1. Making Time by Viriam Kaur
Time is an elusive entity.We wait in an airport for what feels like days, the clock
ticking slowly, then our holiday seems to be over in a flash. Sitting in bound lotus
position for a few minutes, we might feel condemned to eternal torture. While in
meditation, we can open up so that time drops away and what seems like just
minutes of sitting has seen the clock tick through a whole hour. It’s all about
perception.
As we get older we often complain: “There aren’t enough hours in the day.” Are
our years really speeding up or is it all relative to how long we’ve been rocking
around the planet? A year is a fifth of a five-year-old’s life which is why the six-
week summer holidays seem to last forever, while a year is just a thirtieth of a
thirty-year old’s life and so on.We have more to measure our lives by until a day
is just a blip in an octogenarian’s existence. Urban existence is busy and that this
affects our relationship with time. Even if we live in the countryside or on a
remote beach, the trappings of modern Western life such as television, email,
fax, mobile phones and air travel mean the whole world is vibrating with action.
Sunrise and sunset need not affect us, and we seldom have to wait for anything.
Caroline Reynolds runs Spiritual Fitness retreats to help people rediscover
meaning in their lives. She asks: “Are we designed to hurtle down a four-lane
motorway at 90mph whilst talking on the phone?”Time may be of the essence,
but is speeding up the answer?
In Sanskrit, the world ‘kal’ means both time and death. The guru Osho spoke of
the interwoven nature of these two experiences:“ Time and death are the same;
to live in time means to live in death. And the moment time disappears death
disappears. So when you are utterly silent, when no thought moves your mind,
time disappears. And the moment time disappears and the clock of your mind
stops, suddenly you enter the world of the timeless, the eternal world, the world
of the absolute.”
We want to ‘manage’ time, ‘keep’ time, or make ‘efficient use’ of our time.
Knowing we have just 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week, 8760 hours a year.Yet
we do not focus on the quality of the time we do have, we just plead for more
hours in the day. We need to learn to appreciate each moment, even if it isn’t
filled with excitement or activity.
In our sound-bite culture, we are always in a rush – even if it’s to get to a yoga
class.We have an arms-length to-do list on all fronts – at work, at home and with
friends. Trying to ‘keep up’ whether it’s with new films, exhibitions or social
events, and to experience a work/life balance means we self-inflict a kind of
sensory overload. Even in yoga class, we don’t want to go through the

2. groundwork: we want to be able to do the most complex postures now.We are
always in a hurry.
Osho’s solution was to explore ‘Dynamic Meditation’. He saw the benefit of sitting
cross-legged under a tree meditating like the ancients, but appreciated that in our
modern society we might not make the time. Dynamic Meditation involves an
active physical component to help you get a glimpse of timelessness quicker.
Barefoot Doctor looks at the curiosity of our situation another way. “You are
being transported through deepest, darkest space in an orbital trajectory around
the sun and will more than likely continue to be, as if on a cosmic waltzer in
perpetual motion, every hour from now on until you die, at the staggering rate of
66,000 miles per hour. And yet, you still insist on rushing around?”
“Rushing is habit-forming. It may feel good the first few times, but after a while
you become used to it, don’t even notice you’re doing it. You can’t stop rushing
around even when you’ve got time to sit and do absolutely nothing,” says
Barefoot and this has an effect on the body. He believes when you rush, your
kidneys contract, producing fear (in this case, of not keeping up). Your internal
chi energy is squeezed upwards into the adrenal glands causing your adrenal fire
to burn too hot.
“To liberate yourself,” he says: “Place your hands on your hips and press your
thumbs into the sides of the ridges of the muscle that run either side of your
spine producing a strong but pleasant ache. The longer and stronger you can
take the ache, the quicker you’ll release the contraction. Maintain for about 80
seconds and release slowly. Now say, ‘I vow from now to only ever take things at
a pace I enjoy and I am comfortable with.The more I enjoy my pace and feel
comfortable with it, the faster I can go and the more effective I will be in the long
run.’”
One benefit of a 24-hour society is that you can, if you wish, follow your own
patterns rather than one dictated by a nine to five schedule. “Wherever possible,
start to gear your life around the times of day that are most conducive for you,”
says Caroline Reynolds. “When I write I find that I enjoy the uninterrupted peace
of the night hours. Many writers tend to rise at 6am, which is when I am
resting.Your use of time will be most powerful for you if you align it with your own
inner clock.”
Michael Geary works with the quality of time. As a Vedic astrologer, he runs the
website www.panchang.com dedicated to helping you work with the moon and
the energy of each day. According to him, there are certain times of each day
and month that are better geared to going to the dentist, asking for a payrise or
asking someone to marry you. If you can align yourself with the time vibrations of
the day you will feel more ‘in the flow’. Any form of meditative practice will help
you go with the flow of time. The pranayama breathing exercise nadi sodhana
(alternate nostril breathing) can give us perspective and emotional balance. It is

3. an ancient technique that was heavily introduced to the West by Kundalini Master
Yogi Bhajan in 1969.
Sit in easy pose with a light jalandhar bandha (neck lock), with the eyes closed
focusing at the brow. Place the right hand in vishnu mudra, with the third and
fourth finger resting lightly at the base of the thumb. Close off the right nostril with
the right thumb and inhale through the left nostril, then close off the left nostril
with the right mercury finger (little finger) and exhale slowly through the right
nostril. Then inhale through the right nostril and repeat the sequence for a
minute. Feel the flow of the breath as a continuous smooth circle.
Sound is another yogic technique that can bring perspective. Try chanting:“Kal
akaal siree kaal mahaa akaal akaal moorat”.This protective mantra helps to
remove the very shadow of death. And as Osho said:“The source of time and
death is the mind.The mind is time, the mind is death. But through meditation,
through watching the mind, you can leave death behind.”
There is now a whole movement urging us to take our time, to slow down. In his
book In Praise of Slow, Carl Honore explores our relationship to speed. He
believes our wage-slave culture has an impact on our health, with more and
more people taking days off work because of stress. Many people don’t get
enough sleep, instead relying on stimulants from coffee to cocaine just to get
through each day.
However others are turning towards spirituality. “These days, many people are
seeking refuge from speed in the safe harbour of spirituality,” he says. “Buddhism
is booming across the West, as are bookstores, chat rooms and healing centres
dedicated to the eclectic, metaphysical doctrines of New Ageism. All of this
makes sense at a time when people crave slowness..”
Going slow takes in all the more sensorial paths of life, from tantric sex to
preparing home-cooked food. A simple way to put it all into perspective is to sit
by a tree. Look at the magnificence of the tree rising up above you and
appreciate the root system delving into the earth beneath you – this tree has
been on the planet probably before you were born and will likely be here long
after your time has elapsed.
“Enjoy waiting for its own sake. Don’t you see the beauty of just waiting – the
purity of it, the benediction of it, the innocence of it? See the point of it – pure
waiting, not knowing what is going to happen. If you know what is going to
happen, that will have been supplied by your past. It will be a continuity with the
past; it will not be new… the waiting is infinitely joyous.” Osho
Check out words of wisdom from Osho at www.osho.com or in The ABC of
Enlightenment (Thorsons), find out more about time at www.panchang.com and
Caroline Reynolds’ retreats at www.spiritual-fitness.co.uk. Discover how to go

4. slow with Carl Honore’s In Praise of Slow (Orion) and find Liberation (Thorsons)
with Barefoot Doctor.