The Ocean is Wide, The Sky is Empty

The other day, I was working with a student obsessing about an issue she was dealing with.

Her breath was short and erratic.

She was caught in the obsessive thinking mind, analysis to paralysis.

I asked her to try a mind exercise for a moment (and you can, too):

Think of whatever feels challenging at the moment.

See the issue in your mind that keeps re-running.

Now, expand the frame around it.

Let your consciousness shift to the back of your mind, the observer.

Expand the frame a bit more.

Let your brow expand.

Allow the corners of your mouth to expand and slightly lift.

Let your breath fill your abdomen like a balloon,

and slowly let it go, pressing your navel all the way back.

Breathe in for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts.

Keep that going for about 3-5 rounds

with a wide brow and wide mouth.

Who's watching this thought? Who's allowing the frame to expand? And where is it?

"Step back

The ocean is wide

The sky is empty"

This Taoist phrase helps put into perspective what we're struggling with.

It also elicits the observer's mind, which is the easiest to access in the spring wood season.

According to Chinese medicine, the observing mind is known as the Hun, the consciousness or spirit of the spring season.

This is where we make good decisions.

Our minds become very active as the energy rises in this sprouting wood spring season.

We may be inspired and want to do and accomplish many things—and then feel overwhelmed.

I know this well.

This practice is important at this time of year. It helps us discern what to focus on.

Observing inspiring ideas that keep repeating is our intuition telling us what to pay attention to and focus on.

What we focus on grows.

Keeping the brow wide and a slight inner smile with the eyes and mouth are the expressions of the Buddha and elicit Buddha-nature. This expression settles the mind into a meditative state.

The Buddha nature is neutral. It helps us shift into equanimity. Now we're calm and can see things as they are, neutral. Labeling and judging make things bad or good, right or wrong, but all things are inherently neutral.

We can then remember that we are all in process.

Nothing is fixed, including our relationships. We can give space to whatever arises and expand the frame when feeling fixated and tight.

Start with the wide brow, mouth, and belly. Find that slow, long breath for a minute and watch how the mind relates to our struggles differently.

Struggles and challenges will come and go, it's how we relate to them is what changes.

And when we change, the whole dynamic changes!

To help you shift how you relate to your issues, join the spring's Emotional Endurance Program to learn how to regain control of your mind.

This is one of yoga's biggest boons; it teaches us how to control our obsessive thinking mind and shift into the observer, so we are not entangled in our emotions but can observe them, name them, and TAME THEM!

Namaste,

Maggie