Moving meditation: You don't have to sit still

I had several reasons for getting involved in yoga, but one was my inability to meditate. Simply put, I could not sit still for longer than 10 seconds. I marveled at this inability of mine. The task seemed so simple: just sit. But it was unbearable for me, to the point that I would jump up and start to scratch my arms and sides as if there were ants all over me. My nervous system felt completely overwhelmed. And everything I read on meditation stressed that forcing things would lead nowhere, so I felt stuck. Until I realized that mediation could be practiced in motion.

I saw a video of monks practicing walking meditation in their monestary garden, and immediately started practicing in my own living room. I had always been a pacer, but now each step brought my mind with it into the present, keeping it anchored, the flitting thoughts of past & future less and less disruptive. Bringing the concept of moving meditation into my yoga practice transformed it completely. I had been gaining strength and flexibility, but I still struggled with my tumultuous, competitive, brewing thundercloud of a mind. Truly learning to link each movement to a deliberate Ujjayi breath allowed my mind to become peaceful at last, contentedly flowing with the breath.

I have told students that if I could give them the gift of a quiet mind, I would! But not only can it not be gifted, it cannot even really be adequately described, because words cease to be the connection to the world. Instead, you are directly connected to everything, without the veils of language, social convention, etc. Plugged in directly to the source. And we are all wired to do this. But again, "do" is the wrong word. It is more akin to not-doing, to dropping all patterns. A little like the moment you stop trying to see the optical illusion and then, there it is, as it was all along. You were just on a different wavelength! A contemporary monk remarks, "in meditation, the convention of personality starts to unfold into energetic patterns; patters that are ephemeral but karmically potent when they're held onto... You experience yourself more like an energetic sphere of sensitivity than as a 6-foot tall vertebrate who's a man or a woman. The mind itself becomes different; something that's part of what's going on, not something separate thing that makes judgments about it."

The yogic system of breath, bandhas, and asanas has been around as long as it has because it works. As Sutra 1.2 tells us, Yoga is the mastery and integration of the activities of mind. So even if your mind still feels loud and incessant, keep practicing. Do so especially if this is the case, since the difference you will experience will be profound. And eventually, you'll be able to sit, with a quiet mind. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.