Subtle Mind

The Loving Kindness exercise was meant to focus on loving people you know as well as enemies and those who have done you wrong.  I found it easy to focus on loving someone such as my child but when it can to someone who has done me wrong it was hard to show a love.  Both help you to focus on something and are meant to relax you.  I found the subtle mind exercise to be a bit easier since I didn’t have to focus on certain people just my mind alone. 

The Subtle mind exercise uses breathing to calm the mind.  I focused on the rising and falling of my chest during this exercise.  At first I found it difficult to concentrate on breathing alone being that my mind is going a million miles a minute.  Once I let everything go out of my mind and focused on my chest rising and falling I became a lot calmer.  What’s strange is at first my heart seemed to be racing but by the end of the exercise it was slower…I was calmer at this point.  The mind is an amazing thing…it tries to focus on everything but emptiness.  These are called mental movements.  I can definitely see how a feeling or thought can take over but it can also disappear once you focus on breathing alone.  I think this exercise would be easier to do if I was alone lying in bed.  It was rather difficult trying to focus on breathing with my child home (spring break), the dogs barking in the back yard, and the TV on even if it was low volume.  The sounds of the waves in the background always relax me however…makes me think of being on the beach watching the waves crash into the sand.  I will try this exercise again tonight when I am in my quiet room alone.  I think it will be much more effective. 

I feel mental and physical wellness lead to spiritual wellness.  The body requires balance to work properly.  When a person is mentally and physically stable they are more likely to have spiritual wellness.  I find without exercise my entire wellness balance is off.  Exercise helps me become a stronger person but it also keeps my mental state healthy.  Without exercise I am moody and get angered easily.  When I meditate or practice yoga I feel more in tune with my mind and body.  Both practices help focus on breathing which calms me.  These exercise that we have done weekly have helped me realize the mind is even more amazing than I thought before.  It is amazing how you can make your mind focus on one thing or completely clear it by focusing on breath alone.