Upload
vpdabholkar
View
742
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Mindfulness on the go Meditation in a time stealing mode
Vinay Dabholkar [email protected]
May 31, 2015
www.catalign.com 1
http://www.catalign.in/2015/05/mindfulness-on-go-my-first-workshop.html
Let’s say “hello” in the primary language of the land
www.catalign.com 2
What is the primary language of the new land?
www.catalign.com 3
Primary language is “Stillness” Found in the gaps between thoughts
Exercise: • Sit comfortably • Close your eyes • Observe the train of thoughts (If there is no
thought, even better!) • Notice the gaps between consecutive thoughts
(if you find any) • It’s OK if you don’t find any gaps • Duration: 2 minutes
Workshop objective
• What the is the challenge?
• What can we do?
Approach #1: Attention
Approach #2: Alertness
Approach #3: Acceptance
www.catalign.com 4
A sincere request
• Don’t believe in anything anyone says – be it a scripture, a Guru or the facilitator
• Treat “believing” and “not believing” same as “don’t know” (We don’t say – I believe in C programming, I believe in sunrise)
• The most useful thing is an experiment that you can try out for yourself and check (“A Mirror”)
www.catalign.com 5
www.catalign.com 7
What is the source of all this trouble?
Thought
http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html
www.catalign.com 8
Q: It is said: Do your duty without any expectation of results. How shall I get that frame of mind?
M: You need not aspire or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all. Talk: 472, 15th March 1938
Sincere request: An example
www.catalign.com 9
Vinay lives in Kathmandu and his family dies in the quake. He is devastated and visits Ramana in Tiruvannamalai. Tells Ramana, “My life is ruined”
Ramana’s imaginary response: Get rid of the thought, that’s all.
Your response to Ramana’s response
1. “This guy is fraud. He doesn’t even move his butt from his Ashram and claims there is no problem.”
2. “Om, Ramanaya Namah! Ramana is God. Whatever he says is true. I believe him.”
3. “Sounds weird. But let me check when I have a problem and see if I can test this approach.”
#1 and #2 are dead ends. #3 may open a door.
www.catalign.com 10
#1: Creates & sustains a gap between perception and reality
www.catalign.com 12
Deepika’s interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp9f1buA_A4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill
During depression, at the end of a very successful year as an actress (2013), Deepika Padukone felt “emptiness”. For most of us, the gap manifests in the form of worry, anxiety, anger, guilt, blame, expectations etc. – also referred to as – perpetual unsatisfactoriness or hedonic treadmill
#2: Drains energy through wasteful thinking
www.catalign.com 13
http://www.catalign.in/2015/01/realizing-my-biggest-addiction-thinking.html
Boss is mad at me…
www.catalign.com 15
http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html
Imagine you cross your boss in the office corridor and you see that he is looking particularly unhappy and avoiding eye contact. Then you recollect that he would have seen your email that your teams’ delivery will slip this time as well. Now, it is clear to you that he is really going to take some action this time. You go to your seat and immediately start browsing job market sites. Soon you are convinced that boss is going to fire you. You start sending mails to your close friends looking for help in finding a job. You are not able to focus on your work and you come home worried.
www.catalign.com 18
Not all illusions are visual. There are illusions of thought which we call cognitive illusions. These can be more stubborn than visual illusions.
www.catalign.com 20
“I never misbehaved, always listened to parents and teachers, never wore a miniskirt… still I got dumped” – Rani in Queen Like Rani, we believe we understand cause-and-effect relationship – e.g. listen to parents and things will be good – an illusion of understanding
Source: Thinking, fast & slow
#1: Illusion of control
www.catalign.com 21
If kids go to International school…
Understanding of cause-and-effect
Ability to predict future
3D printers will be everywhere by 2020
Illusion of skill
I will turn this company around
Source: Thinking, fast & slow
www.catalign.com 22
It is not that we don’t understand anything…
The problem is….we have unlimited capacity to ignore our ignorance.
WYSIATI-rule: What you see is all there is (Management case study syndrome)
Source: Thinking, fast & slow
www.catalign.com 23
“I listened raptly to a long symphony on a disc that was scratched near the end, producing a shocking sound and the bad ending ruined the whole experience”
#2 Illusion
Source: Thinking, fast & slow
#2: Illusion of experience
www.catalign.com 24
Pleasantness
Time • Peak-end rule • Duration neglect
Kahneman’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRlrBl-7Yg
The selfie-syndrome (or sunset-syndrome)
www.catalign.com 25
“What we learn from the past is to maximize the qualities of our future memories, not necessarily of our future experience. This is the tyranny of the remembering self.” -- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, fast & slow
www.catalign.com 27
Proprioception
Exercise: • Stand up with no obstacle in front • and close your eyes • Raise your arm – pointing in front direction • Slowly move it to the left & then to the right (say 20
degrees) • Let it drop as if limp • Press it against the chair & feel the pressure
• Duration: 5 minutes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception
3 types of movement awareness
Movement type:
1. Sideways movement – spatial awareness
2. Dropping of hand – voluntary vs involuntary
3. Pressure of hand – pressure awareness
www.catalign.com 28
Ian Waterman
www.catalign.com 30
• At the age of 19, Ian lost spatial awareness of body movement below neck
• Can’t feel his hand/feet position • Only when he can see, he can move his leg • It is as if you are missing your step every moment
http://www.okjdiscoveries.com/articles/mind-bomb/2013/12/ian-walterman-without-proprioception
Leper dressing at Anandwan
www.catalign.com 31
• Pressure awareness damaged • Apply too much pressure inadvertently
http://travelwithgrace.me/category/meditation/
Now imagine if you lose the awareness to know if the movement of your hand is voluntary or involuntary
www.catalign.com 32
You don’t know if • You are moving your hand, or • Your neighbour is moving your hand, or • Gravity is moving your hand
Thought is like a body-part
• All humans have a common dysfunction
• We don’t know if a train of thought is:
– A solution to a problem you are working on, or
– A response to a remark from the person sitting next to me, or
– A response to an imaginary scenario like losing my job in the future
www.catalign.com 33
http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html
A beautiful mind
www.catalign.com 35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojmWRWijVfQ (movie)
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html
How could you, John?
www.catalign.com 36
“How could you believe that extra-terrestrials are sending you messages?”
“Because, the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.”
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html
Nash’s “weight-loss” process
www.catalign.com 37
“It is a continuous process rather than waking up from a dream. It is a matter of policing one’s thoughts trying to recognize paranoid ideas and rejecting them, just the way somebody who wants to lose weight has to decide consciously to avoid fats or sweets.”
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html
Approach: Nash vs Deepika
www.catalign.com 38
Deepika’s interview advocated getting expert help to solve a problem such as depression. Nash advocated applying your own mind to solve the problem of the mind.
Mindfulness
1. Attention in the present moment (not in the past or future)
2. Alertness about what is arising and passing away e.g. thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions
3. Acceptance of reality as it is without judgment
www.catalign.com 40
http://www.catalign.in/2014/07/three-practices-from-eckhart-tolles.html
www.catalign.com 42
Relatively undisturbed
Disturbed
It is better to start the practice in the “Relatively undisturbed” state
Attention
Alertness
Acceptance
Metaphor #1: Wiper & road
www.catalign.com 44
Don’t try to control the wiper, instead shift the focus away from wiper on to the road
Metaphor source: https://nachiketasquest.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/focus-on-the-road-some-wisdom-from-mooji/
Image source: http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7313829_replace-country-windshield-wiper-arm.html
Metaphor #2: train & platform
45
Whenever you get an opportunity, hop off the train and observe the trains from the platform
Metaphor source: http://ashramof1.tumblr.com/post/86281899767
Image source: http://retirementjourney.blogspot.in/2010/11/coonoor-to-kathmandu-4-9-november-2010.html
What is the platform or anchor?
You can use any of these as the anchor:
Feel the movement / change:
• Breath (at the tip of the nostrils)
• Abdomen
• Tingling in the hand / fingers
• Surrounding sounds
www.catalign.com 47
Exercise
• Sit comfortably
• Close your eyes
• Shift attention at the tip of the nostril and feel the incoming & outgoing breath (5 min)
• Shift attention to the rising and falling movement of abdomen (5 min)
• Cross your fingers and shift attention to the tingling in the fingers especially where they cross each other (5 min)
www.catalign.com 48
When do we do this? • Waiting:
– At the traffic light – For the lift – For your turn at the grocery checkout counter – For your laptop to switch on
• Introduce a moment of wait: – Answering the phone, starting your car, taking first bite
• Mundane activities (means to an end to end) – Restroom break -- Jogging – Commercial break -- Washing dishes – Walking from here to there -- sweeping – Opening a door
www.catalign.com 49
Catch me if you can – A game
www.catalign.com 51
About to get angry
Getting angry
Angry Anger subsiding
Anger Intensity
Stage-1
Stage-2
Stage-3
“Gotcha” point
http://www.catalign.in/2014/02/eckhart-tolles-catch-me-if-you-can.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqX5IFKYFWk (video – Dealing with anger, resistance and pessimism)
Eckhart Tolle – author of the game
www.catalign.com 52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz0e9LrOsyk (A chapter by chapter webinar based on 10 chapters of “A New Earth” with skype calls all around the world)
Identify “buttons” first
www.catalign.com 53
This began most recognizably with the rejection of politically oriented thinking as essentially a hopeless waste of intellectual effort
Source: A beautiful mind, by Sylvia Nasar, chapter 47, Remission
What is wasteful? LOST in thought
• L(abel): Right / Wrong, Good / Bad
• O(wnership): Car, House, Idea, Relationship
• S(tory): Victim, Villain (guilt, blame, worry)
• T(ime): Past / Future
www.catalign.com 54
Press the “button” voluntarily
www.catalign.com 55
http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html
Metaphor #1: Stuck in the mud
57
If you are stuck in the mud, the first thing you need to say is “Yes. I am stuck in the mud.” What doesn’t help is: “Why did I get stuck? I wish I had not come here…”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/bad-memories-eckhart-tolle-how-to-deal_n_2260002.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in
Image src: http://www.bryanzimmermansblog.com/why-do-so-many-just-give-up-on-making-money-online-how-to-keep-yourself-out-of-this-rut
Metaphor #2: Friend’s mom’s story
• Husband passed away
• Friend’s mom behaving as though he is alive
• “I need to get back and prepare dinner for him”
• Until a time, when she accepts the death of her husband
www.catalign.com 58
Metaphor #3: Release the pedal
59
Acceptance is also known as – non-resistance A shift from effort to non-effort
Image source: http://lifehackery.com/2008/09/28/automotive/
Seneca’s write-off method
www.catalign.com 60
Every night, before going to bed, mentally write off everything you own / possess: wealth, job, relationships etc.
If you still have them in the morning, treat it as a bonus.
http://www.valueinvestingworld.com/2012/01/nassim-taleb-on-seneca.html
Write-off at the end of every action
• Sending mail – write-off response
• Ordering online – write-off delivery
• Request for meeting – write-off response
• Telling your son to do something – write-off his compliance
• Applying for a job – write-off favourable response
www.catalign.com 61
Universal “yes” to everything
Meditation is a universal “yes” to everything
www.catalign.com 62
This is how it is. What next?
http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/about/rupert-spira
Metric
www.catalign.com 64
Focus Parameters
Attention How many times you are able to hop off the train of thinking on the platform in a day?
Alertness How do you respond to challenging situations? (loss of something/someone, when you are hurt etc.)
Alertness How many times are you able catch yourself getting LOST (Label, Ownership, Story, Time) in thought?
Alertness How many times are you able to catch yourself before or during an emotional surge?
Acceptance How many times are you able to catch yourself building an expectation at the end of an action (sending email)?
Acceptance How many times are you able to detect internal resistance and release the pedal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmQJaFV0y0w