, am I stunting my monkey’s growth?  Or, by reading and studying, am I distracting myself from what is really important; focusing too much on the “doing” rather than “being”?  Maybe my discomfort with the status quo is arising from the fact that I am still learning to BE.

I think I’ll go meditate.

Namaste.

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Taming the Monkey Mind: Graduation Day

Posted on by stilllearning2b

This all started with a 28 day meditation challenge.  It has actually been 32 days since I began; I added a few days to make up for the two that I missed during my camping trip.

So, I guess the first question should be if I consider my monkey mind trained after a month of formal education?  I’m not sure if I can claim a fully tamed monkey, but it certainly more well-behaved.  During meditation, my mind still tries to escape to planning mode every few breaths, but I find that I am able to bring it back much easier and almost without thought.  It no longer protests being brought back to breath.  In daily life, my mind is much calmer, less prone to anxiety, and much more aware and present in the moment.  That’s not to say that there aren’t moments where my monkey mind is running about its cage, shrieking and throwing things at the passers by, but luckily for all us, those moments have reduced in frequency.

Just because my monkey-mind has graduated from this program, he is not done with his education.  In fact, this was simply a starting point.  I am going to continue on this journey, me and my monkey mind, with a zen mind, a beginner’s mind.  I have found that I have more curiosity towards the practice of meditation than before.  It draws me now.  I have gone from letting it slip away from me to making it a part of me. I plan (uh oh, there’s that word) to continue daily practice and to experiment with different techniques.  I want to read more on the subject to gain new perspectives and to help put words to what I have already found.  Shhh…please don’t tell my monkey mind that he doesn’t get a summer break; he might get a bit upset.

It’s time to enroll in continuing education.  And the best part?  No student loans required for this course!

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Taming the Monkey Mind: Shaving the Monkey

Posted on by stilllearning2b

No, not literally!  What do you take me for?  Some kind of simian-obsessed stylist?  But seriously, if you do decide to remove a little extra fur from a particularly hirsute monkey, I recommend you use a razor as opposed to a depilatory cream.  Monkeys tend to fling things and Nair in the eye would probably sting.

In my case, “shaving the monkey” is alluding to the fact that meditation has helped me to clear away all of the excess “noise” from my mind.  It is clearing away the fuzz, allowing me to really see what is underneath.  It’s a bit like the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid); I don’t get as distracted by all of the fluff.

Today was a great test of this newly shaved monkey.  Today was a Major Monday (caps and alliteration required).  I walked back into the classroom after spring break to find info-packed emails from administration, new schedules that required last minute lesson shuffling, panicked and angry emails from parents, and kids who have apparently forgotten everything just two days before state testing begins.  Normally, all of this would have sent me into panic mode trying to meet everyone’s needs at once (while neglecting my own, of course).  Instead, I was able to take a few deep breaths and recognize how much of the stuff was just excess monkey fur.  I picked up my imaginary razor, shaved the extraneous pelt, and was left with a manageable amount to tackle.

I don’t always remember to shave the monkey at the beginning.  In fact, just yesterday, I allowed myself to get overwhelmed.  I was doing the laundry from the camping trip and cooking my lunches for the week (which meant I was managing 1 dish in the oven and 2 on the stovetop), the cat threw up, and my boyfriend wanted me to come in to look at the curtains he had just put up.  It all became too much.  Frazzled, I tore around the kitchen like a dervish, sprinkling pumpkin seeds on the roasting cauliflower, stirring the greens, and prepping the Tupperware.  Suddenly, I stopped.  What was I doing?  This wasn’t an ER; the sweet potatoes would not suffer a cardiac arrest if they sat in their boiling bath a minute too long.  I took a few deep breaths, relaxed, and realized how doable my tasks really were.

I am frequently guilty of making things harder than they really are.  When I was finishing up my workout today (the ultimate in shaved-monkey simplicity: squats, deadlifts, straight legged deadlifts), I saw a lady doing assisted pull-ups.  While wearing a weighted vest.  I chuckled to myself, thinking, “How silly!”  But then, I realized, I often do the same in other areas; I make something harder than it needs to be and then I require assistance of some sort.  Why not just strip it down to the basics to begin with?

I am going to try to keep up with shaving my monkey mind, keeping it clear of all the clutter.  I might even get a bit fancy and style it with a mohawk:)

 

 

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Taming the Monkey Mind: Natural Habitat

Posted on by stilllearning2b

Well, it was bound to happen.  I missed two days of intentional, sustained meditation.  We took advantage of the holiday weekend and spent 3 days camping.  I’m not sure if it was the change of routine, the constant companionship, or the downshift of rhythm lessening the need, but I completely forgot to meditate for the two full days we spent camping and hiking.  Even though I did not engage in sustained practice, I certainly practiced mindfulness.  In fact, this is one of the factors I like most about being in nature, everything is simplified and it is so much easier to be present.  I love waking up with sun, bedding down soon after the stars fill the sky, and moving with the rhythms of the world around me.  I thrill in finding the awaking spring flowers, the trickle of a stream that transitions to the roar of a waterfall, and becoming entranced in the dancing flames of a campfire.  I feel as peaceful and refreshed as I do after meditation.  Maybe I didn’t intentionally practice because I actually spent much of the time in a meditative state?

In the past, if I let a day or more slip by without doing an intended action, I would have been very hard on myself.  This time, I am being more gentle; just like I guide my mind back to breath, I am guiding myself back to a daily practice.  In fact, I began again within hours of arriving home (after a shower and doing some laundry and dishes…ever noticed how “camp” hygiene becomes disgusting as soon as you return home???).  This monkey may have spent some time in the wild, but that does not been that it has become feral.

മലയാളം: ചള്ളിയാൻ എടുത്തത്

 

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Taming the Monkey Mind: Total Immersion

Posted on by stilllearning2b

I woke up at 2:30 this morning, unable to go back to sleep.  I do that sometimes.

I moved to the couch in my office, picked up my computer, and promptly began to research yoga and meditation retreats. You know, as one does in the middle of the night when slumber is elusive.

I feel like I have done pretty well taming my monkey mind, but I would love to test the premise of total immersion in the context of mindfulness.  I think that my monkey would do well surrounded by tamed neural simians and trained synaptic handlers.  I am drawn to the thought of spending a few days or even a week focusing only on my monkey’s well-being, far away from all the distractions that tend to catch his eye (yes, my monkey-mind is a him; I’m not sure why). Much like Cesar Millan uses his pack to train other dogs, I want to use tamed monkeys to guide my own.

I have done something similar once before.  In the fall after July Disasster, I spent a long weekend at the Mandala Wellness Center for yoga, meditation, and therapy as a solo retreat.  It was there that I found my breath again.  It was there that I moved back into my body.

I am looking for something different now.  I no longer need a personal retreat and I do not require the presence and attention of a therapist.  Instead, this time I want to be in the presence of others who are on a similar journey.  I want to share in the experience. I am no longer looking for healing, rather I am looking to make the good better.

There are many options nearby, but I cannot justify the price.  Options overseas are cheaper, but the airfare is cost prohibitive.  It seems as though the ready made options are out, but I am not giving up.  I am going to see if I can cobble together my own total immersion experience on a budget.  Without sleeping in my car outside an urban yoga studio, that is.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows of any wallet-friendly retreats, please let me or my monkey know:)

 

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