Mindfulness Yoga by Frank Jude Boccio

Author:Frank Jude Boccio [Feuerstein, Frank June Boccio Foreword by Georg]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

CHAPTER EIGHT

FEELINGS AS FEELINGS

Breathing in, I am aware of feeling joy.

Breathing out, I am aware of feeling joy.

Breathing in, I am aware of feeling happiness.

Breathing out, I am aware of feeling happiness.

Breathing in, I am aware of my mental formations.

Breathing out, I am aware of my mental formations.

Breathing in, I calm my mental formations.

Breathing out, I calm my mental formations.

THE SECOND GROUP of conscious breathing practices helps return us to our feelings, so that we may develop more joy and happiness in our life and transform the suffering that we experience. It is quite obvious that the Buddha considered these states of joy and happiness to be among the natural fruits of meditative awareness, as well as being spurs to motivate us in our exploration. So, in this second group centered on the exploration of feelings, the first two that the Buddha emphasized are joy and happiness.

As a result of the calming of the body (kaya samskara) which is the fruit of the fourth practice of anapanasati and mindfulness of the body (the first establishment), joy naturally arises. The fifth practice of anapanasati, which introduces us to mindfulness of feelings (the second establishment), allows us to become even more fully aware of this joy, without getting carried away by it. To begin to move the body in asana, sloughing off the stresses and difficulties of our day, can be a wonderfully joyful experience. Joy helps us to come alive, to open our hearts. Think of how an exuberant, joyful child reaches his arms up and out to the sky. Take your arms up and keep your fingers together. Then spread them wide. Go back and forth a few times and notice, if you can, the changes you experience physically in the shoulders, upper back, and chest, and psychologically in your heart. This is the openness that joy can nurture. And this heartfelt openness is necessary if we are to be able to stay awake and aware to all that life brings.

But joy, the Buddha taught, is not enough. We need to go beyond joy to happiness, the sixth practice of anapanasati. The word translated as happiness is sukha, and as you might have guessed, it is the opposite of dukkha. Sukha is the “good space,” the axle aligned in the center of the wheel, balanced and harmonious. It is also often translated as “ease” or “comfort.” While joy remains—like the exuberant child, a bit overexcited—happiness, according to the Buddha, is the calmness of satisfaction, satiation.

The example the Buddha used to explain the difference is that of a man dying of thirst in the desert. Suddenly he sees an oasis with a pool of water in the midst of some trees. Joy and excitement arises and he races to the water, throws himself down at the water’s edge, and scoops up the cool refreshing water. Until the very last moment before he actually drinks the water, joy is present. But once he has finally taken in the water and slaked his thirst, he is happy, and the stimulating excitement of joy is gone.

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