Most of us find it difficult to allocate time (say, 30 minutes) for an activity such as meditation. How to steal time during the day, say while we are waiting for the elevator, and meditate? Here are a few tips on "Mindfulness on the go: meditation in a time stealing mode". These slides were used during a half-day workshop conducted in Bangalore, India.

1. Mindfulness on the go
Meditation in a time stealing mode
Vinay Dabholkar
vinay@catalign.com
May 31, 2015
www.catalign.com 1
http://www.catalign.in/2015/05/mindfulness-on-go-my-first-workshop.html

2. Let’s say “hello” in the
primary language of the land
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What is the primary language of the
new land?

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Primary language is “Stillness”
Found in the gaps between thoughts
Exercise:
• Sit comfortably
• Close your eyes
• Observe the train of thoughts (If there is no
thought, even better!)
• Notice the gaps between consecutive thoughts
(if you find any)
• It’s OK if you don’t find any gaps
• Duration: 2 minutes

4. Workshop objective
• What the is the challenge?
• What can we do?
Approach #1: Attention
Approach #2: Alertness
Approach #3: Acceptance
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5. A sincere request
• Don’t believe in anything anyone says – be it a
scripture, a Guru or the facilitator
• Treat “believing” and “not believing” same as
“don’t know” (We don’t say – I believe in C
programming, I believe in sunrise)
• The most useful thing is an experiment that
you can try out for yourself and check (“A
Mirror”)
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6. The challenge
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What is the source of all this trouble?
Thought
http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html

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Q: It is said: Do your duty without any expectation
of results. How shall I get that frame of mind?
M: You need not aspire or get any new state. Get rid
of your present thoughts, that is all.
Talk: 472, 15th March 1938

9. Sincere request: An example
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Vinay lives in Kathmandu and his family dies in the
quake. He is devastated and visits Ramana in
Tiruvannamalai. Tells Ramana, “My life is ruined”
Ramana’s imaginary response: Get rid of the
thought, that’s all.

10. Your response to Ramana’s response
1. “This guy is fraud. He doesn’t even move his
butt from his Ashram and claims there is no
problem.”
2. “Om, Ramanaya Namah! Ramana is God.
Whatever he says is true. I believe him.”
3. “Sounds weird. But let me check when I have a
problem and see if I can test this approach.”
#1 and #2 are dead ends. #3 may open a door.
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11. What does thought do?
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12. #1: Creates & sustains a gap between
perception and reality
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Deepika’s interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp9f1buA_A4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill
During depression, at the end of a very successful year as an
actress (2013), Deepika Padukone felt “emptiness”.
For most of us, the gap manifests in the form of worry, anxiety,
anger, guilt, blame, expectations etc. – also referred to as –
perpetual unsatisfactoriness or hedonic treadmill

13. #2: Drains energy through wasteful
thinking
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http://www.catalign.in/2015/01/realizing-my-biggest-addiction-thinking.html

14. #3: Creates huge psychic pollution
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“All managers
are useless”

15. Boss is mad at me…
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http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html
Imagine you cross your boss in the office corridor and you see
that he is looking particularly unhappy and avoiding eye
contact. Then you recollect that he would have seen your email
that your teams’ delivery will slip this time as well. Now, it is
clear to you that he is really going to take some action this
time. You go to your seat and immediately start browsing job
market sites. Soon you are convinced that boss is going to fire
you. You start sending mails to your close friends looking for
help in finding a job. You are not able to focus on your work
and you come home worried.

16. What kinds of perception-reality
gap does thought create?
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• Gap persists in spite of the knowledge
• How do you work around it?

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Not all illusions are visual. There are
illusions of thought which we call
cognitive illusions. These can be more
stubborn than visual illusions.

19. Two powerful cognitive illusions
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“I never misbehaved, always listened to parents
and teachers, never wore a miniskirt… still I got
dumped” – Rani in Queen
Like Rani, we believe we understand cause-and-
effect relationship – e.g. listen to parents and things
will be good – an illusion of understanding
Source: Thinking, fast & slow

21. #1: Illusion of control
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If kids go to
International
school…
Understanding of
cause-and-effect
Ability to predict
future
3D printers will
be everywhere
by 2020
Illusion of skill
I will turn this
company around
Source: Thinking, fast & slow

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It is not that we don’t understand
anything…
The problem is….we have unlimited
capacity to ignore our ignorance.
WYSIATI-rule: What you see is all there is
(Management case study syndrome)
Source: Thinking, fast & slow

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“I listened raptly to a long symphony on a disc
that was scratched near the end, producing a
shocking sound and the bad ending ruined
the whole experience”
#2 Illusion
Source: Thinking, fast & slow

24. #2: Illusion of experience
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Pleasantness
Time
• Peak-end rule
• Duration neglect
Kahneman’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRlrBl-7Yg

25. The selfie-syndrome
(or sunset-syndrome)
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“What we learn from the past is to maximize
the qualities of our future memories, not
necessarily of our future experience. This is
the tyranny of the remembering self.”
-- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, fast & slow

26. Get a feel of the dysfunction
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Proprioception
Exercise:
• Stand up with no obstacle in front
• and close your eyes
• Raise your arm – pointing in front direction
• Slowly move it to the left & then to the right (say 20
degrees)
• Let it drop as if limp
• Press it against the chair & feel the pressure
• Duration: 5 minutes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

28. 3 types of movement awareness
Movement type:
1. Sideways movement – spatial awareness
2. Dropping of hand – voluntary vs involuntary
3. Pressure of hand – pressure awareness
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29. What if some of these awareness are
damaged?
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30. Ian Waterman
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• At the age of 19, Ian lost spatial awareness of body
movement below neck
• Can’t feel his hand/feet position
• Only when he can see, he can move his leg
• It is as if you are missing your step every moment
http://www.okjdiscoveries.com/articles/mind-bomb/2013/12/ian-walterman-without-
proprioception

31. Leper dressing at Anandwan
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• Pressure awareness damaged
• Apply too much pressure inadvertently
http://travelwithgrace.me/category/meditation/

32. Now imagine if you lose the awareness
to know if the movement of your hand
is voluntary or involuntary
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You don’t know if
• You are moving your hand, or
• Your neighbour is moving your hand, or
• Gravity is moving your hand

33. Thought is like a body-part
• All humans have a common dysfunction
• We don’t know if a train of thought is:
– A solution to a problem you are working on, or
– A response to a remark from the person sitting
next to me, or
– A response to an imaginary scenario like losing my
job in the future
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http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html

34. Let’s see the dysfunction in a
magnified form & a glimpse of the
solution
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35. A beautiful mind
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojmWRWijVfQ (movie)
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html

36. How could you, John?
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“How could you believe that extra-terrestrials
are sending you messages?”
“Because, the ideas I had about supernatural
beings came to me the same way that my
mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.”
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html

37. Nash’s “weight-loss” process
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“It is a continuous process rather than waking
up from a dream. It is a matter of policing one’s
thoughts trying to recognize paranoid ideas and
rejecting them, just the way somebody who
wants to lose weight has to decide consciously
to avoid fats or sweets.”
http://www.catalign.in/2015/03/a-beautiful-mind-and-three-acts-of.html

38. Approach: Nash vs Deepika
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Deepika’s interview advocated getting expert
help to solve a problem such as depression.
Nash advocated applying your own mind to
solve the problem of the mind.

39. What is mindfulness?
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40. Mindfulness
1. Attention in the present moment (not in the
past or future)
2. Alertness about what is arising and passing
away e.g. thoughts, emotions, sense
perceptions
3. Acceptance of reality as it is without
judgment
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http://www.catalign.in/2014/07/three-practices-from-eckhart-tolles.html

41. A two state model
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Relatively
undisturbed
Disturbed
It is better to start the practice in the
“Relatively undisturbed” state
Attention
Alertness
Acceptance

43. Approach #1: ATTENTION
Shift attention out of thinking
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44. Metaphor #1: Wiper & road
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Don’t try to control the wiper, instead shift the
focus away from wiper on to the road
Metaphor source: https://nachiketasquest.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/focus-on-the-road-some-wisdom-from-mooji/
Image source: http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7313829_replace-country-windshield-wiper-arm.html

45. Metaphor #2: train & platform
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Whenever you get an opportunity, hop off the
train and observe the trains from the platform
Metaphor source: http://ashramof1.tumblr.com/post/86281899767
Image source: http://retirementjourney.blogspot.in/2010/11/coonoor-to-kathmandu-4-9-november-2010.html

46. Lineage
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Mooji
(source of
both metaphors)

47. What is the platform or anchor?
You can use any of these as the anchor:
Feel the movement / change:
• Breath (at the tip of the nostrils)
• Abdomen
• Tingling in the hand / fingers
• Surrounding sounds
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48. Exercise
• Sit comfortably
• Close your eyes
• Shift attention at the tip of the nostril and feel
the incoming & outgoing breath (5 min)
• Shift attention to the rising and falling
movement of abdomen (5 min)
• Cross your fingers and shift attention to the
tingling in the fingers especially where they
cross each other (5 min)
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49. When do we do this?
• Waiting:
– At the traffic light
– For the lift
– For your turn at the grocery checkout counter
– For your laptop to switch on
• Introduce a moment of wait:
– Answering the phone, starting your car, taking first bite
• Mundane activities (means to an end to end)
– Restroom break -- Jogging
– Commercial break -- Washing dishes
– Walking from here to there -- sweeping
– Opening a door
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50. Approach #2: ALERTNESS
Catch yourself getting lost in thought
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51. Catch me if you can – A game
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About to
get angry
Getting
angry
Angry Anger
subsiding
Anger
Intensity
Stage-1
Stage-2
Stage-3
“Gotcha”
point
http://www.catalign.in/2014/02/eckhart-tolles-catch-me-if-you-can.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqX5IFKYFWk (video – Dealing with anger, resistance and pessimism)

52. Eckhart Tolle – author of the game
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz0e9LrOsyk (A chapter by chapter webinar based on
10 chapters of “A New Earth” with skype calls all around the world)

53. Identify “buttons” first
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This began most recognizably
with the rejection of politically
oriented thinking as essentially a
hopeless waste of intellectual
effort
Source: A beautiful mind, by Sylvia Nasar, chapter 47, Remission

54. What is wasteful? LOST in thought
• L(abel): Right / Wrong, Good / Bad
• O(wnership): Car, House, Idea, Relationship
• S(tory): Victim, Villain (guilt, blame, worry)
• T(ime): Past / Future
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55. Press the “button” voluntarily
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http://www.catalign.in/2014/11/thought-as-system-by-david-bohm-book.html

56. Approach #3: ACCEPTANCE
This is what it is. What next?
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57. Metaphor #1: Stuck in the mud
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If you are stuck in the mud, the first thing you need to
say is “Yes. I am stuck in the mud.” What doesn’t help
is: “Why did I get stuck? I wish I had not come here…”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/bad-memories-eckhart-tolle-how-to-
deal_n_2260002.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in
Image src: http://www.bryanzimmermansblog.com/why-do-so-many-just-give-up-on-making-money-
online-how-to-keep-yourself-out-of-this-rut

58. Metaphor #2: Friend’s mom’s story
• Husband passed away
• Friend’s mom behaving as though he is alive
• “I need to get back and prepare dinner for
him”
• Until a time, when she accepts the death of
her husband
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59. Metaphor #3: Release the pedal
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Acceptance is also known as – non-resistance
A shift from effort to non-effort
Image source: http://lifehackery.com/2008/09/28/automotive/

60. Seneca’s write-off method
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Every night, before going to bed,
mentally write off everything you own /
possess: wealth, job, relationships etc.
If you still have them in the morning,
treat it as a bonus.
http://www.valueinvestingworld.com/2012/01/nassim-taleb-on-seneca.html

61. Write-off at the end of every action
• Sending mail – write-off response
• Ordering online – write-off delivery
• Request for meeting – write-off response
• Telling your son to do something – write-off
his compliance
• Applying for a job – write-off favourable
response
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62. Universal “yes” to everything
Meditation is a universal “yes” to everything
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This is how it is. What next?
http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/about/rupert-spira

63. Metric: Progress indicators
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64. Metric
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Focus Parameters
Attention How many times you are able to hop off the train of
thinking on the platform in a day?
Alertness How do you respond to challenging situations? (loss of
something/someone, when you are hurt etc.)
Alertness How many times are you able catch yourself getting
LOST (Label, Ownership, Story, Time) in thought?
Alertness How many times are you able to catch yourself before
or during an emotional surge?
Acceptance How many times are you able to catch yourself
building an expectation at the end of an action
(sending email)?
Acceptance How many times are you able to detect internal
resistance and release the pedal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmQJaFV0y0w

65. Thank You
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