4. Massaging the Mind

The day I publish a blog posting, I don't know whether I will have stuff to write another. Pretty soon a day comes along when I am eager to type something new. Today happens to be such a day.

This morning I was having a back massage, thanks to my project managers who have budgeted for two free 15-minute massages every month for each team member, when this thought occurred to me. When is the massage most effective and relaxing? Isn't it when you don't resist to the forces applied by the massagist? If the massagist pushes the shoulder, you simply go with the force. So too when s/he pulls the shoulder backwards.

This takes me to this beautiful Zen koan:
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A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers watched and feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."
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If we lived our lives in a similar manner, accepting whatever comes along while we work on our goals, wouldn't it be much better and less stressful?

The second effective practice during a massage is to be conscious of the forces and the pressures applied by massagist. That helps the blood flow to the body part where the pressure is being applied.

Even the basic Shavaasan pose in Yoga where-in the participant is asked to lie down flat on the back requires us to go on visualizing every relaxed organ of the body one by one from the toe to the top (crown of the head). To make the most out of this aasana (pose), the participant shouldn't be sleeping. Remarkably, one of the benefits of the aasana is "it is very efficacious in restoring to sound sleep. Practitioners of this aasana complete the quota of sleep in lesser time. And that makes us more calm, alert and energetic." (ref: http://www.yogsansthan.org/asanpage/shavasan.htm)

In the mental realm, I would correlate it with being conscious of the mind's thoughts. To control the mind, we first need to know about the mind's workings. When it reacts. When thoughts come, and when they go. As we get more conscious of it, we soon realize that we can control our minds, and more importantly, that we are not the mind, but something beyond! Beginners' meditation techniques ask us to do the same -- become a witness and not a participant, nor a restrainer, to the thoughts coming and going in the mind.

Let me end this posting with two more Zen koans:
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One day, Jizo received one of Hofuku's disciples and asked him, "How does your teacher instruct you?"

"My teacher instructs me to shut my eyes and see no evil thing; to cover my ears and hear no evil sound; to stop my mind-activities and form no wrong ideas," the monk replied.

"I do not ask you to shut your eyes," Jizo said, "but you do not see a thing. I do not ask you to cover your ears, but you do not hear a sound. I do not ask you to cease your mind-activities, but you do not form any idea at all."
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A student went to his meditation teacher and said, "My meditation is dreadful! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I'm constantly falling asleep. It's just horrible!"

"It will pass," the teacher said matter-of-factly.

A week later, the student came back to his teacher. "My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It's just wonderful!'

"It will pass," the teacher replied matter-of-factly.
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