Read Online Get Some Headspace: 10 minutes can make all the difference by Andy Puddicombe - Free Book Online Page B

What’s the hurry?’
    Again, he was right, I was rushing my meditation, thinking that somehow the next moment was more important than this one, still trying to get to a certain state of mind. Quite what point I was trying to reach was not entirely clear. ‘Instead,’ he suggested, ‘approach your mind in the same way that these wild horses are broken in. Imagine you’re standing in the middle of a really big space, a large open field. Now the horse is on the end of a slack rope that you’re holding on to, but it has all the space it needs. It doesn’t feel as though it’s being trapped or pinned down in any way.’ I imagined the horse running freely in the field, as I stood there keeping a watchful eye on it, holding on loosely to the end of the rope. ‘Now place one hand over the other and very gently shorten the length of the rope by bringing it in a bit. Not by much, but just a little bit.’ He held his thumb and forefinger up, just half a centimetre between them, as if to emphasise the point. ‘If you do this gently enough with a wild horse, it won’t even notice the difference – it will still feel as though it has all the space in the world. Keep doing this, slowly bringing the horse closer, all the while keeping an eye on it, but giving it enough space to feel at ease and not too nervous.’
    This made a lot of sense and simply imagining the process made me feel more relaxed. ‘So,’ he said, ‘this is what you need to do with your mind when you sit down and find it’s very busy. Take it slowly, be gentle and give it all the space that it needs. Allow the horse to come to a natural place of rest, where it feels happy, confident and relaxed staying in one place. Sometimes it might struggle at first, but that’s fine, just loosen the rope again slightly, and gently repeat the process. If you meditate in this way then your mind will be very happy,’ he said.
    Remembering this simple story will make a huge difference to your meditation. In fact, why not check out the horse-taming animation on our website at www.getsomeheadspace.com/headspacebook/get-some-headspace
    Meditation and Emotions
    The reversal
    With all this good advice, it wasn’t long before my mind really started to settle down. There were still days when the mind was busy, but I was becoming increasingly comfortable with watching the thoughts as they passed by. The thoughts were somehow easier to deal with and I’d taken the analogies of the road and the blue sky to heart. However, when strong emotions arose in the mind or I started to feel physical discomfort, I had a hard time just sitting with it. I found it almost impossible to be unbiased in these situations. When I felt happy and blissed out I wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible. But when unpleasant feelings arose I couldn’t help but resist them. I’d lost count of how many times I’d been told that resistance was futile, that it only made the situation worse, but I just couldn’t help myself.
    This went on for some time. I saw it as a kind of heroic battle with the ego and, being quite stubborn, refused to back down. I didn’t yet have the awareness to see that the only battle I was waging was against myself. Eventually I had to concede that I was getting nowhere and so once again I arranged to see my teacher. As I explained the situation to him, he nodded away as if he’d heard the same thing a hundred times before. ‘It’s the same for everyone,’ he began. ‘We’re attracted to the things we like and we become attached to these things. We don’t want to give them up for anything. The only problem is, the more we chase after them the further away they appear. And the more we try to hold on to these pleasant feelings, the more fearful we become of losing them.’
    It was true. In fact, in my meditation practice it had even become a bit of an obstacle, because every time I had a session in which I experienced what I considered to be positive