Heeling the dog mind

Sierra called yesterday morning and I learned something new as I usually do when we chat.

Sierra is one of the most grounded and spiritual women I know. She is deeply connected to Source and often looks at life from an out-of-the-box perspective. Talking with her is like sitting under a gentle waterfall on a hot summer day.

Refreshing.

I was telling Sierra how I had been meditating earlier that morning and how challenging it is for me to sit through even 8 minutes of meditation.

I recently upped my 5 minute daily meditation practice to 8 minutes and I often find my mind wandering or look at the timer multiple times to see how many minutes/seconds are left.

Here’s a peek into my unruly mind during my 8-minute meditation yesterday:

Am I done yet? 7:25 minutes to go
I’m bored. 6:13 minutes to go
Am I a person who tells her friends they have spinach in their teeth or not? 5:05 minutes to go
Are my friends people who would tell me I have spinach in my teeth or not? 4:37 minutes to go
Well, ___ would tell me and _____ would tell me. I wonder if _____ would tell me? 4:15 minutes to go
Stop thinking, Kristin! 3:52 minutes to go.
Am I done yet? Damn: 3:29 minutes to go
Ahh…there it is, I’m experiencing that peace and stillness that I’m supposed to be experiencing when I meditate. Oh wait! But I’m not experiencing it because I’m not supposed to be thinking while I’m experiencing it. So I didn’t experience it. Shoot: 2:02 minutes to go
Will there be coyotes on my trail today? 1:24 minutes to go
Almost done! 31 seconds to go
Geez, is 31 seconds not quite up yet? It feels like it’s been over a minute. Maybe my timer is broken? 03 seconds to go

Beep, beep, beep goes the timer. And I’m done. Thank God.

When I told Sierra about about how non-meditative my meditations have been lately she laughed her gorgeous, throaty laugh and said, “That’s great, Kristin.”

“What’s great?” I asked, confused.

“It’s actually great that you are finding your mind wander during meditation. That’s how the neural pathways get changed in our brains. By self-correcting and bringing yourself back again and again to the breath you will then discover the gifts of meditation.

Changing those neural pathways will make you calmer and more relaxed. But they can only change by the act of bringing yourself back time and time again. That’s how meditation works. You need the mind wandering to be able to bring yourself back in order to change your brain chemistry and to create those new grooves in your brain.”

“Oh! I get it.” I said. “It’s like training a dog. To get the dog to learn heel you have to correct the dog. It is in the not-heeling and the gentle correction over and over that causes dogs to heel on their own.”

(Sierra, like most of my friends, is used to my analogies about dogs.)

“Exactly.” Sierra said.

“So I’m teaching my brain to heel.”

We laughed.

Today’s 8-minute meditation was much easier after yesterday’s conversation with Sierra.

I was so much more patient with myself and my thoughts. Instead of yanking my brain back to the breath I gently but firmly tugged at it the way I would if I were training a dog.

Come back. Come gently back.

Come back to the breath.

And while you are coming back, whittle down those neural grooves in my brain will you?

Tagged as: Breathing, Connection to a Higher Power, Letting Go, Meditating