Are you paying attention?
This evening I feel drawn to do a Kundalini Yoga kriya for interconnection and communication.
In our world today most of us are always virtually connected and communicating. The draw of the mobile phone in particular I notice pulling us out of real connections with others or with ourselves. Have you chatted with anyone recently and they have stopped to look at their phone? Phones are dreadfully addictive and if you don't believe me, why not try going offline for a whole weekend? No email, no phone, no social media and see how it feels. After all, people have done without these things perfectly fine. If you try it, let me know what you discover!
Do you remember a time when someone gave you their undivided attention? No mobile phone in sight! Where you felt really seen? Really listened to? Where there was no sense of rushing you? And no sense of judgement of you? What did it feel like?
It makes me feel a bit teary just to remember. I feel hugely grateful when I think of the times I have received this sort of attention. It feels like unconditional love and acceptance and being valued for who I am, warts and all. It is the sort of interconnection and communication that I want to give and also want to receive. But it's not always easy and it helps to practise. And the best place to start is with yourself!
“Our full attention is the deepest expression of love”
- Krishnamurti
What is it like to give yourself your whole undivided non-judgemental, friendly attention? To stop and close the eyes and just notice how you are feeling and where you are feeling it? If we are in a relaxed and happy state it can feel rather nice - the sounds inside the body, the feel of the breath, the feel of the contact with the floor or chair. And sometimes, or perhaps quite often, initially it can feel rather unpleasant, the body perhaps restless and fidgety, the mind all over the place trying to find an escape route.
This is why yoga can be so useful. The set of postures give you something to focus on and a degree of challenge that will press your buttons so that you see with more awareness your own patterns in the mind and the body. And so important to do this with a lot of kindness and acceptance of who you are! Just seeing it, just seeking to understand. You are who you are in this moment. Then in between the postures and during the relaxation, you can feel the effect of the posture as well as in some cases the relief of no longer being in it on the body and the mind. The mind settles and you may have moments experiencing a deeper space of timeless peace that always resides there beneath everything. It feels like home. And it's much nicer than your mobile phone!
So if you feel like practising you can join me for a lovely evening of yoga meditation and gong relaxation and do a kriya designed specifically to work on the temporal lobes in the brain. And you don't need to restrict the way you give attention to people. What is it like to give the same sort of attention to whatever it is that you are doing? The washing up perhaps?
“I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh