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Awareness: Easy in eory, Di�cult in PracticeBY Sarah Dykins (https://yogainternational.com/profile/125977) ON June 18, 2015

“Be conscious of the Truth, the center of consciousness, and perform your

actions selflessly with non-attachment. No matter where you are—in your

o�ce, in the kitchen, in the shopping center, or in the midst of a crowd—

meditation in action can be practiced. Learn not to forget the center of

consciousness within you. Do not allow your mind to be scattered, and

whatever you do, do it with full attention. Beneath all your deeds there

should be awareness of the center of consciousness within.”

—Swami Rama, Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita

My ten-year-old daughter slams her fingers down on the piano in frustration.

“I wish I didn’t have to do scales!” she says vehemently. Upstairs her sister

grapples with a particularly di�cult three-octave climb on the violin. Our

eyes meet in sympathy. I know how she feels, but we both know that only she

Awareness: Easy in Theory, Difficult in Practice | Yoga International https://yogainternational.com/article/view/awareness-easy-in-theory-dif...

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For that short period of

time, we hold back the

future and the past and

live in the present,

basking in the beauty of

the here and now.

can do it. She sighs and turns back to the music. I watch her back fondly for a

moment, reflecting that practice is often hard and tedious, and we sometimes

simply don’t want to do it. We want the benefits of practice, the beautiful

music, and we know that the way to do it is by sitting down each day and

practicing, but still we are reluctant to do so.

Awareness is a simple concept, but practicing it isn’t always easy. e

Bhagavad Gita presents a challenge: How can we carry the stillness of

meditation into the clamor of everyday life?

Yoga and meditation teach us to

focus our mind and be still. For a

few precious minutes of each day we

sit, breathe, and remember the

consciousness within. It does not

always come easily, but the

simplicity of the practice can be

beautiful. We know that it is

important, and we recognize the

peace that exists within us. at is why we meditate, why we go to our yoga

classes. For that short period of time, we hold back the future and the past

and live in the present, basking in the beauty of the here and now.

But what about all the other minutes of our lives? What is meditation for, if

not to transform our lives, to allow us to experience the truth through action?

Again and again I return to Swami Rama’s passage, and attempt to take up

the challenge of the Bhagavad Gita.

In the process, I have discovered a little exercise, simple in itself, that I

practice every day. It can be done with almost any activity—making

sandwiches, tying your daughter’s shoelaces, typing on the computer. At

di;erent times in my day, I practice mindfulness in my actions. Here’s the

exercise.

Take your attention to the point at which the action takes place. You’re


2 de 4 17/08/2015 13:54

making co;ee for colleagues at work. Fill the kettle, watching the water

stream out of the tap. Plug the kettle in, observing which of your senses is

involved in the action. Open the co;ee jar, spoon the co;ee, add the milk. All

the time focus on the point at which the action takes place; i.e. your hand,

your eye, the water, etc. Observe what happens. Breathe.

Notice how the mind becomes still and one-pointed and how the activity is

transformed. By focusing your attention on the action as you are performing

it, you are gracing it with your presence. e action becomes skillful and

selfless.

Like many yoga practices, the technique is simple. Try it in the marketplace

and in the kitchen, in tra�c jams and in the o�ce. Mindfulness brings us

into the beauty of the present, and transforms the actions that make up our

lives into a form of meditation.

(https://yogainternational.com/guide/15-for-30-yoga-challenge)


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All Content © Copyright Yoga International 2012-Present. All Rights Reserved.

(https://yogainternational.com/profile/125977)

ABOUT Sarah Dykins (https://yogainternational.com/profile/125977) Sarah Dykins, a

writer, public speaker and teacher, has been practicing yoga for many years. She and

her family live by the sea in Brighton, England.

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