Three Important Exercises: Part One
Description
Phakchok Rinpoche offers three exercises to help us create a strong base in our life. In this excerpt, he presents the first exercise.
He has observed that many young people today are susceptible to manipulation by others. Corporations are so skillful in marketing these days, and we are vulnerable to messages about achieving impossible perfection. We need to be aware of becoming only consumers rather than living beings. Rinpoche reminds his audience that each of us is unique!
Rinpoche also uses the analogy of a computer and its software to explain the relationship between the mind and emotions. Misfunction can occur like a computer virus. When our mindset is feeling depressed, lonely, or worried, it is like having a computer virus.
Rinpoche explains that it is okay for a Buddhist practitioner to wish to be happy. He suggests that everyone can benefit from simple breathing exercises that help us to clean our emotional viruses. We are “rebooting” ourselves with this technique.
If we practice the first simple alternate nostril breathing for four minutes daily we will experience a sense of calm. Each of us is unique, but all of us breathe on a regular basis. We all have different personalities and we are of different ages and life experiences. But this breathing exercise can help each of us to feel calm. And when our minds are calm, then we can commit to making life changes that are beneficial. Our minds are clearer and sharper, and we can be more creative. Four minutes daily can make a big difference!
This teaching is a the first part of Rinpoche’s teachings on the three important exercises that anyone can perform. You can access the next teaching in this series here.
