Meditation #7 Training Your Doggy Mind With The Tale Of The Two Wolves

Welcome, friends, did you know that we think up to 60,000 thoughts a day? That is a lot of thinking. So if you're finding your mind racing, or running, and always ruminating, then join me in a calming meditation. My name is Linda Orsini, and I just came back from walking my dog. As dogs do, he was running and seeking, smelling and sniffing. Can you picture a playful dog, a curious dog, eagerly running after every bone it sees. Well, just like my dog, and all dogs, this represents the doggy mind. And the doggy mind is impulsive. It chases after every impulse and desire that arises within us. Then there is the monkey mind that swings from tree to tree, from thought to thought. The monkey mind is restless and wild. Either the doggy or the monkey mind. The goal of meditation is not to stop thinking, which is actually literally impossible, and totally unfair to our minds. Every day, we wake up thinking of what we need to do and what we want to do. And so we train our minds to be thinking, planning and processing. And then we walk into a room or we create a space where we tell our mind to slow down while the mind does not flip a switch so easily. And so it's quite unfair that we are so hard on ourselves when our mind does not slow down when we wish it to. The goal in meditation is to observe what is going on in your mind. By watching it thing as a process that is happening instead of engaging in the story in the narrative in the drama. Your mind will move on junk from thought to but just like my dog or other dogs. Just like monkeys our mind is no different. The doggy mind and the monkey mind. Both thrive on attention. Just like stray animals if you feed them, they will always return wanting more. So if so if you're constantly feeding your thoughts by paying attention to the storyline, they will in fact keep coming back. The key in creating present moment awareness in meditation is if it's possible in this moment to simply observe your mind chasing thoughts or jumping around

when we feed into these thoughts, feelings and emotions, it can cause us great unease. So the key here is to not feed into the monkey or the doggy mind. Which makes me think of a very special story. I'd like to share this with you here now. It's a Native American parable. And it goes like this. Cherokee is teaching his grandson about light. fight is going on inside me. He said to the boy. It is a terrible fight. And it is between two wolves. One is evil is anger. envy, sorrow, regret, greed. arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The Cherokee continue the other one is good. He has joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, through compassion and faith. Well, he said to his grandson, the same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person to the grandson thought about it for a moment, and then asked his grandfather which wolf will win the old Cherokee simply reply, the one you feed

this narrative American parable truly reflects and reminds us that we have the power over our experiences and emotions. We can decide to feed into negativity, or even pleasure for that matter, or becoming more mindful of the moment. As Jon Kabat Zinn reminds us, mindfulness is paying attention on purpose in the present moment, and non judgmentally. Or, as I like to say, knowing what we are doing, why we are doing it.

And so I invite you to settle into greater ease, and to become the observer of your mind and your thoughts. When the monkey or doggy mind appears, just notice and then release, release, attaching, chasing, or jumping from thought to thought of mindfully become present in the moment and to the awareness of your breath. You can focus on your breath either at the belly or at the edges of your nostrils. whatever resonates with you. Finding deeper stillness hear with your eyes may be already closed and certainly softened. Notice and feel your breath feel the chest rise on inhale and soften on the exhale take a deep inhale and then exhale release

allow your whole physical body to give into gravity. Really offer yourself this time in this space to really come into a sense of ease giving your mind full permission to soften your muscles to soften and your whole body to relax as you become more and more comfortable in this moment

heal yourself getting more still more silent, drawn deeper inward.

As you breathe here you can invite the mantra ohm or just follow your breath

allow your gaze To draw to the space between your eyebrows allowing your exhales to be longer than your inhales

and know that if your mind begins to chase thoughts, just imagine that little puppy dog on the end of a leash where you gently guide the puppy dog back to you. You can do that with your mind as well. If your mind begins to wander gently guide your mind back to the present moment with kindness and compassion and now take another deep inhale through your nose and exhale saying it out through your mouth.

Allow yourself to turn inwards and be here as you follow your breath or the mantra or allow your mind to soften until you hear the sound of the singing bells

RIGHT. So slowly and gently back into your physical body he gets deep inhale through your nose and exhale release will no longer serves you. Offering yourself here a sense of gratitude to finding stillness. A sense of gratitude to yourself for practicing for creating the space to train your mind and to soften to release the urge to chase or jump from thought to thought. But to merely be here. Being the observer of your breath does take a lot of courage. And so often yourself sense of gratitude. As Pema children says, meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and becoming something better or even different. It's about befriending who we already are. Practicing meditation is something that you may want to consider inviting more into your life. Meditation is a gift we give to ourselves because it allows us to respond to life with more grace and ease. Always wishing you peace and joy from my heart to yours Namaste