Inside Yoga 37 (19/5/11)

Staying attentive to where we are in the present the moment is a challenge, so challenging that we might feel we spend most of our time in a distracted state.

The more challenging the yoga posture, the easier it is to remain focused on the position and thereby the present moment – though not all the time. But when in a less physical posture, such as a seated forward bend, the mind can wander so much.

A child-like curiosity is the solution, in many respects, to this problem of being in the present moment.

With a child-like curiosity we keep our gaze on the posture, and in this example, on the feet during a forward bend. We gaze at the feet with freshness – as if we have not looked at them before. We are curious as to what they are and how they move. It is this fascination that will keep our attention on the object in question.

Not the judgemental thoughts of an adult: such as “I must cut those nails”, or “I don’t like the colour of nail polish I chose”, or “my feet are ugly, I wish I had longer toes.” All of these thoughts will have their place, but not during our yoga practice when we are aiming to remain quiet inside, with our mind still and empty, the breathing steady and the concentration turned towards the action of the posture.

As it is these thoughts that take us away from the present moment, our judgemental thoughts take us into the past or the future, never in the present. Comparing to how it was last week? Or thinking how we would like things to be next week?

A young child’s fascination is one of absorption in the present moment, it is a total focus on the object in question. The child can spend long periods completely immersed in something – and thoroughly enjoying the activity. In yoga we seek to develop – or return to – that ability to enjoy and experience something, as if for the very first time. As we grow older we can become jaded and cynical, just because we have been there and done it all.

Wisdom through experience is appropriate and is to be used wisely, but if that experience has resulted in our approach to life being that of a sleep walker – someone who is on autopilot – then we have missed the point somewhere along the line of life’s journey. Yoga teaches us to be awake to the present moment; and to live our life consciously – whether riding the waves of bliss or the waves of problems, we use the awareness of being in the present moment to transform these waves into a calm sea.

And to live in the present moment is to feel the freshness of each new moment. In fact, the truth is every second is new, so even if we are doing something, such as yoga postures that we have done thousands of times, the fact is that that the next moment is new – with the arrival of every second our experience is completely new. It has not happened before. So even though we think we have done so and so action before, the truth is we have not.

Hence the teaching that tells us to adopt a child-like curiosity – the kids know it is a new experience.