I am podcaster, I listen to many different types of shows via download: talk radio, news, science, life and yes yoga! So I’m not surprised that podcasts have entered into my spiritual practice; I’m just a little surprise at the marriage of two seemingly unrelated podcasts which have yielded a handy trick to overcoming hurdles along my spiritual journey. Its goes like this:
When we meditate one tool we use is when thoughts come up we acknowledge them and release them. This is MUCH easier said than done. But this is a tool I’ve taken out of my meditation practice and into my life. I was thinking about all the things I think about which lead me to…well nothing. Mulling problems over that the solutions is far in the distance, or letting my mind wander to things I want that I don’t actually need or worse distract me from my journey. As I was thinking about my thinking I thought (phew) I spend a lot of time focused on things that do not serve me. How much more room in my brain would I have if I stopped thinking about those things? Well, quite a bit! And this is where the first podcast comes in, it called Radiolab, http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/, and I can’t even remember the episode but one host, Robert Krulwich, was trying to prove the point to the other host, Jad Abumrad, that if I tell you NOT to think of something then that is ALL you will be able to think about. So Robert says, “no matter what you do don’t think about…” after a beat he ask what Jad thought about and he replied “platypus.” Ok he didn’t actually reply “platypus” but for some reason that’s what my brain inserted when recalling this bit of dialogue and then Jad tells a brief story about hearing a story as a kid that was so bizarre that when ever he emptied his mind that story jumped up into it. In turn I thought ok, well platypuses (platypi?) are very funny animals and what better to do then leave an unwanted thought than for a silly one, after all laughter is just as sacred as prayer (too me anyway). So when ever I found my mind drifting I would replace the unwanted thought with a platypus and I would smile. Even when I’m frustrated and thinking or muttering platypus over and over again eventually I will laugh because, come one “platypus, platypus, platypus” yelled in anger, it’s just funny! So on I went platypussing (spell check is mad a that word) along and feeling alright. But also feeling like I was cheating, sort of just putting a band-aid over the problem not really healing it.
Enter podcast number 2:
This podcast is an actual meditation podcast, Learn To Meditate appropriately enough. Each episode starts with a little story, a kind of set up, then the actual meditation. I was listening to the set up of a meditation entitled “the path of the heart” which oddly enough began with a comparison of our spiritual journeys to the Star Wars movies. He was explaining that before beginning meditation we need to be aware of our general state of mind. Are we pulling energy from the Dark Side (where there is anger, ego and Vader!) or from the Light side (where there is peace, enlightenment and Yoda!) The instructor was saying that when you have thoughts form the “dark side” you should replace them with thoughts from the “light side.” And that thought could be anything, a beautiful sunset, the face of some one you love and or maybe I thought “a platypus!” HA! Validation, my platypus technique was not something I just made up, it’s an actual technique; dare I say the Jedi Technique! The host went on to say that the act of releasing negative energy from our daily minds trains our brains to let them go more easily in our mediation practice. So not only was it not a made up tool but one that will actually help me in my meditation practice.
So being a podcast geek has proven even more valuable to my spiritual practice than I thought possible. Thanks to the guys at Radiolab, Jab Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, and the Learn to Meditate podcast for helping me out along the way. I take assurance that no matter how stuck I get in my journey my platypus now carries a light saber!
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