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"Breathe in, and enjoy breathing in."
"Breathe out, and enjoy breathing out."
Patrick Cassidy Sensei, from Aikido Montreux, was here teaching a seminar recently. While instructing us in an ukemi exercise he told us to do something (basically a way of rolling around smoothly on the mat), and then he added the instruction to "enjoy doing" what we were doing.
Huh…
Until that moment I had seen enjoyment as a passive thing that might or might not happen, depending on the circumstances. But he presented enjoyment as a deliberate, volitional act. "Enjoy doing this."
It's something I've been exploring since: Enjoy driving to work. Enjoy washing your hair.
I was reminded of it this morning, when Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, was leading a meditation at the Plum Village Online Monastery, and gave the instruction above, about breathing.
08-20-2011 04:15 PM 