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Tranquillity: the body, mind and emotions

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The special relationship of mind and body in tranquillity

To enjoy tranquillity, it is helpful to understand the special relationship of the mind and thetranquillity body mind emotions body. In many respects, at least in theory, the two may seem quite distinct. But the mind is only experienced and utilised through the brain and the nervous system, which are most definitely aspects of the body. We know only too well from our own experience that if the mind is agitated, there is a feeling of disturbance in the body. It is also difficult to maintain a calm mind if the body is upset.

Sometimes the chemical balance of the body may be upset through illness, wrong food or exposure to pathogens, for example. This can strongly affect our thinking and our moods. Conversely, it is also true that if the mind is calm, the biochemical balance is much better, the immune system is stronger and our energy is better.

Meditation, yoga and t’ai chi

Tests on meditators have shown the very close relationship of a calm mind to reactions in the body. Within minutes of starting to meditate, the breath rate slows down, the blood pressure drops and there is greater coherence in the electronic waves produced by the brain.

People who take up arts such as t’ai chi and yoga, find a calming effect on the mind and improvements to health and well-being. These are just two examples but they help to reinforce the understanding and appreciation that there is more than just a tenuous link between mind and body. The connection is a very direct and close one.

The significance of this link is that it can be deliberately utilised to bring about serenity. If we do nothing, it is like piloting a rudderless ship. So we need to find a way of harnessing body and mind that is easy to do.

Kama-manas: the marriage of mind and emotions

If there is a link between the body and the mind, there is an even stronger tie between the mind and the emotions. In fact, they are so closely intertwined that some schools of thought regard them as one – kama manas  (literally desire-mind). For our purposes, we can think of the mind as the generator of thoughts and perceptions.

The emotions are feelings that rise up and influence our thoughts. Sometimes they can result from our thinking. Suppose, for example, we are angry about something. We experience the feeling of anger, and we are also have a stream of thoughts which are mainly negative in character. The two things, the sensation of the angry feeling and the stream of angry thoughts, are separately identifiable as feelings on the one hand and thoughts on the other. Together, they disturb our tranquillity.

Do feelings and thoughts have to go together?

We can certainly think logically, without being swamped by feelings, so thoughts in themselves do not depend on feelings or emotions. But can we have feelings or emotions without thoughts?

Probably we can but not for long. For example, we might have a vague feeling of anxiety or sadness for which we can’t pin down a reason. Within a very short time, though, that feeling will normally colour our thinking. Desires, too, can seem to come out of nowhere and suddenly we can experience a craving. Immediately, our thoughts run towards whatever it is we crave.

Conversely, thoughts can evoke emotions. We might be thinking about something that happened in the past or on some future event and feelings can arise based on the memory of past experience. Many of our thoughts are based on our beliefs and, though we may not care to admit to having any, our prejudices. Almost inevitably, these charge our emotions.

Intelligent tranquillity

The importance of all this is that it has a very direct bearing on serenity and tranquillity. If we want to experience peacefulness, we have to be able to do something about our emotions. We have to be in charge tranquillity emotionsof them rather than be ruled by them. This doesn’t mean suppressing our feelings but it does mean using our creative faculties and intelligence so that we can deal with feelings and emotions as they arise without being swamped by them.

As the mind becomes calmer this becomes easier to do for two main reasons. First, because the mind is clearer, fewer emotions are evoked by the way we think. Second, because mind and body are more settled, we are more aware of emotions as they arise and so more able to pacify them. This puts us on a firm path to serenity.

From The Great Little Book of Happiness

For online meditation tuition, my Meditation Course contains four approaches to inner peace and tranquillity.

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Detox the mind instead of the body – with love

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detox appleDetox is big business. For years, there has been well-marketed  enthusiasm about detoxifying the body. “So-and-so’s (insert name of famous person) marvellous 7, 14 or 28 day detox plan will make you feel so much younger, vital, radiant etc. etc.” Bookshops abound with titles on the subject and, inevitably, celebrity-endorsed products are available in shops and pharmacies for us all to spend our cash on.

Perhaps we have moved on a little from one-food fasts and the fashion of colonic irrigation. Instead, now we can buy gadgets that liquidise vegetable matter that no-one would normally eat so that we can pour various green or brown concoctions down our throats without having to chew or taste anything. Who knew paradise would be like this? Call me old-fashioned, but what some people swallow as super-food looks too much to me like the slurry farmers spread on the fields around here.

No doubt some of these plans, diets and so forth work well. Whether it is due to laziness or denial I’m not sure, but this form of self-torture doesn’t appeal to me. I still have my own teeth and I’d like to keep on using them for as long as possible. And if I choose to eat kale now and again, it will be cooked and chewed before I swallow it.

For some folk this strange way of ingesting food as liquid is the bees knees. In the meantime, the makers of the various high-speed blenders, bullets and whatever else are no doubt very grateful. .And in all fairness, it has been proved beyond any doubt that filling the body with toxins and junk food can make us feel pretty awful, so there must be benefits. Please don’t get me wrong – a detox may well do a lot of good.

Detox the mind as well as the body

But life isn’t ruled by the body and we are not just a body, so if we are going to detoxify ourselves, wouldn’t it be good to find something that detoxifies the mind and emotions as well? After all, it is the mind and emotions that govern our thinking, our speech and our behaviour – which includes the act of putting food into our bodies.

If we can look after the mind and emotions, the body will follow suit. It never ceases to amaze me that we humans are quite happy to spend time in the bathroom in the morning so that we look presentable and our bodies don’t get whiffy but very few people are prepared to spend a few minutes preparing the mind for the day ahead.

Some spiritual teachers with considerable insight have said that if we could see the polluting effects of our minds and emotions on the world, we would be shocked to see how devastating they are – far worse than what we normally term pollution.

Love is the greatest detox

Love purifies because it uplifts our mind. The “rate of vibration” of the mind is raised when we express or feel detox treelove. In old spiritual parlance, the mind is quickened.

As the mind becomes lighter, so do the emotions and our vitality – we are happier and have more energy. We know this from our own experience. As these aspects of our being become lighter, dross or impurities are thrown off.

Imagine a plate or a turntable that is spinning slowly. Objects on it stay where they are purely from their inertia; their own weight keeps them where they are. Now imagine the spinning action speeding up. The objects start to move towards the edge through centrifugal force. The faster the rate of spin, the closer to the edge they go and eventually they are thrown off.

Something similar happens to our system. Negative thinking and negative emotions start to get thrown off by the lighter, positive energy that starts to flow through us as we love more and become happier. This effect on mental, emotional and vital levels of our being also carries through to the physical level. Those who have a deep love for all around them build up fewer toxins from the environment because the body throws them off far more readily.

So love is a great purifier. No, it’s the greatest purifier we can have. We don’t go around trying to love in order to have a “grand detox”, of course, but it is helpful to understand that love is hugely transforming and has only positive benefits. And it’s free.

Based on an extract from The Great Little Book of Happiness available here.

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Release energy with an amazing technique

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Releasing energy is hugely liberating. Of course, it’s not a brilliant idea just to let off steam willy-nilly because we may unwittingly cause harm to others, if not ourselves. But if we know how to release energy in the most positive way, the results can be amazing.

Open the blinds

When we hold back on generosity, it is evidence of tension. If we are the really stingy type, we are very tight open blinds release energyinside, and not just in the wallet. Our internal energy is cramped and at some time that is likely to be reflected in our physical health. Most of us, though, are not mean but often there is an underlying fear of giving. Perhaps we believe somehow it will lead to our impoverishment or to our being taken advantage of. It’s a bit like keeping the blinds closed all day so that no-one can see in. But the light can’t come in either, nor can we see out.

The opposite is to become self-liberated. The liberated person has learned how to release energy so that it circulates freely.

Here is an incredibly simple technique that can help us to do the same. It is a mental process that begins to reshape the mind.

Release energy with the mind

Say quietly (i.e. mentally) to everyone you meet:

  • “I give you all that I have. I wish you great joy and a happy, long life.”

The exact words are not crucial but the thought must be sincere. Really mean what you say. “I give you all that I have” is a great releasing of any attachment we may have. “I wish you great joy and a happy, long life” is wishing the very best for the other person and by wishing happiness for others we sow very positive seeds indeed for our own and others’ peace of mind and happiness.

  • “I give you all that I have. I wish you great joy and a happy long life.”

Please practise this often and always with sincerity. If you do nothing else from this series of posts, please do this because it really will bring great rewards. If you see someone suffering, use the same or similar words and add:

  • “I wish you release from all your suffering.”

Wishing the opposite for others

So, if a person is sick, wish them health. If they are worried, wish them freedom from worry, and so on. Whatever unhappy state or condition they have, wish them the opposite. We don’t say the words out loud but think them as though we were saying them.

Practise this wonderfully simple but effective technique on others as much as you can, whether you know them or not. The effect on our mind is quite remarkable and we release energy so that it can circulate freely.

And don’t forget yourself in this – we often think we don’t deserve happiness, so imagine practising it to an image of yourself, too. That odd person we see in the bathroom mirror deserves happiness, too, so wish it for them!

More on this in The Great Little Book of Happiness

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Barriers to our natural joy

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Recognising barriers to our natural joy

When we cannot feel our natural joy, it is due to barriers caused by internal signals. If we have had a bad or fearful barriersexperience, for example, a memory of it is stored. When something triggers that memory, our horizon is overshadowed, as if by clouds. In energy terms, we close up. Our heart centre shrinks and becomes pinched. We become joyless. Maybe we feel hurt or a little numb. If we are strong, we might be able to masquerade a smile but inside we know we are not smiling. Our perception of the world changes and so do our responses.

What happens then? We often compound our difficulties by jumping to wrong conclusions and making false assumptions.  Sometimes, we may say things that are hurtful or inappropriate. Perhaps we don’t say something when we should – barriers hold us back. Generally, our reactions go against the flow of life rather than with it. In the body, there may well be a stress response so our sense of well-being drops; and if the reaction continues, our immune system takes a knock, too. Our experience of life takes on an unpleasant and joyless hue, which adds to the muddy residue in our memory bank.

Break down the barriers

It is possible, though, with persistence and with time, to overcome the triggers. As a first step, we need to be aware when they have arisen. That may sound obvious but actually most of us go from one moment to the next with fluctuations in temperament. One moment we can be happy then we’ll hear something, see something or just have some thoughts which cause our feelings to dip. But rarely do we intelligently look at why that dip took place. We might see it in others more than in ourselves – a shadow passing across the face, for instance. If we can look at our own dip in mood with the light of the mind, so to speak, it can be quite revealing.

The dip comes because our perceptions are wrong.

We suffer from countless emotions but they can all be said to have their roots in one of three main categories:

  1. attachment and desire (which arise from I want, I like etc.),
  2. aversion, hatred and dislike (from which anger and jealousy arise, for example) and, most important of all,
  3. ignorance as to our own nature (which deludes us into thinking we are separate from everything else in the universe).

The easy way

The easy and intelligent way of looking at an emotional response it is not to analyse its historical causes, some childhood incident perhaps, but merely to identify the emotion that is present. If we are hurt by a remark or by the way we have been treated, for example, we can say or think to ourselves, “A feeling of being hurt is present.” Keep saying it to yourself and eventually the feeling will subside. The important thing is not to apportion blame or cause – that’s the ego’s trick. Simply identify the feeling.

With practice, we might find a realisation dawning: that the feeling of hurt actually arises from attachment or pride, or perhaps both. Again, we don’t try to judge that; instead, we merely say to ourselves, “A feeling of pride is present,” or whatever it happens to be. The vital thing, though, is not to judge; we want to become the observer of the feelings so that they become weaker and lose their power over us, and not get wound into them.

Gradually, these barriers will weaken and eventually dissolve. Then we can find our true purpose in life: to vibrate happiness.

Adapted from Chapter 3 of The Great Little Book of Happiness

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Opening the heart, no surgery

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Opening the heart is extraordinary. In fact, it’s amazing. I don’t mean open-heart surgery, which is incredible, too, but the opening of the subtle heart which gives rise to joy.

Joy is a deeper feeling of happiness, one that really springs from the heart and it arises when the inner heart centres opening the heart joystart to open. If we do things that result in joy, it means that at an energy level the centres have started to change. These centres are said to be very much like flowers in the sense that they radiate from the middle outwards and can close or open rather like the petals of a flower. So joy arises when the energy in the inner heart begins to radiate or, to put it more poetically, as the petals of the heart flower start to open. Sometimes this flower is described as a lotus in bud which gradually opens as we become more loving and compassionate in nature.

Opening the heart as habit

If we want to experience joy, or experience it more deeply, we have to allow or encourage openness of heart so that there is an outward movement of energy. From time to time, events in life will trigger responses in us that cause the outward flow of energy to retract. This is rather like the shadow from a cloud passing across the face of the sun that can cause some types of flower to close their petals. This happens and will always happen – it’s human life. But we can live life in such a way that the general trend is for the heart to be increasingly more open so that life becomes increasingly joyful.

The positive effect on well-being and health

The key to these energy changes is to work from the inside outwards. The more subtle the energy we work with, the greater the effects. As joyfulness and happiness are states of mind, they have a direct bearing on our vitality and on our sense of well-being.

Joy and happiness are experienced when the mind is in a more natural state, unclouded by negative conditioning. The perception of life and everything around us is different. The beauty of a flower, for example, can deeply affect us when the mind is clear. Dewdrops in the morning sun can appear like diamonds iridescent with penetrating colours. A simple act of kindness can change how we view someone. All manner of things can happen and, when they do, there is a response in the heart centre. Joy, warmth and gladness can be felt here and that response triggers, at a physical level, biochemical reactions in the body and brain. A greater sense of well-being is experienced – we feel good, there is less stress and the immune system is stronger.

A heightened sense of awareness

So many people have told me over the years how, as they have felt increasingly better within themselves, their appreciation and awareness of life have improved significantly. This is not just a change in intellectual functioning but something else goes on. As the more subtle energies improve, the knock-on effect in the physical body is not just one of health and well-being. The level of chi or prana, the vital energy that governs health and the whole functioning of the body, is improved and that has a direct bearing on the nervous system. This isn’t rocket science – if we are in a room full of stale air, for example, we will feel dull until we can revitalise ourselves with some fresh air and exercise; and as that dullness is overtaken by freshness, our senses become more alert.

opening heart awareness

Joyousness has a similar effect. As we become happier, not only does our energy improve but our sense faculties become sharper as well. Colours appear more vibrant; we will hear, perhaps, more subtle nuances of sound and our senses of taste and smell may pick up different flavours and fragrances. It is not uncommon for people to change their eating habits to different types of food as increasing sense appreciation and awareness unfold.

These are just examples but the important thing is that our awareness and our senses inform the mind, so a cycle of improvement takes place. The joyful heart heightens perception and heightened perception helps to create the conditions for happiness and joy. Life becomes fuller and richer. When increasing richness to life isn’t present, it means that there are barriers and we’ll have a look at the reasons for those next.

Adapted from Chapter 3 of The Great Little Book of Happiness

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