"I am losing my mind" and I don't even own it

A friend exclaimed "I think I am losing my mind!"

How is that possible? She doesn't even own it! You can't lose something if you don't own it.

The mind owns us. The mind runs us most of the time. It is pretty much doing its thing. We can influence it a little bit, at best.

From an evolutionary standpoint, the development of language, abstract thinking and the mind gave humans a huge advantage. It was a pivotal moment that allowed early humans an ability to manipulate the world around us in ways that instinct alone could not.

The mind's first job was to keep the organism safe. The mind constantly scans the environment to detect threats to the organism. The mind's second job was to figure out ways to avoid pain and increase pleasure. Its job description is pretty simple. We cling to the mind's voices for safety. We usually rely on the mind to tell us everything, who we are and what to do. We do so willingly.

Thoughts are as impermanent as changing clouds in the sky. They have no essential permanence to them. They have no power, unless we give them power.

As Mickey Singer, author of "The Untethered Soul" has said, "Don't blame the mind. It is just doing the job you gave it. It is trying to keep you safe." "The mind just lives rent free in your head."

There are many practices for going beyond the mind.

There are the practices labeled "Mindfulness" or "The Witness" or from modern psychology "The Self observing Self." These ancient practices are like using a "thorn to remove a thorn." One sits "behind the thoughts and listens to what the thoughts are." One "watches thoughts like people walking down the street." One "sits in the audience and watches the thoughts, drama and characters on the screen like a movie." There are many more metaphors for understanding this powerful technique.

The yogis used another method that is related, but distinct from Mindfulness, called Praanaayaama. Praanaayaama is about physiologically slowing down the breath. One cannot just decide with the mind to slow down the breath for very long. Sure, you can hold your breath. You can force it, but that doesn't feel good, it kinda sucks and it doesn't really get you anywhere, so far as the mind is concerned.

However, the body and breath can be slowed down through daily habits. The body has enormous resources that are scarcely known. There is a day by day process outlined in This Next Breath and This Next Breath II where over time the efficiency of blood circulation increases, lung volume increases, nervous system slows down and the metabolic need for breath slows down.

When the breath naturally slows down, the character of the mind changes. The difference is like your mind being a sailboat on a stormy sea full of desires and plans and a to-do list. Then, a time comes, when your boat is becalmed, sitting on a glassy lake and there is no wind.

When the breath slows down to 3 breaths per minute, 2 breaths per minute, one breath per minute or lower, the mind is becalmed. It becomes clear. It happens quite organically. It doesn't happen because the mind was telling the breath to slow down. The mind's activity is biologically dependent on what is happening in the organism.

Classical Yoga uses both methods of Praanaayaama and Meditation. They are distinct and yet they are related. Slow down the breath and the functions of the body first, then move on to meditation. It works better.

It makes sense.