Oh, my thoughts.

Last week we came to the 7th session of the Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training at Northern Light Yoga. That brought us to the topic of the mind.

Talking about the mind can only be done as an awareness exercise. Otherwise you make the mind analyze itself. It would be like observing the ocean from the perspective of a wave.

Talking about the mind is like sitting on the shoreline and listening to the waves. Risking being overwhelmed by the tide, always coming in faster than expected.

Are you aware of your mind? Do you see it floating and flowing in thousands of directions? Sweep up a stone and turn and twist it 3 times around the basin before throwing it on land, nicely polished.

What part of your mind acted there? What corner of your mental landscape did the incoming erode?

To talk about the mind is to see the process. The patterns and circles of repeated footpaths.

To talk about the mind is to make the observation very quickly:

I am not my mind. I am the observer.

So who are you? Who is the observer?

Free of the childhood school of learning that shaped the patterns of the mind.

Free over the years you chose to work.

You are always free to connect to what lies beyond.

Talking about the mind is so often done in the negative. Especially in the reinvented spirituality of positivism. It is to blame the mind for the times we live in. It is to pity the heart for being neglected.

But it's time to bring power and responsibility back to that conversation.

Your mind never stood in the way of your heart. And you don't have to choose who to listen to. It's time to pluck up your courage and resolve the painful scars of your mind.

Untie the knots that bind it, that make reality seem so constricted, so bent out of shape. Open up the beautiful sails and the sea will guide you through the portal of the heart.

To talk about the mind is to bring attention and awareness to the present. To take a step back from past scars, from burdens and important tomorrows. To step out of the raging water and just look at it. Just letting it flow. To know that the water can take you anywhere. But at the same time knowing that if you take a step back, you're out of time.

I can quote the teacher's wisdom here:

"A balanced mind is a servant of the soul and creates a permanent link between your origin and your destiny."

Ha! Now we can talk about meditation. The tools to make that connection, that link. Meditation is the tool to open the way of the mind. It is a sailing ship, made to catch the winds of infinity as it sails the ocean of life.

There is so much resistance to meditation.

'It's nothing for me.

'I can't do that.'

'It makes me more nervous than calm.

It's true that what you resist is what you also need. No carpenter was born with the knowledge of how to build a boat. Competence is something that is learned. The less you know how, the more potential is still open.

Just as we need to free the heart from the mind, we need to free meditation from its box. You really don't have to sit on stone without a thought passing by for long periods of time. You can. Or you can use a cushion. You can also use a mantra as a specific navigation tool. Or you can do a walking meditation.

For me personally, drawing is one of my meditation tools. When I draw, I'm completely immersed in the lines I'm drawing, all my attention is in the moment. The result is peace and connection. To myself and my purpose.

Find your tool! What makes you completely absorbed? What makes you stand still in time? You have the potential to draw your own map, or use the tools of thousands and thousands of navigators and sailors who came before you.

Just like your body, your mind is unique, no matter what memories it's built on.

Customize it.

Get personal.

Use yourself as the way to yourself.

Written by Ellen Wild (Kundalini Yoga teacher in training 2022/2023)