"It's a dog's life"

Interesting enough, this phrase has most often been associated to some form of suffering or trials in one's life as it beckons back to the 16th Century. Our modern day, however, has switched to the meaning of a more pampered lifestyle with personalized beds, gourmet foods, and (yes) their own fashion line. My understanding, however, fits neither the destitute dog or the pampered pooch. It is of the Momentous Mutt.

I stumbled upon this blog post by Arnie Kozak, a blogger and mindfulness practitioner. Kozak's post was dedicated to the loving memory of one of his most loyal meditation companions, his dog Ruki. Here's a snippet from his post:

"Dogs are also great mindfulness teachers: paying attention to their surroundings with keenness, living in a world of scent, movement, and adventure. My dog, as yours, could feel frustration, fear, anger, disappointment, hunger, pain, discomfort. Yet, I’m fairly confident that he didn’t generate stories about them. He suffered, but only as much as the circumstance provided, not adding anything of his own. We could learn something from that."

As a dog owner for a little over a year now, I can honestly see what he's talking about. Dogs live in the present moment. They are in-tune to their surroundings nearly all the time, and their expressions of emotion fit into the moment of their experiences. In truth, I am envious of a dog's life in this way. The blessing and curse of our brain is the prefrontal cortex that complicates the emotional emissions of the limbic system. Dog's don't have this, and the sensory data that a dog brings in becomes it's life.

A squirrel is a squirrel, and is meant to be chased.
Food is given, and is meant to be eaten.
A wagging tail is meant for an owner.

As I've been on this journey for the past several weeks, much of my meditation has been done with the accompaniment of our year-old puppy, Dunkin. Dunkin is a prime example of how a dog remains in the moment. As I'm sitting here now, he has just walked over to my wife, sat down beside her, and is content as she rubs his head and ears. He is in the moment, and nothing else can deter his focus. As I've sat in meditation, Dunkin has most often come and curled himself between my legs during the 10, 15, or 20-minutes that I've sat for meditation. At first, the beginning moments of meditation are make or break with him around. If he's not settled, I'm not settled. Much of that time is spent trying to move him to a place of comfort, which ultimately leads to neither of us being very still. But in those moments when I have been calm, Dunkin has folded himself into the tightest ball of fur, and lending his own breath to serve as a centering for my meditation. When all is done, the two of us treat ourselves to a cookie (or two); a well deserved reward for our time of silence.

So what would it be like to have dog's life in this manner? I think the world already wrestles with this concept, and two distinct reactions are often played out in the response of a dog's owner.

Reaction #1: The dog's ability to be mindful and in the present moment is lost to the owner. His ability to be in the moment is an inconvenience to the owner, keeping them from their next task, leaving them outside in the elements, or frustrating them for not moving. A dog's presence and behavior is often seen as "cute," but more times than not as a nuisance. The owner loathes the dog, and even complains to them stating, "You have it so good, you know."

Reaction #2: The dog's ability to be mindful and in the present moment is rejoiced by the owner. A dog's desire to experience things in their entirety (and with depth) is captivating to the owner, and they are drawn closer to understanding these moments. The owner begins to look to experience that which the dog is staring at, and they find joy in the moments of walking, playing, and interacting with their friend. They become in-tune with one another, and in time, their relationship to their environment and each other broadens. Ultimately, their moments are filled with the joy and mystery of experiencing life.

May we all learn to come and experience the moments of life with greater awareness and joy that are four-legged friends do. It's amazing what a young pooch has taught me so far.

Nap > Meditation

(Well, sometimes it is.)

With no pun intended, I was DOG TIRED today! With the celebration of Independence Day on Monday and the start of the Summer II session beginning tomorrow, I found myself in the situation of needing to complete at least 32 hours of quality employment within 3 days. Although it is nice to claim that you were the first to arrive and the last to leave on a workday, sometimes it's just not the greatest decision. My level of functionality was just enough to safely drive both my wife and I home, through something together to eat for dinner, and to finally crash for the 3o minutes that I had initially allotted for meditation.

Knowing that my ability to maintain any sort of presence when I'm extremely tired prompted me to weigh the benefit of a 30 minutes power nap over 30 minutes of meditative practice. To me, it just wouldn't make sense attempting to bring my mind to a state of awareness when I could barely form full sentences in conversation with my wife. It was actually her beckoning to rest and skip meditation this evening that brought me to my conclusion for this day.

So in heeding not only my wife's plea, but also the advice of my peers through past forum posts, I elected for a nap over meditation. Hopefully it was enough to dissuade the visitor of sluggishness from visiting in the days ahead.

Lucky me! Now it's time for bed!

Sensibilty Sitting

What can I say? I'm a fool for witty titles.

Today was the day. Clinic interviews. 8am. As usual, I prepared myself for a typical day's work in DC, but instead made my way over to the Center for Family Services for the initial step in my practicum journey. The interview went extremely well, and I look forward to beginning my time of service at the CFS. This post, however, is not about the interview. It pertains to my experiences prior to.

Arriving about 10 minutes early, I sat quietly in a chair for a time of presence and meditation before the meeting. I placed my feet flat upon the ground and folded my hands in my lap, and began to focus on my breathing. Doing a body scan, I noticed that my eyes were still quite heavy from the 5am alarm, my shoulders ached from tossing in bed all night, and my mind still held the cloud that is typically remedied with a cup of coffee. As I then moved into understanding my present state of emotion, I noticed that I was incredibly calm yet anxious to begin the interview and continue on with my day.

It took a great deal of focus to begin to bring myself into the present moment, and I can contribute most (if not all) to the feeling of tiredness that I possessed. In an attempt to hopefully energize myself a bit, I did a few minutes of alternate nostril breathing, and followed with some deep breaths with a focus on filling my entire abdomen from the belly up. When completed, I performed another body scan to find that the cloud had lifted significantly, and my eyes were significantly more focused. Shortly thereafter, the interview began, and I was primed to provide a better self for consideration.

The act of sitting has become one of the more substantial practices that I've begun to incorporate into my practice of mindfulness. It may even be one of the most effective because it's something I don't typically get to do in the course of a work day. Even if the practice is just a couple minutes long, I find myself moving in the direction of locating the cadence of my breath, completing a body scan, and then presenting myself in submission to the moment. In nearly 90% of the time, I have come away relaxed or rejuvenated to continue onward in my day.

Another practice that I've begun to utilize is that which I call "Sacred Sitting."


But that is for another time...

Compassion - John Kabat-Zinn

Welcome to Lovingkindness & Compassion Week!

This post makes two straight reflections upon the practice of these two forms of meditation, and I'm interested to see if any variation takes place in the coming days.

I found this short-clip on YouTube earlier this week, and really wanted to take some time to wrestle with Kabat-Zinn's words on the practice of compassion in mindfulness. Even in a 5 minute video, it is a treasure.

One of the first things that Kabat-Zinn spoke of was in the idea that we are "already good enough" at who we are and in being compassionate. This message is in such contrast to everything around us screaming that we either don't have enough or are not good enough. If you really think about it, this way of thinking (not enough) becomes the hindrance of desire. Kabat-Zinn's understanding of our movement toward compassion and mindfulness is in our "uncovering" or awakening of self to the realization that we are sufficient enough in being who we are. To me, that's a very significant message for the world.

Even after watching and hearing what Kabat-Zinn professes regarding the sufficiency of one's being, I still struggle with finding a full acceptance of this proclamation. Although I believe that this though can lead to significant changes in the lives of people who practice, I can't help but to be slightly pessimistic about the magnitude of the societal machine that claims the opposite that we never have enough. Although we may see this concept come in the form of physical/bodily/material items, they are actually superficial to what we believe is not enough in our identities and sense of self.

Lack of confidence. Lack of joy. Lack of trust. Lack of compassion. And so on...

It's funny how we fall into following this belief that we need more in order to achieve success in whatever it is that we are pursuing. All of us have a portion of it within us, but for whatever reason, we chose not to utilize the little portion we DO believe we posses for fear that we may damage it or use it up. Yet if we were to see it in the way that Kabat-Zinn explains, that "small amount" of what we do have would fill us to the brim of what we actually need. That level is innate to our being. Our task is to awaken ourselves to our true potential for compassion so that we can then widen ourselves to even greater awareness and joy.

Plenty to think about, and meditate on as well.

May I be open and aware to the compassion within.

Freedom

Happy Independence Day!

I read this article by Dr. Jim Hopper earlier in the day, but wanted to focus primarily upon his section on Kindness for this posting.

Within the article, Hooper provides an excellent synopsis of the practices of both lovingkindness and compassion practices from a Buddhist orientation. The do's and do not's are provided, but it is within his explanation of the purpose of lovingkindness/compassion practice that caught my attention.

"While lovingkindness and compassion are (moral and ethical) ideals for relating to others, they are also mental qualities essential for achieving greater peace, freedom, and happiness."


Peace, freedom and happiness? That sounds a little bit like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Learning about lovingkindness meditation, in many ways, was one of the greatest areas of meditation that I took from our class periods. Maybe it's because the practice is incredibly demonstrative in opposition to the typical themes we hear daily in our environment, but I've found a great deal of peace in the moments I've taken to sit and direct these thoughts toward myself and others both physically close and to those close to my heart. I had a conversation with someone about a week ago who asked me about the course and what I learned. When I began to describe to them this practice, they became skeptical, and began to question the practicality of it.

- How can you begin to convince yourself to give kindness toward someone at that moment?
- What if they've done something recently to upset/harm you? Do you forget about it?
- If you convince yourself into the practice, is it then genuine?

In Hooper's article, he makes it known that lovingkindness is not something to be forced or brought on when one is not present to the concept. This is where compassion comes in, and in many ways, can serve as the preparation for someone to then reach lovingkindness.

What would happen if the notion of said practices became a revolution? A lovingkindness revolution. Wouldn't it drastically alter our society and the ways in which we interact and relate with one another? Wouldn't peace, freedom, and happiness become the 21st Century pillars for our Nation?

After celebrating with friends, eating too much food, and witnessing a phenomenal fireworks display, I stood for a few moments on the balcony of a friends apartment overlooking the National Mall and began my own revolution.

May I be thankful for freedom.
May I be at peace.
May I be generous in life.
May I be filled with joy.

*Hopefully, this drum will keep marching on.

Video Meditation #1

I used this video this morning for a ten minute meditation period to serve as the start to my 3-day holiday weekend. As I had mentioned in class a few weeks ago, I have always found ambient sound and chimes to be an excellent auditory guide in assisting me toward a deeper place of meditation. I found this gem on YouTube and previewed it for about a minute before agreeing to give it a whirl.

With a puppy curled up between my legs and my wife quietly slumbering beside me, I sat up against the headboard of the bed to begin this time of meditation. I couldn't think of a more peaceful time to begin moving toward a place of awakening. I pulled my laptop up onto my lap, plugged in the headphones, and positioned myself for the next 10 minutes.

As the music began, I initially focused on its cadence to bring myself toward a rhythm to help orient my breathing. After a few moments, my breathing became closely synced with the sounds of the video that it allowed me to focus my attention to the presence of my body. Through this meditation, I brought my attention to the sensual data that my body was registering. At first, I began with a body scan to discover the specific areas of my body that hurt following a week's worth of work, and the stiffness from a night of inactivity. I could feel where my hips, calves, and heels pressed into the molding of our memory foam, and registered the strength and potential use that each part would be asked to perform in the upcoming day. My mind then shifted to the stale taste of morning in my mouth, and then followed to the smell of our dog's feet that (for whatever reason) has the identical scent of Frito's Corn Chips. Interesting, I know.

What brought me most into the moment and what brought me great joy was through the sense of touch. Many others have stated that the companionship of a dog is one of the greatest feelings in life, and I could not agree more. As my meditation continued on, I found great delight in the texture of the dog's hair. As I touched the hair near his back legs and explored the many layers that make-up a dog's coat, I was captivated and brought to examine the detail of this little beast. I could not help but to smile and be filled with a sense of joy and compassion for the little life that my wife and I had chosen to rescue and care for. I began to speak lovingkindness meditation for a few minutes over him, and then moved to speaking them over my wife. As the video began to wind down, I then brought this meditation of lovingkindness to myself, and spoke safety, health, and peace over my life for the upcoming day. Just as I was finishing, the other two beings in the bed begin to stir, and I knew that our day was preparing to begin.

During the course of our class, I don't recall practicing meditation in the morning because of my extreme DISLIKE for anything that has to do with removing oneself from the comfort of their pillow. Maybe it was because I had woken-up on my own. Maybe it was because I felt rested. Whatever the case may be, all I do know is that this was one of the best Saturday's in terms of energy, peace, and positive perspective in a long time.