The Yoga Sutras: Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha
The mind flips channels faster than an unattended toddler with a TV remote.
Your brain is constantly jumping from thought to thought seemingly letting the previous concept disintegrate somewhere into the ether.
A mind is rarely a calm place. It continuously bounces from the things you must do to the things you have already done.
“What time is that meeting?” → “I already sent out that client proposal.” → “I need to work on my course today.” → “I had my two client calls this morning.” → “I still need to practice yoga today.” This is a recipe for suffering, my friends.
Yes, we know life revolves around suffering, but this way of thinking puts a strain on the mind and can leave you feeling bogged down.
The brain has become accustomed to this habitual cycle of focusing on unnecessary thoughts. Thinking is a tool but too often our thoughts consume us. We put our brains on autopilot and let them make the decisions for us.
Yogas chitta vritti nirodha is a very famous phrase in yoga lineage which essentially means “yoga is the removing of the fluctuations of the mind.”
To avoid dissatisfaction, we must turn off our thoughts and let them exist on a different plane. Think of this as breathing or your heart beating.
We know those functions are occurring within our body, but we aren’t focusing much thought on them if at all. It is so rare that thought is useful.
By learning how to let our thoughts live outside our conscious is freeing. Take some time today to acknowledge your busy thoughts and how you can create a deeper connection to yourself by existing beside them.
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