Mechanics of the Mind

Today seemed a good one for some organization and clearing of the clutter. I just LOVE to REDUCE the amount of THINGS around me. Do you? I mean, sure, I have always been a huge fan of The Story of Stuff and try to buy as many things 'lightly used' as I can. But today was more of a papers/outdated ideas/scraps-and-doodles-with-concepts that either deserved another chance or to be put to rest. This clears space in folders, binders and bookshelves, but most importantly, space in the mind.

In my process of making piles of 'away', recycle, keep here or there, I came across a stack of my homework assignments from my yoga teacher training. And since I am attempting to create some space in my own mind, I thought I would share what we learned from Swami Sitaramananda regarding the 12 Mechanics of the Mind. These are ways to understand the different functions, deceptions, tricks, and tactics of the mind that take us either towards suffering or bliss. Remember that we can best control that which we fully understand and these analogies and metaphors help us to better understand the mind. The true definition of yoga, rather than the popular references of 'union' and 'yoke', goes to Patanjalis Yoga Sutras as: "Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodhah", or "Yoga is the cessation of fluctuations of the mind". In everyday speak, this simply means that yoga is what is achieved when we still the mind. It's a place where we are not thinking or doing, we are simply being. It is in this place where we find peace and where we can remember our true nature: divine bliss, ultimate happiness...pure love. Learn and enjoy!

1.) The mind is like a lake with waves: A calm clear lake will reflect the trees, sky, all in a real and clear way. Waves upon the lake will create distortions; the bigger the waves, the greater the distortion. These waves in our mind are our thoughts. The more excited the thoughts, the greater the distortion of reality.

2.) The mind is like a drunk monkey stung by a scorpion: It's out of control! It's high...and what goes up, must come down. Crash, boom, bang.

3.) The mind is like a wild horse: Difficult to control and wants it's own way to do what it likes. Like the horse, the mind needs to be tamed. We do this by first befriending the horse, er mind, learning about it, understanding it and gently and gradually taking control. Like the horse, the mind cannot be forced. Once tame, both become useful instruments to the owner.

4.) The mind is like a shy lady: Always playing hide and seek. The mind doesn't want to be known but always wants to see.

5.) The mind is FAST: the speed of thoughts occur so quickly that we know they must hold great power.

6.) The mind is like a musical record: There are many grooves that can become quite deep. A record repeats and the mind will often do the same-repeating the same thought patterns again and again. In this we find the importance of habits. With the great speed of the mind, we know we must first slow it down to be able to change the habits, get new grooves with positive to replace negative.

7.) The mind and body are completely connected: What goes on with the mind will be reflected in the body and vice verse. A body filled with chemicals and toxins will make for a clouded mind. A mind full of negative thoughts will create dis-ease within the body.

8.) The mind and breathe are connected: Like with the lake and waves, we find it is hard to calm the waves and so much easier to protect the lake from the wind in the first place. (Wind representing excitement and drama). If the wind is controlled and steady through the practice of breathing exercises (pranayama), the lake's waves will never be too big.

9.) The mind is connected to the 5 senses: The mind takes the stimulus from the senses and interprets them into thoughts. When we meditate, we withdrawal our senses so to quiet the mind. Since we cannot control stimulus in the world, with practice we control the mind and therefore control of our senses follows (ie. not overeating, oggling, losing prana through the senses).

10.) The mind functions by association to the senses: When a sense is stimulated by something that it has a memory of, the mind can take your thoughts directly to that past experience and bring with it the emotions attached to that memory. This, when not controlled, can lead to much unnecessary suffering.

11.) The mind functions with association to names and forms: This means that if something lies outside of one's frame of reference, the mind cannot associate and is free to make unbiased sense of something-an observation rather than a judgement. This is why a mantra is useful in meditation. Conversely, we can often fall into the traps of preconceived notions by assuming things based on past experiences with certain people, places and things.

12.) The mind can only hold one thought at a time: This may come as a shock to many of us multi-taskers, but the mind can truly only hold one thought at a time. So if within a moment you have decided what to do next about 5 items on your list, imagine just how quick the mind is as stated in #5. And here is the importance of focus and concentration. When we hold one thought for a long time it gains so much power and we are able to be extremely efficient and accomplish much.

The mind is an instrument given to us to guide us through this life for our own growth. When used improperly, we experience great suffering. We must become the master and not the victim of our mind. OM.