Yoga, Pain, and Death
Three ways to meet with pain:
Retreat
Watch
Breathe
Retreating is obvious. That is what we do naturally, in most cases. We feel the pain and we don’t like it. Sometimes we don’t even get to not like it; our lower brains associate pain with danger and react for us. If we don’t like it, what a luxury of freedom, then we can run from it.
Watching is less obvious, but sometimes happens naturally in a state of shock and/or wonder. If, again we have the luxury of pause before running scared from the painful moment, we watch curiously and with interest, we can delay further the retreat and perhaps, eventually, stave it off. Watching means using our mind’s sensitivity to feel and look into the pain with an even mind.
Breathing is not obvious at all, but we do sometimes naturally alter our breathing in suffering moments. Take hyperventilation for instance. While hyperventilation may be a strong function of lower minds, it is not something we choose to do. When confronted with pain, in addition to watching, or instead of watching, we can breathe into that pain. What does that mean? That is difficult to explain, but it has to do with shifting the focus of our conscious awareness to the point or region of suffering and being aware of the pain, looking at it with primary focus on the movement or lack of movement and sensation in the region. Another way to explain this is to say that it is possible to intentionally direct the health, wealth, and nutrition of breath to a particular place in the body.
The point of all this, in my mind recently, is to prepare for death. I am fortunate to have a lovely life full of wealth, power, and health. With that freedom, I don’t need to devote myself to aggrandizement of this life style. I do that, certainly, but I don’t need to do much. I don’t have to hunt or pick my food, for instance. And, these simple practices of the mind do help with this life’s bounty. There are some significant results to yogic approaches to suffering, pain, and discomfort. Howev er, the most painful, or rather, the most frightening thing I will do in this life is die. And that is the Suffering I see on the horizon and I see it as the major challenge and the greatest adventure I could broach. It is, as I see it the final frontier. Many of the Buddhist teachers I have listened to have scoffed at that with the assumption of multiple (in fact, beginningless) lifetimes. While I see the reasoning for it, and I accept it as logical, I do not have any evidence for it myself, and so can barely rely on it.
Thus, the major hurdle I see coming is not far off complete enlightenment.
It is instead to survive death.
Oxymoronic? Maybe so. But, the survival I am talking about is not that of the physicality of our body or brains or what not. I am talking about mental survival. I am talking about consciousness beyond physicality. I wonder what happens at the time of death and I would like to be there to see it. And by be there, I mean to avoid falling unconscious. I want to walk my awareness all the way up to the time of death and see what happens.
And, if I can keep walking, I will.
I just want to see how far I can get.
Retreat
Watch
Breathe
Retreating is obvious. That is what we do naturally, in most cases. We feel the pain and we don’t like it. Sometimes we don’t even get to not like it; our lower brains associate pain with danger and react for us. If we don’t like it, what a luxury of freedom, then we can run from it.
Watching is less obvious, but sometimes happens naturally in a state of shock and/or wonder. If, again we have the luxury of pause before running scared from the painful moment, we watch curiously and with interest, we can delay further the retreat and perhaps, eventually, stave it off. Watching means using our mind’s sensitivity to feel and look into the pain with an even mind.
Breathing is not obvious at all, but we do sometimes naturally alter our breathing in suffering moments. Take hyperventilation for instance. While hyperventilation may be a strong function of lower minds, it is not something we choose to do. When confronted with pain, in addition to watching, or instead of watching, we can breathe into that pain. What does that mean? That is difficult to explain, but it has to do with shifting the focus of our conscious awareness to the point or region of suffering and being aware of the pain, looking at it with primary focus on the movement or lack of movement and sensation in the region. Another way to explain this is to say that it is possible to intentionally direct the health, wealth, and nutrition of breath to a particular place in the body.
The point of all this, in my mind recently, is to prepare for death. I am fortunate to have a lovely life full of wealth, power, and health. With that freedom, I don’t need to devote myself to aggrandizement of this life style. I do that, certainly, but I don’t need to do much. I don’t have to hunt or pick my food, for instance. And, these simple practices of the mind do help with this life’s bounty. There are some significant results to yogic approaches to suffering, pain, and discomfort. Howev er, the most painful, or rather, the most frightening thing I will do in this life is die. And that is the Suffering I see on the horizon and I see it as the major challenge and the greatest adventure I could broach. It is, as I see it the final frontier. Many of the Buddhist teachers I have listened to have scoffed at that with the assumption of multiple (in fact, beginningless) lifetimes. While I see the reasoning for it, and I accept it as logical, I do not have any evidence for it myself, and so can barely rely on it.
Thus, the major hurdle I see coming is not far off complete enlightenment.
It is instead to survive death.
Oxymoronic? Maybe so. But, the survival I am talking about is not that of the physicality of our body or brains or what not. I am talking about mental survival. I am talking about consciousness beyond physicality. I wonder what happens at the time of death and I would like to be there to see it. And by be there, I mean to avoid falling unconscious. I want to walk my awareness all the way up to the time of death and see what happens.
And, if I can keep walking, I will.
I just want to see how far I can get.
posted by Breathing at 9:48 PM
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