Gardening of the Mind

As I explored in my previous post on Emotional Potholes, I've been working on cleaning out emotional baggage for a few years now. This process has been transformative for me, and I'm excited to share my experiences with you. I spend zero minutes, fifteen minutes or up to two hours doing this (mostly fifteen minutes) per day. I am firmly convinced that it is powering my life, giving me insight to myself and others, and reducing my negative feelings. I can attest that my internal dialogue is much much quieter and it is quite easy to be internally quiet for short to medium periods of time now.

I just read an article about gardening of the mind. Although the author was really referring to it with respect to study, I thought a lot about it with respect to recapitulation and cleaning out one's mind. The sweeping breath technique, which I wrote about in more detail in Over the Desert and Into the Swamp, has been a game-changer for me. This practice not only helps with emotional baggage but also promotes greater awareness of one's thoughts and feelings. I can access deep old feelings that are distinctly mine yet thoroughly forgotten. I can reduce and discard those feelings. The memories are a part of me and never leave though. I can waive new moods that are negative or grey. I can waive feelings of despair and purposelessness.

I now feel that gardening of the mind is an excellent metaphor for this recapitulation in that I and clearly getting rid of weeds in my mental garden. Sadly, it is a neglected garden and will take years more before I can reach into the further reaches to weed out the bad thoughts, experiences and feelings that lay, as if in ambush, there.

I experimented with the yogic idea of the mula bandha. It makes a powerful combination with the sweeping breath. This process has beenI've been building on these ideas since my post in Surprise Bonus, which explored the benefits of combining the sweeping breath with other techniques for clearing emotional baggage. By combining these techniques, I've found that I'm able to eliminate desires and cravings more effectively.

This combination is great for dispelling thoughts and feelings of stress, anger and embarrassment.

It is exciting to cultivate these new disciplines and I look forward to the personal changes that are already in play, growing and bearing fruit in the months and years to come.