Meditation, Malas, and Related Thoughts

Most mornings I awaken at 5:00 a.m., go downstairs for 20 minutes of yoga with Rodney Yee, get a shower, then meditate for 15-20 minutes before I start my day.  The picture shows the dormer in our back bedroom that I've set up for meditation.  This is my little altar.   Yes, I use incense, and I'll explain why it really is useful some other time if you're (the collective 'you're') interested.   In the picture you can see, second from the left, what looks like a ring with a yellow blob on it.  This is a mala.  Think of a mala as a meditation rosary, but without all the "Ave Marias" and the "Pater Nosters" (how's that for a protestant boy?).  Here's some mala info I lifted from the web:


 "What is a Meditation Mala?:  A mala is a string of 108 beads with one bead as the summit bead called a 'sumeru'.  It is a tool used to keep your mind on the meditation practice. Malas are generally made from different materials such as tulsi (basil) wood, sandal wood, rudraksh seeds or crystal. 

Why use the Mala?:  Meditation can be quite a tricky practice because the mind is like a naughty child. By its very nature, the mind tends to wander off during the meditation practice. If ones energy is low at the time of meditation, falling asleep can result. If the energy is too high, fantasy and distraction become the barriers. At such times, the mala provides the much needed anchor. The mala beads are moved in rhythm with the breath and the mantra, so that both-sleep as well as excessive mental distraction-are prevented by this action upon the beads. 

So I use my mala (sandal wood, thank you very much) to anchor my oh-too-active mind during meditation.  Other than edification, why do I share this?  Back to the summit bead:  the summit bead is not only larger than the other beads, but it also has the tuft of yellow yarn you see in the picture.  You start at the summit bead and work your way arround.   When I first meditated with the mala, I was overly conscious of the summit bead, finding myself wondering where it was, how close to it I was getting.  When I would actually feel the summit coming around in my hand, I had to fight the temptation to increase my rate of breathing to "finish" faster.

Why is it I get so consumed with the finish, particularly once the finish is in sight?  Why do I lose interest in where I am as I start to focus on where I'm heading?  Why the hurry?  I'm learning to treat the summit bead like any other bead.  From that I hope to learn that while endings are inevitable (without getting too dark), placing too much importance on the ending takes me away from 'here', and 'here' is where I need to be.  This is where all the good stuff is happening.

Ending on an up note:  every month a nice lady from North Carolina calls me about my Revlimid.  She makes sure that I'm not sharing my Revlimid, that I'm not donating blood or sperm (there goes that source of beer money), and that I'm not having unprotected sex with a woman with child-bearing potential (Revlimid is a first cousin of Thalidomide).  I sure hope the nice woman works with the clinical trial, othewise she's just damn nosy.  Anyway, after the survey we talk.   This week during our monthly conversation, she started talking about some incredible success they were having with Revlimid, really getting excited about it.  Saying "You're in the right place at the right time!"  She may have dropped the word 'cure'.   She remembered she was talking to one of the guinea pigs, so she stopped, saying "I really can't say more."  I'm not going to get too excited, but I'm taking from this they are seeing some good results from this trial.  It's tempting to blow this out of proportion, but I'm determined not to look ahead to the next bead.  I'm savoring the bead I'm holding now.  My 3' 11" bicycle-riding bead.


Namaste


P.S.  I have no idea why the font size on this is all over the place.  Can't fix it.  Oh well.