Your Attention Please!

It was a beautiful Sunday morning and I came out of a serene spell of meditation. I have noticed that if a spell of meditation has been deep, quietening and centered, like the calm water of a placid lake, it leaves me with a post-meditative peace and poise, the depth and length of which is usually proportional to the quality of attributes stated above. There is a certain calmness, a deliberate slowness and high attentiveness to whatever I do. If I eat, I chew the morsels of food slowly and for long, much longer than I do, with attention completely on the chewing. If I walk, the walking is more in the moment, alive and attentive rather than in absentia. A sip of water is fully retained in the mouth, with its cool nature felt in the entire layers of my tongue and mouth, well tasted. Its gentle gliding down the tracts of my food pipe is fully experienced till it vanishes in.

The spell I experienced was definitely a very good one. I chose to wash my yoga mat shortly after this spell and the insight I got is well worth documenting. The mat had caught a lot of black-colored stains as it is laid on the floor, at home as well as outside. Slowly (I am characterizing my action as slow, only in comparison to how I usually perform them. Otherwise, the speed of my action in this instance was what my Being naturally directed me towards) and deliberately I took out the mat, laid it down, splashed water. Remarkably, I noticed almost each and every square-inch of the mat – whether it was wet or not! Usually, I just throw water and get a general sense of whether the entire surface is wet and choose to splash more water based on whether some parts of the mat is still not wet. But the focus is never at such a narrow level, where in I naturally and automatically observed where all is the mat covered by water and where not. This deep attention to what was happening during the washing process continued in a positive spiral. And the pay-offs were many. For example, I could throw the next splash of water only on specific, small areas which were still dry. The quantity of water used was much less since it was thrown precisely where it was required. The pressure used by my hand was just what was required, nothing more – saves energy and potential pain. Once the mat was all wet with soap and water, I used a brush to rub and remove the stain. The experience was even more remarkable. I paid (naturally, without an externally induced “will”) a high degree of attention to the stain in each ”square” of the mat (the mat is designed in horizontal lines, with small square-shaped protrusions running next to each other). My hand took the brush to “exactly” and “only” to those squares which had stains. Again, the amount of pressure my hand applied to remove them was “just” what was required, much less than when I usually perform this action, rigorously. Like this, I moved my hand from one stained square to the next and completely washed them. I was also able to carefully observe the impact of my brushing on the mat – some parts of the mat were peeling off and I noticed this immediately and applied lesser pressure, thereby minimizing the damage.

I gathered some very important insights from this experience. The foremost being, the most important requirement to solve a problem, is perhaps ATTENTION – deep, undivided and intense attention. Such attention helps one size up exactly what the problem is, where it is and what is just sufficiently required to solve it. Secondly, mindful performance of a task is probably the most efficient way of doing it – in terms of the resources used, time taken as well as in channelizing energy only to areas which need them. Thirdly, you are IN the problem as well as in the solving of it. Let me explain this with another experience. After washing the mat, I had a glass of Bournvita (yes, I still drink Bournvita!). I added a spoon of Bournvita and sugar to milk, then gently and mindfully stirred it. While doing so with intense attention on the stirring, I felt it was not the mixture which was dissolving into one another, but “myself”. Mindfulness perhaps dissolves the barrier that gets erected between us and the tasks we are performing, thereby bringing the full energy of “us” in to the task. Lastly, mindfully performing a task makes it a “characterless experience” – there is no passion, excitement, aversion, et al – the experience simply IS. This leads to no stress and very little strain, if any