Body like Stone...



Body like Stone
Mind like Meatloaf

 My mind loves to wander on wonderful tangents. My last post shot this up from the old memory banks. Cartmen...Master of Sumo!

Ah...perfection. Mind like Meatloaf....is this Mushin? No-mind? ^_^
Something to strive for.

In Gassho,
Shinzen

Garbanzo Bean Zen

While shopping for a variety of beans I was going to use in my chili I had an interesting experience. I was in the bean section of the grocery store and found my kidney beans and black beans and placed them in my cart.

I began looking for the garbanzo beans and couldn't find them. I looked up and down the shelves saying to myself, "I can't find the garbanzo beans...damn, I can't find the garbanzo beans" I was getting frustrated as I wanted to finish my shopping.

It then dawned on me that my mind was shaping my reality of not seeing the garbanzo beans. So I stopped myself. Closed my eyes, then said to myself, "When I open my eyes I will see garbanzo beans."

Guess what? Those garbanzo beans were right in front of my face!

The mind is so powerful in determining your reality. So, when you tell yourself you get headaches a lot, that's what you get. But if you tell yourself you are a healthy, self-healing, vibrant person...well the possibilites are endless.

Just wanted to share my garbanzo bean moment with you. Watch for this phenomenon yourself.

(Oh...by the way...I see dead people too....LOL!!!!!)

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Mind Recovery

In my last post I discussed Sanchin and its importance in training the body and the mind to recover from an attack. Let's take a basic element of Sanchin and apply it to daily life.

Sanchin is a very simple kata in terms of physical motion. It is highly repetitive and for some almost boring. While performing Sanchin Kata, your focus is on the motion of body and of breath. When your mind wanders from your focus, the practice is to recognize this and return it to the now of the body and breath.

During testing you are being struck. Sometimes it can be very uncomfortable, if not downright painful. Your mind, upon receiving the pain, will begin to wander into reactive judgement. It gets focused on its own reaction, struggles with fight or run, and forgets that another strike is on the way...and pow...another wave of pain...and now more struggle...and pow...and so on.

Life also has a way of doing this to us as well. Your boss yells at you, yours spouse is mad at you, the kids are not doing well in school and your car is having mechanical problems which you can't afford right now. Life just keeps throwing strikes and you begin to struggle.

Sanchin training gets you to refocus on the here and now of your purpose and to detach from the discomfort. When you are here and now, the punches thrown at you actually do not hurt as much and you can recover back to ground zero of the present moment. You feel more in control. It hurts, but you can take it and move on in a non-attached manner. Your mind is in continuous recovery.

Being able to recover from your daily problems moment after moment in non-attachment will help you feel more settled and 'problems' cease to be a struggle. You begin to take life one breath at a time...one moment at a time. Sanchin teaches and trains you in this principle of mind recovery.

One definition of a Kata, besides 'form', is 'how you behave'. Whatever you are doing, whether it be washing dishes, talking to your boss, picking the kids up from school, is a Kata. It should also be the focus of your mind. When washing, wash. When talking, talk, etc.

When life throws a strike at you...being able to recover and return your mind back to your purpose or Kata pays big dividends in terms of your emotional and mental health.

Other disciplines, such as Yoga and Zazen can also provide this type of mind recovery training.

Hope this makes sense.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen