Relaxing the "mind muscles"

Dear Yogis,

I truly enjoyed these last two weeks spent at the crown chakra.  I will admit that  I am hesitant to leave.   At the end of each class I felt I could sit forever – just asking, listening and waiting.  With no rush and no attachment to the answer.

I think my favorite part may have been the practice of “relaxing the mind muscles”…….. opening and making room to receive.

 

Our brain, our mind, can be one full of constant chatter.  Referred to as monkey brain, it can often be the driver of our day.   We wake up to it in the morning, and fall asleep to it at night.  It sometimes seems as if it will never take a rest.   

But we each have the ability to change that.  We all have an inner peace that was there the day we were born and will still be there the day we return to the source.    It is always in there… even when you can’t detect it. 

It is up to each of us to find the way to reconnect to it.  No one can do it for you.  We are human “beings”  and not human “doings”.  But it takes wanting it first.  And then finding the teacher, the practice and the effort to just remember your way back to it. 

Recently I have tried to be aware of what is happening during my meditation.  What makes the difference between when I feel that I am “in” vs when I seem to be just trying.  And what I have noticed is that the difference is often in the tension in the upper half of my head. 

I have found that with the muscles of the mind – the brain - just like any of the other muscles of the body, we have the ability to relax them.  Soften them.  To send a wave of calm through them.

So let’s try this together right now! Get very still and notice the earth beneath you (can’t begin any journey without first knowing where you are).  Bring your awareness to the top ½ of your head – from the top of the ears to the crown.  Close your eyes.  And ask that whole area to relax.  Send a wave of relaxation there.  No different than when you ask your thigh, your foot, or your shoulders to relax.  Not a demand, just an asking with a clear expectation that it will happen.

For a moment the thinking ceases.  Can you feel that? 

When we do this there is a softening and a new sense of space up there.  To me it feels like there is enough new space that I could place a bowl where my brain usually sits……..a place in which to receive grand new ideas and wisdom.    

And now bring a specific thought back in.  Feel how the mind muscles constrict again.  A closing.  A furrowing of the brow.

We are infinite choice makers and creators.  We can learn to put the reins on our minds in order to harness its power when we need it, direct it to thoughts that serve us,  yet also give it the “Whoa Nelly!!” command and ask it to step aside when we are looking to connect to the much bigger universal mind.   How amazing is that?

You are so powerful,

SARAH