Meditation:- what is it?

 Let us dive straight into the deep end. Perhaps I should have worn armbands to avoid drowning in the deep and often confusing waters of meditation. Meditation which include the practices of Mantra and breath work(Pranayama) is the only practice that I can say, without doubt, has transformed the activity of my mind. How I respond to situations. What I say, do, the quality of sleep and even how I move, keeping me light in tone and balance which before the practice I would have thought would not be an obvious outcome. I would stress I am very aware of Wim Hoff, Oxygen Advantage, Pilates, Calm, Headspace and my other small practice via the mindfulness association. All have benefits. 

Practicing stillness and encouraging a peaceful space inside us is one worth pursuing. However, it's hard! Whatever I say or get you to consider, there is no question that the feedback I receive from folks, runners, movers and shakers is......it's hard. What! Yes, being still, practicing stillness, practicing nothing much appears to be very difficult for people to do. Because you ARE doing something, no question. Behind the 'nothing much' is the intention, the breath and calming of those fluctuations of the mind which we recognise.

Why is it so difficult for people to do, this meditation thing? This is the key point and worth taking a little time to discuss and tease out. We are very much  in a constant state of distraction, attention deficit and overloaded with external signals from all sorts of artificial prompts, feedback, views and opinions. We are invited to interact, offer a 'yay, or nay, thumbs up or thumbs down' so many times during the day. Opinions swamp our thoughts and cloud our views, feelings and senses. If you are not busy, what are you DOING. You really should be DOING something. Our lives are organized in a very tight orchestrated manner, have you noticed how many reminders you get, how many times your opinions are sort. How your in box is full of stuff that seems to match your search history. All very clever, these algorithms track you, your views and behavior. Who is pulling the strings, who is the conductor? You or them, you know, those big institutions and organizations that seek to interact with you. It sounds very dark, Orwellian even and in this society of interdependence we can feel a little lost.  

Whenever I get lost or feel swamped I do close my eyes and think of one of my favourite clips ever on TV. The clip is a younger David Attenborough encountering the mountain Gorillas of the Congo way back in the 1980's. These beautiful animals sit, play, eat and relax. You get a sense of calmness, with these big animals.  The mind that is on show to me, is one of peace and a full integration with their environment. 

There, we have the word that I think is the source of the mental malaise that is being reported at an increasing rate. Our environment, the one we interact with the most, is not the one we evolved to interact with. Our environment is the natural world. Our minds and body settle here or over there! The Pandemic made us realise just how much we need nature we noticed how still our minds became when we walked and moved in the natural world around our local area. 

Tuning into simply being, being still, being alert with clarity, being aware of our internal senses is a practice that animals don't need to do. They are there. WE are the ones who are not there. The practice of stillness, meditation is about cultivating and encouraging a mind that is less easily distracted. The levels of focus and concentration over a period of time feel easier and less of a yoke. Samyama is a sanskrit word introduced in Chapter 4 of the Sutra's. We do recognise this word if I describe it thus; , there you are in an exam, fully focused, over time, everything is flowing, you are simply on point. Or, you are listening to a piece of music, reading a book, focused and present. You are less aware of the external senses and more aware of the internal you, the object of the focus is clear. You can also have the Samyama of Mathematics, astronomy, art, music and yes! Running , you get the idea. There are other words associated with this but Yoga is about encouraging what is already present and deep within us, the ability to 'see things as they are' not as they are perceived or interpreted. With this, suffering (Dukkha) is reduced and the associated emotions of  fear, desire and anger subside. 

Big ideas here, but we can sense them and taste them, even going for a wee run on my local beach. I keep this part of my life very simple, I like simple, I like playing, I also like to practice. Whatever is shared here as A G Mohan stresses 'don't take my word for it, practice'. 

see you for another Blog in a while. 

The Yoga of Running (part 2 intro)

I love metaphors, I play with them, the image, the narrative and how the meaning of what you are trying to share is brought into sharper focus through the metaphor. They have  break points though, the reflection of the idea that the metaphor is trying to enhance and amplify can be infinitely extended is not correct. You can have some freedom but there are constraints. Really good metaphors can sit with you for a few years before you find a small chink in the description. That does not really matter, what matters is they have helped you make sense of a complex idea.

After that fairly long reason why I like metaphors here is a description of yoga I use with some metaphorical language to help us sense what Yoga is. I find it helpful. Too much formality clouds the issue.

Stare out of window and what do you see? Notice the smallest thing, focus on it, for one minute. It could be a leaf, part of a leaf, describe it, study it, focus on it, fully concentrate and commit to it.  After a minute or so (did you time yourself?) ask yourself 'where was my mind'. Probably no-where else. Those distracting, darting thoughts ceased. For a minute, the mind calmed, the senses diminished. You were you, the I of your function faded and Self made an appearance. Yoga is nothing special, in his book 'Zen mind, beginners mind, '(1970) Shinryu Suzuki states 'nothing special'. Don't look for the yoga mind and stress about doing something special, 'here I am doing yoga', look AT me. The yoga mind exists inside you. The access key, is you, you are the key holder and door opener. In a recent series of classes held by the Mohans', of www.svastha.net Indira Mohan stressed that cultivating peace and holding on to that peace in our everyday lives is a fundamental part of being human. We sense this, I think, but perhaps do not know how to cultivate and work with our bodies, breath and mind on a regular basis to encourage this feeling of Sattva (lightness and ease).

 You have to cultivate this practice, the fluctuations of the mind can cause disturbances and we lose control of our senses, we are quick to judge, make assumptions and choose language that does not precisely convey our understanding. The converse of this statement is the clear; the unobstructed mind, the mind at peace, where actions, thoughts and feelings combine with an intention fundamentally based on letting go of attachments, such as desires, fear and anger(Kleshas') is the mind that has transcended 'I' and moved to the Self.   

This feels heavy duty, Yoga thinking and descriptions can be complicated. Listening to my teachers discuss Yogic philosophy you can sense they understand the nuances of the landscape but yoga is not an academic exercise, not an intellectual pursuit. 

Runners have experienced a yogic state of mind, sensed this clear mind, the stilling of thoughts, the easing and softening of our body. It is not all about times and performance. When I am faced with yoga practitioners or yoga teachers who have attended a 1-2-1, I stress that the yoga mind is the running mind, the yoga breath is the running breath. Some feel challenged, some others state 'of course' and smile. There should be no difference to the practice on the mat compared to the practice on the trails.  If you find yourself fighting yourself, struggling with your breath when running or practising yoga this is not a practice that will sustain you in the long term (I almost said 'run' which is also physiologically true, short breathing is not a good aerobic habit). The practice of moving well and cultivating a sense of 'moving into stillness' is one that is worth holding onto. That mind can be moved into the world away from the mat,class or trails.

And finally, in this intro section, here is the sanskrit written in English for you, from the Yoga Sutra's chapter 1, verse (Sloka)1.2

'Yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah'   

My translation, which some yoga students would find appalling is:- The practice of yoga calms the fluctuations of the mind, allowing the mind to be clear and still.  I write this because this is what I feel, not what I think or have read.

Interestingly, the whole point of Yoga is met at the beginning of the Sutra's. not at the end. The rest of the chapters and verses are really a series of connecting statements that instruct the practitioner on how this state of mind can be reached, the practice and the dangers. 

We are now at the end of the beginning. A sense of what Yoga is about. Approaching your running with a yoga mind, may, just may give you new insights into your training, or answer that gnawing sense of something   missing from your practice. Who knows! My only advice is to give yourself some space to try out some of these ideas in this 'wee text'. It ain't a big read:)

 

The Yoga of Running intro part 1.

 Yoga is a mighty big word, often misused or used in a way that implies 'exercise' as it is matched up with Pilates and other forms of movement in the West.  If I asked you to perform some sort of yoga, you might perform some lunge of a description, or perhaps bring your thumb and forefinger together and mouth 'Om'. It might look like Yoga, or at least the Yoga that you are aware of and seen via social media. 

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with taking a small element of Yoga and using it to help you with your running. If the movement works for you, that is, you feel the benefits in your movement please continue. This discussion and extended series of blogs is intended to  connect the experiences you feel and possibly sense during a run or your extended running practice and link them to a wider understanding of  the practice of Yoga. This shift in lens, or perspective might help you connect other practices such as diet, relationships and overall sense of Self under the helicopter view of Yoga. 

The first main point to stress is Yoga is part of the bigger family (Darsanas') of eastern practices such as Buddhism, these two practices in particular share many common features such as Mantra (repetitive singing and phrases) and Breath practices(meditation). The other point, and a fairly obvious one, is that the practices have been part of the fabric of human knowledge for thousands of years. Yoga is not a 20th Century phenomenon, lineage and the passing down of knowledge is a key aspect of my own teachers. They can track their teachers back to about the 10th Century. 

The other point to stress, and I suppose being constructed here, is that looking at our running through an eastern lens does give us a more connective or  more awareness to our mind/body connection. Western approaches have tended to view the mind and body as two separate entities. We treat the mind under the umbrella of psychology or psychiatry, whilst the body is treated under the discipline of medical science and rationalism. Nothing wrong here, without science and mathematics our understanding of our world would not be complete. I should point out that my first degree is in Physics. The moon is a long way without Newton:). However, the Chinese and Arab worlds had their forms of physical science and mathematics, long before the West emerged from the dark ages. This is not about West v East. There has been too much of that. Integration of western minds and eastern thoughts is the only direction of travel.

 The eastern approach is, in general, to unify and treat the mind/body as one entity. Yoga means to 'connect';  bring together, here the use of the word Yoga is about bringing together and amplifying the connection of the mind and body to help us gain clarity, inner balance, lightness of mind and of the body. We use a similar word 'synergy' which means to add value when two or more things combine, but this word only gives a flavour, a taste of  Yoga. 

 Through a Yoga lens the mind and body, cannot be separated. From a running perspective you will sense this, run angry, run tired, run sad, note how the feeling permeates your entire body and mind, regardless of how fit you are. Your mind has influenced the macro and micro state of your body. I remember teaching a group of teenagers in a school. Their gut feeling about the point of yoga was really interesting, they had less clutter and were keen to experience not only the physical practice but also the meditative and breathing practices. I stressed to one student 'we don't do Yoga, we are IN a state of Yoga, you should feel, light, clear and easy with your mind and body' (this is the Sattva state, more on this later). I did not give much thought to the interaction but the next week this particular student came back to me and said in her geordie tone 'how, sir, you waz reet, I was IN yoga definitely' and she smiled. This is the bigger point, when you and I run, we might feel in a state of ease and clarity, the troubles of the world have disappeared even for a fleeting moment, we sense the inner Self more than the I of roles, age, gender, health at the point you could say our minds are in a state of Yoga, the feeling of minimal effort, rhythmical breathing and inner calm is the state we sense. A yoga practice is about carrying this feeling into our wider lives, a yoga practice refines, amplifies and cultivates the mind/body connection.

I have coached a lot of runners who have a lovely lightness with their sense of Self, but I have coached an equal amount of runners ( of all abilities, ages and background) who have a very strong attachment to their running but they are almost running away from the fear of themselves, either trauma, stress or anxiety(this would be the Rajasic and Tamasic states of mind, more on these later:) ) .

The main definition of what Yoga is, how to practice and develop the practice, is from a  text called the 'Sutra's of Patanjali' these threaded phrases and statements cover 4 chapters and are a bedrock of Yoga knowledge. However, there are other major texts that also support this knowledge, extend and connect big ideas and maybe mentioned here in these series of blogs. If you become stimulated enough to want to explore these other texts I would strongly recommend visiting https://www.svastha.net/  for links and courses on texts such as the 'Gita'. 

Running books, of which there are plenty, have stressed either the training approaches or the mind/body connection. Books. George Sheehan's  'Running and Being' (Sheehan, 1978) and Sakyong Mipham 'Running with the mind of meditation' ((Mipham, 2012) bridged the gap between this mind/body connection. Other books such as the newly published 'Out of Thin air' (Crawley 2019) look at culture and the development of running, in this instance in Ethiopia, through an anthropological lens whilst Daniel Liebermann's book exercised (2020) takes a wider holistic of running as part of our evolutionary heritage. I could go on, the list is endless(I have a few books myself) as the continuum moves between western minds and approaches (technique and training) to eastern thoughts (flow and somatic experiences). Authors almost demand a 'piece of the running action', newness is to be shared, explored and sold on Amazon.  However let me share an extended quote from one of my favourite books 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' (Pirsig, Robert, M, 1974)and a view that newness and fashion results in plenty of distraction as we move from one idea to the next in a rapid scatter gun fashion. We are, in a way, as Jon Kabat-Zinn observes in a state of attention deficient. 

"What's new?" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question "What is best?," a question which cuts deeply rather than broadly, a question whose answers tend to move the silt downstream.(Pirsig, 1974, page 17)

They key phrase 'the silt of tomorrow' will you be leafing through that running book you bought in 10 years time? Probably not. Will you be running in 10 years time, I really hope so!

Why do we run? The action is primal, we are wired to move, walk and run. It is the most efficient way to increase aerobic capacity, to oil our engine and improve our metabolism. It is part of us, there is no escaping this basic fact. I am not stressing athletics and top end performance, these achievements of which I am a very real and engaged spectator are the ferrari's/F1 of humanity. The fine tuning sports car with mechanics and background staff that do support the athlete. However as Kipchoge stated 'without discipline, you can never be truly free'. Here we get the sniff and sense of something subtler going on when we choose to run.

 Running is a discipline, I have coached and played many sports in my time.  I was the annoying young man who was a 'jack of all trades' when it came to sports. The number 7 at cricket, the flanker, the badminton player, the doubles partner, the Volleyball spiker, the handicap 3 golfer aged 16, etc. However none of these sports are as pure as Running. There is a very straightforward connection to Yoga from a Running practice. This is the exploration, this is the journey. It will go beyond running for sure. Running is the tool by which to lever and explore the human condition. 

 

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good feeling with the ground

'When we were young, we ran barefoot, look after our cattle. We developed strong ankles, you know....(gesticulating with hands as feet)we  had good feeling with the ground' Rudisha 2010

Pretty much nails it in one sentence. There are only two parts of our body that have evolved to be in contact with the ground namely our feet. That is it, there is no need for lengthy discussions about reasons why our feet need to be in contact with the ground. Our bodies evolved to be upright, to work with gravity, to be IN gravity (John Stirk and Gary Carter) hence and therefore, the body needs the signals from our feet (mainly) and other sensory inputs to keep upright, to keep in balance, to body sense balance.

Many times over the years I have shared the sentence above with the 'killer' video clip and the vast majority of folk nod. They may not have heard of David Rudisha (800m Olympic gold 2012 1m 40") but get the emotional connection with that word 'good'. Quality of movement begins from the ground up. 

Running and walking should feel good. However, when you watch most folks walk there is not a real sense of ease of movement and lightness of feet, not a 'good feeling with the ground', not a sense of 'in gravity of with gravity' but a sense of effort and drudging acceptance as a form of locomotion.

The quality of ground varies of course, consider the nature of the ground you run and walk on. In the developing and developed world we have flattened our environment, steam rolled out the lumps and bumps, even trails are flatter. I do understand access for folks here but consider our range of movement just in our hips as we climb over things and move across the landscape. Understanding our terrain and moving over it is a strong evolutionary drive. Wayfaring is a great expression (Out of thin Air, Crawley, 2020), it is how we move across the landscape that is as important as point A to point B.

Running and walking intelligently means coming to our senses and tuning into the landscape around us. Feeling and moving with ease, not fighting yourself, or fighting the watch.

 

 I stressed this next observation maybe two years ago but worth sharing again. When observing runners I listen first. Generally if I hear them with their feet and/or the quality of the breath I don't really need to look, I know what I need to look for. When I look at the runner I notice the overall shape of the runner moving as a sense(not fat/thin etc)and where the focus of runner is, where the eyes are, the head is, where they place their attention. I notice excessive movement, rolling and small instabilities, all of these observations come rushing in over a short period of time.  I then have enough information to work with. 

 

Tuning into the runner and getting the runner to tune into themselves will allow them to develop good feeling with ground.