Sinking Into the Earth: A Relaxing Discovery

Over the course of my time on this planet I’ve tried many different ways to shut down my very active mind. There’s always some kind of dialogue going on inside my head, a reflection of the incredible processing power of the human brain.

(Side note: I’d heartily recommend the book “This is Your Brian on Music” if you are interested in finding out more about this)

I figured that in order to “stop” this processing I needed to engage in complicated mental maneuvering, more or less cutting off my neurons at the pass, as it were. This approach wasn’t really getting me very far - I got to the point where I could “quiet” things down pretty well, but thoughts would always leak through.

Then my wife started practicing yoga a few years ago, and started telling me about how she was achieving relaxing and meditative states through her practice. I was skeptical at first, not really understanding much about yoga at the time. How can a bunch of stretching and posing clear my head?

Eventually, when my wife became a yoga teacher earlier this year, I decided to try it, since I was so bored with my then-current forms of exercise (I wrote about my first lessons back in June). It was great for me in terms of physical fitness, but it also showed me a path to that elusive goal of the blank mind.

Granted, it’s taken several months of trying, but last night I got there - finally. I was at a yoga class at my wife’s studio and we ended our class, like all classes do, with the “savasana“, or corpse pose. Our instructor artfully got us to relax by telling us to focus on our breath, and suggested a mental image of “sinking into the earth” as a means to to release our minds and go even deeper.

While I had gotten close to “ultimate stillness” in other classes, this one was going to be different - this time, I got to blankness. Nothing but me and my breath, and the soothing sound of the background music the instructor played.

It was awesome. As we ended the class and my brain reengaged, I was struck by how elementary the whole process was. I guess it took me a long time to submit to the utter simplicity of the relaxation process, and it’s focus on the breath.

I’m realistic enough to think that this kind of nirvana will continue to be somewhat elusive (and of short duration), but this discovery has me determined to continue on this quest to find that quiet (and rejuvenating) place when I need it.

Because even my dear old brain needs a rest every now and then.