Whenever I tell people I teach meditation they say to me, “I wish I could meditate. I just can’t get my mind to calm down. It’s always going a million miles an hour.” And then I see them totally absorbed by the shiny screens of their smartphones and I see the potential they can’t see. They can focus; they can get their minds to calm down. Attention is a matter of intention.
My yoga teacher Douglass Stewart explained to us this week in class that the old yogis and rishis of the mountains many centuries ago used their bodies as instruments for attaining attention and focus. Now we use smartphones in the same way that they used their bodies. The same could be said for being absorbed in a book or a painting or a movie. I often see people doing crossword puzzles or playing games on the subway and they are focused like laser beams. It’s quite something to see the exterior effect of a highly attuned and quiet mind. Serene, calm, alive.
We feel pulled in many different directions. We might feel scattered, stretched too thin, even frazzled. Some people think our potential, as individuals and as a society, is going to hell in hand basket because of our toxic dependence on mobile devices. I see something different.
I see that we are abundantly capable of focus and awareness, that we can still be consumed through connection of some kind. Our version of focus certainly looks different than the focus of the rishis, but the mental and physical result is the same. An absorbed mind creates a relaxed body. A relaxed body is able to move through the world with agility and facility in a way that helps us achieve our potential for a full and well-lived life. The path may be different. The tools may be different. The goal is the same.
Christa Avampato 