Where's the Fairy Tale?

Good zen.  Do you have it?  Are you inspired?  Happy?  Fulfilling your dreams?  Zen by definition is an ancient Buddhist practice asserting enlightenment can be achieved through meditation and intuition.  But culturally, good zen can be defined as feeling relaxed, collected, calm, insightful, contemplative, and experiencing total togetherness of body and mind. 

There are many paths to zen, affording those of us who seek it plenty of ways to achieve it.  And for those who aren’t interested, they probably haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the peacefulness and joy good zen can bring.  Because once you taste it, there is no going back. 

One of the most popular ways to experience zen is through yoga.  The yoga revolution has taken hold in the West and with its almost immediately noticeable effects has helped change the lives of those who practice this age-old simple whole-body way to feel better, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  There is a style for everyone and anyone can do it.

While yoga includes movement and postures, the real center of yoga is the breath.  Conscious breathing delivers increased oxygen to your cells, improves circulation, and helps detoxify the body and the mind.   Obviously we all breathe, but taking time to notice the breath, the inhale, the exhale, even the split second in between, can change everything in just one moment.  It’s soft.  It’s quiet.  It’s peaceful.  It’s zen. 

Stopping to breathe and find silence in that moment is not something we often do in our culture of hurry, worry, and stress.  But it’s exactly what we need to do.  Imagine a world with more compassion, more joy, more ease, more happiness.  In concept this is a beautiful place, but in reality daily chaos permeates every aspect of our lives.

When we take a minute to remind ourselves to breathe, we create an opening of restoration and rejuvenation.  Conscious breathing helps bring our mind and body to a place of serenity, and frees it from confusion and distress.  It is then from that internal focus that we can take equanimity out into the world.  

Good zen can be achieved quickly many ways, but at the core is the breath.  When we pay attention to our breathing we help our body function at its optimum.  Take a zen pause, breathe fully and deeply, and integrate simplicity and ease into your day, if only for a moment.

The outside is quiet and still but inside the halls of the institute are bustling with hundreds of barefoot yogis, some in their own world of tranquility, some holding hands and hugging others with loving energy.  Some are smiling, others look determined to get to their destination, a yoga class, a therapeutic treatment, an informative discussion group, a meditation session. Some are just sitting in front of the big glass windows lost in the beautiful view of the mountains and lake…journaling, resting, breathing.  It’s nothing like the outside world. 

While many are in the zen zone, others have decided to take a coffee or tea break, peruse the store that is full of all things related to yoga, healing, Eastern spirituality…books, cds, dvds, clothes, jewelry, cards, art items from around the world, soothing and aromatic bath and body products.  And then there are those on the lookout for their leaders, their teachers, mentors, gurus, and with eager anticipation of what is to come or reflection of what has been, are stretching their bodies, warming up or cooling down.

Nobody seems to wear shoes, or warm clothing, it’s so cold outside but inside is like an oven, the heat is overwhelming.  The yoga clothes are like second skins, the fabric soft and flexible, almost like you have nothing on, the comfort is amazing…and the difference in everyone’s bodies is so visible, but no one seems to notice or care.

The odor is odd and overpowering, the smell of holistic food cooking in the big kitchen, the Ayurvedic body cleanses, sweat, the release of toxins through yoga and treatments is in the air.  It’s a raw, real smell of natural purification. Not offensive, but discernible. 

Inside the great halls the pliable wood floors are covered in colorful yoga mats, props, towels.  The walls are decorated with historical prints, introspective messages, and inspirational thoughts.  There are even skeletons and plastic body parts to teach the physical, scientific elements of yoga and wholeness, intertwining mind and body.

Whether attending a yoga class, listening to a lecture, getting a massage, taking a walk, or simply sipping tea, a day on yoga retreat is about just being real, being present, being yourself, being in tune to your body and your spirit and your soul.  It’s physically and mentally invigorating and powerful, and simultaneously comfortable and exhausting. It’s about connecting with others silently or openly.  It’s about peace, introspection, and rest.  It’s not for everyone, but for those who want to grow their souls, this is one truly effective way to do it.

Re-entry after a long weekend can be a little tricky.  It’s amazing how quickly I can get used to not having to get up early and adhere to an invariably busy schedule.  But the interlude is over and now I must manage a breakneck week of appointments and activities that are enough for an army to execute.  Some weeks are busier than others, and this week’s schedule seems a little daunting.

It’s easy to get caught up in the energy-sucking whirlwind of calendar chaos, which for somebody who likes to be in control of her life instead of vice versa, can create what my friend R refers to as “lifelock.”  He defines lifelock as, “keeping all energy and laser focus on maintaining a firm and unrelenting grip so as not to let the precarious order of things that have been muscled into containment roll into a sea of pandemonium.”  That’s a pretty fancy definition for not going with the flow, even if the flow requires you to be in several places at the same time when you are only one person.

So how do I relinquish the tenseness and tightness that comes from the embodiment of lifelock?  Yoga is my antidote, but I can’t spend my entire day doing yoga.  Although the blissful effects do last for a little while, on weeks like this it takes a lot of conscious effort to get back to my zen spot.  Knowing I had a very over-scheduled week ahead of me, I took some extra yoga time this morning freeing up as much physical and mental constriction as I could before there was no turning back.  While I was connecting with my inner sanctum I realized that there is one simple way that lifelock can be released, by relaxing my face. 

When you relax your face, and I mean really relax it–let your cheeks loosen, unclench your jaw, soften your eyes, unfurrow your brow, erase the scowl from your forehead and lips (we often don’t even know it’s there,) and just softly breathe—you can dive into a moment of peacefulness.  A tight face, or facelock, is an unrelenting cause of mind and body tension. 

In this over-hurried, over-booked, over-stressed world of over-time, it is safe to assume that most people have lifelock and facelock and aren’t even aware of it.  I succumb to this on a regular basis, but don’t realize how much so until I break out my yoga mat and stretch into some ridiculously ambrosial poses that help my worries momentarily disappear.  But today, in the midst of the busyness I remembered to relax my face.  When I did that my whole body let go.  Then I stopped panicking about how I was going to get everything done, how behind schedule I already was, and how I would possibly be able to make it to the weekend. 

There are so many components of life that we don’t have control over.  Learning to just accept that heads us towards the lifelock cure.  But in the meantime when I find myself facelocked in the grip of the frenzy, I will simply relax my face.  And at the end of the day if I need just a little more, turn on some classic holiday jazz and smile.