Joyful Mindfulness
In practicing meditation, a person usually discovers fascinating surprises. My main big surprise in practicing Shamatha (Relaxed Abiding), an exercise resulting in unique concentration, is definitely the insight that relaxation sorts the basis of Shamatha. Once the mind is laid back, it will become much more relaxed and steady. These attributes deepen Shamatha, which will strengthen relaxation, therefore developing a virtuous circuit. Paradoxically, profound concentration is based on relaxation.
The same process appears to work with the concept of Mindfulness. I stumbled upon lightness for being extremely ideal for it. Lightness provides an increase in the simplicity of mind. Once the mind is at ease, it will become much more wide open, perceptive, and non-judgmental. These traits deepen Mindfulness, which will strengthen lightness and ease, therefore growing a virtuous pattern of deepening it.
That’s the reason I really like my Mindfulness served light. It is most beneficial when it’s powerful, and paradoxically, light and simple could be the ideal route on the way to strong. Indeed, there’s a level of cosmic humor here.
This awareness shows that a very good method to exercise it is throughout experiences of joy, particularly the kind of joy which has a light quality that does not overwhelm the senses. For instance, when you’re going for a pleasant walk, holding hands with someone you love, enjoying a very good dish, holding a sleeping toddler, or seated together with your kid when she is reading through a good book; these are typically excellent chances to exercise Mindfulness by getting 100 % moment-to-moment awareness of the joyful experience, towards the mind and also to the body. I refer to it as “Joyful Mindfulness”.
The very first impact of delivering it to joyful experiences is that they turn out to be much more enjoyable, simply because you are usually more present to appreciate them. More enjoyment at no extra cost (truly thrilling for that bargain-hunter within me). Most importantly, I discovered this Mindfulness gain being generalized. What this means is that you exercise and strengthen it in the course of joyful encounters, that gain in Mindfulness infuses into other experiences at the same time, so you end up getting more powerful Mindfulness in neutral and uncomfortable experiences as well.
Joyful Mindfulness. Have some fun on your journey to Enlightenment. What a excellent deal!
In all honesty, I believe you really get a lot more value for your money doing official seated Mindful exercise. Official exercise demands you to definitely bring it to your breathing for the lengthy time period. This really is very good simply because our focus normally gravitates in the direction of things which are quite pleasant or very unpleasant, usually disregarding things that are neutral, so when training yourself to deliver Mindfulness to something as neutral as your breath, that Mindfulness gain is rather generalized, much more generalized compared to Mindfulness gained from joyful experiences. Pound for pound, you truly cannot beat sitting on a zafu. Unfortunately, official exercise demands plenty of self-discipline, and discipline is really a scarce resource, making official exercise difficult to maintain. In comparison, Joyful Mindful gives significantly less punch but is much more maintainable. In addition it is fun, and no-one can disagree with fun. I know I cannot.
It is most optimal to do both official meditation and Joyful Mindful daily. By doing the two, eventually, your formal meditation could get infused with a relaxed, blissful quality identified in Sanskrit as sukha, and also the stimulus-free experience of sitting down meditation will become joyful. Just about all master mediators I know arrive at sukha at some stage in their meditative careers, having said that, my very own experience shows that Joyful Mindfulness intensifies sukha in formal sitting. I theorize that practicing Joyful Mindfulness got my mind familiar with ease, laughter and lightness, therefore letting it to interact with sukha much more easily during official exercise. That sukha then quietly infuses into everyday life and makes daily experiences a little more joyful, therefore enhancing the frequency and intensity of joyful experiences that I can then use for Joyful Mindfulness exercise. And therefore, an additional happy virtuous cycle is created. Joyful Mindfulness is effective on its own, but gets really effective in combination with formal Mindfulness practice.
I believe gets to its greatest when even not doing anything turns into a Mindfully joyful experience. For that reason, and since Joyful Mindfulness demands so very little additional efforts, I jokingly refer to it as the “Laid back Way”. I say to my friends I strive very hard to be lazy. Be not frightened of laziness; some are born lazy, some achieve laziness, yet others have laziness forced on them.
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