Mind as sky, Body as wind

The Tibetans have a specific mindfulness practice that involves lying down on the ground and staring up at the sky for long periods of time. The idea is to experience and witness the mind as an open sky. To discover, as Walt Whitman writes, that ‘we contain multitudes’.

The sky engulfs all, encompasses everything and yet does so impartially, objectively, without blame, judgement or remorse. It’s wider than we can see and deeper than can ever be measured. With some imagination, however, it’s possible to ‘become’ to it - to expand one’s awareness and being to the point of living that very-same sky-like existence.

The clouds come but you let them pass. The rain falls (you cry); the wind also, when you get especially frustrated or angry or excited. Always, though, the blue background remains, even if hidden from view.

I’ve been aiming to cultivate this quality more and more, since the last few months especially, through 90 minutes of meditation a day, very little phone and laptop time, a podcast ‘fast’, longer walks and runs, and generally ‘ruminating’ more throughout my everyday life. I’m aware of the subtle ways my passions can become habituated ‘life-boats’ and my pleasures can turn into addictions somewhat.

This is the human experience - this dance between passion and prose, earth and fire, life and death etc. I needn’t blame myself, and yet once you’ve seen the ‘truth’ of oneself it’s hard to un-see it. And once one finds a ‘better way’ it’s nonsensical to return to older ways.

That being said it’s not easy. I like to find a formula for things and keep it going. I gives clarity and peace, and reassurance that you’re on the ‘right’ path. There is no magic formula though - we know that deep down, all of us, but how we love to pretend that we’ve found it! The ‘magic formula’ is a billion-dollar business after all…

If there is such a bulletproof tool for greater health and happiness, however, it could be meditation. We know this because it’s the one thing everyone raves about but few actually do; and even fewer do it regularly, every day for months or years on end.

I’ve meditated almost every day in some capacity for close to 10 years, and yet this last month has been my deepest and strongest experience of the ‘mind as sky’ so far. What’s made it so effective? Accountability for (and by) a group of fellow humans most of all. Every Sunday our ‘Sunday Service’ group of 10 close family and friends commit to 1, 2 or 3 hour-long sessions of Vipassana Meditation. As the ‘leader’ I commit to 2 or 3 sessions, and that allows my remaining week to become ‘sword-sharpening’ days of 90 minutes or so of practice also.

The deeper Sunday ‘dive’ allows a certain variety and contrast, also important for any practice I believe (just as pro runners will have their weekly long run etc). My ‘marathon’ (once or twice a year) may be 10-day silent Vipassana retreats…

And what about the body? If the mind-body is one, how does a sky-like mind affect the limbs and other organs beneath?

First of all… a lot!

It’s fascinating to hear of the seemingly impossible physical changes that result from just a single long-stint of Vipassana meditation for instance. One’s allergies can disappear, your eyesight can dramatically improve, simple balance and coordination capacities can develop and even one’s cardiovascular fitness can improve. Each part of the body is controlled, via the autonomic nervous system, by the brain. And one’s psyche (through stillness and breathe) is one of the best ways to access, cleanse and develop the brain. Naturally, one’s creativity, patience, focus, discipline, imagination, confidence, trust, compassion etc all develop also - having a direct effect on how one uses, expresses and trains one’s body.

One fun thing I noticed during my first Vipassana course, and again recently, is my control and expression of each individual eyebrow… how well I could isolate, wiggle, wave, jiggle them each was a positive indication of my mental progress, and it’s direct response by my body’s muscles and other soft tissues.

The sweet spot I’ve found (for anyone interested in training body and mind) is indeed approximately 90 minutes per day. Anything less is not my full potential, and anything more I feel makes it hard to integrate alongside all other aspects of living and being (exercise, work, food, social time, hobbies etc). The body likes sitting (and stillness) to a degree, but only up to a certain point after all. It sincerely also needs to walk, talk, sing, dance, create, play and more.

The mind is the background however, and so imagine painting onto a dirty, dusty, broken canvas, compared to one that’s pristine and white. It’s a totally different experience of course.

So why the body as ‘wind’?

By this I mean that it is forceful, vibrant, energetic, and yet also impermanent, passing, fleeting, tiring. Just as the wind can fixate and hold onto certain habits, ideas and beliefs, the body can continue to reproduce patterns, movement forms and physical actions without conscious choice. We can run towards our goals but also away from our problems. Exercise can revitalise us indeed, and it can trap us also.

Notice how each of us walks, dances, practices yoga, pilates, handstands etc at home. Usually the person can be identified from a mile away, distinguished by their subtle mannerisms, basic techniques and ‘style’ of carrying out everyday routines. This is not a problem (and is inevitable to a degree, even), but passed a certain point it can be. Restoring one’s mental or physical balance, and developing oneself, can’t always arrive from ‘doing’. Adding an extra routine, habit, practice etc can even do the opposite.

As the saying goes: ‘emptiness fills the largest cup’

Or: ‘no ideas beats good ideas’

The body carries and stores (and then performs) its own ideas, and these ideas are often past stories or coping strategies, not necessarily the one most responsive to the NOW. And so the ‘body as wind’ is one that performs and then dissolves itself into the everyday ‘air’. Each performance arises anew and has a strange ‘freshness’ to it, as if one’s relearned how to be born.

It might fit into the same category as before - a dance, a run, a handstand, a walk - and yet one’s internal experience (and perhaps even to the outside observer) is one that’s completely unique, or at least a shade or two different from before.

This is mind as sky and body as wind. An ordinary human experience, and yet one that’s never been seen before…

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