The Mechanics of the Mind
Why Understand The Mind In Yoga?
Even the translation of “yoga chitta vritti nirodha” can be confusing- “yoga is the suspension of the modifications of the mind”. This article will hopefully cover why this is relevant in yoga.
The mind must be described properly to be understood. You describe it so that one can become aware of it's various aspects in order to bring it under control. Since the point of yoga is to suspend the modifications of the mind, then it's clear one must grasp how the mind works.
The mind NOT the brain
It's important to note here, we are not referring to the brain. The brain is considered to be the receiver and physiological "antenna", if you will, of the Mind. The subtle being more powerful than the gross, the mind is considered to 'cause' the brain, not the other way around.
Understand Using Simple Metaphors
The way the mind works can be summarized using metaphors to describe it's various "personalities". At no time are there no thoughts, except in highly advanced yogis.
It is the nature of the mind to create thoughts, like waves lapping on the shore; the waves of thoughts are gradually eroding or depositing on this shore, depending on the nature of what they contain, and how strong the wind is.
The metaphors are as follows:
1) Mind Is Like Water
if one is looking for an accurate reflection of reality, one must have a calm lake of a mind.
Lake, Distorted By Strong Emotions
If one has large distortion, as in the case of strong anger, hate, jealously or other outsized emotions, one will see nothing but huge waves on the mind-lake caused by emotional disturbance. If you can decrease the wind on the lake by controlling the breath, then the amplitude of the waves will decrease.
Beautiful Seashells or Garbage?
This is one goal of yoga to make the lake of the mind like a mirror, free of distortions. As these waves connect to the shore of your life, what they contain can help or hinder like in the metaphor above- they can add or remove material from the shore of your life. They can leave garbage or beautiful shells and rocks. The water can be clear and you can see the life flowing in it well, or it can be silty, muddy and rancorous.
2) Mind Is Like A Monkey
Thoughts often can jump like a "Drunk Monkey Stung by a Scorpion" in the words of Swami Vishnu-devananda:
The thoughts go anywhere they please in delight of their utter freedom one habitually has given them. Squawking and making a great noise all the while, utterly unfocused and random, these thoughts leave you in a state where one can never really say where one is, what one is doing, and what one's priorities are.
One's subconscious mind is filled with information which is bubbling up in emotions caused by the past, some imagination and often is forever allowed to have it's way with one's conscious mind as it likes in this random fashion.
This tendency is exacerbated by our culture of computers, driving, quick-cut television, and persistent cultural drug use (just visit any convenience store- they are like mini drug stores- every sort of caffeinated beverage is available, plus now even more substances are widely in use like guarana, ginseng, etc, etc...)
3) Mind Is Like A Wild Horse
The Mind can be like a wild horse which likes to run in a particular direction in a vast territory and do as it likes. Being large and powerful as it is, it can often feel overpowering and dominating. However, even wild horses can be tamed with patience and a firm yet gentle persistence. I like to think of Seabiscuit in this way. An excellent article on "spirited children" talks about this topic in the same way.
One has to let the animal nature have some part of what it wants as one gets to know it. One must first allow the animal nature represented by the Wild Hose Mind know you are there, then know your intentions, then gradually guiding it to the direction you want it to go.
It will rebel at too many restrictions too quickly, so one must be careful as to not get kicked. If this happens, one is likely never to go near the Wild Horse Mind again, and then many chances are lost and time wasted in making real progress that is only enabled by this discipline. One method to control this is the "little,little" method of Swami Sivananda. One makes a small achievable change and makes it stick. Gradually, those small changes amount of what appears to many to be a complete change with time.
Speaking for myself, I had to treat my mind (and still do when good habits fall away and need re-establishing) in this same clear consistent way. As a coach, I understand the need for this when coaching others, yet I had never considered doing this with my own mind until my fellow ashramites suggested it to me. Thanks Uma Shankar and Anita!
4) Mind Is Like A Shy Lady
The mind hides it's true nature when you examine it, and it looks at you while one is looking away or not paying attention to it. The subconscious mind is full of these sorts of sneaky habits and it has been used to running things on your behalf for a long time. It will trick you in this way often as you work through your unconscious. The point of these yogic practices are to make much of the subconscious conscious, then increasing the super conscious awareness also, so naturally there will be a resistance to unveiling this shy lady and to look at her 'eye to eye'. Yet, it's only through this can the pernicious habits be uncovered.
5) Mind Is Like A Music Record with Grooves
When a record is scratched, the needle must be picked up and placed back at the beginning for the sweet music to begin playing again. Sometimes, doing so can be difficult, as the grooves of these scratches can be quite deep-
yet at the same time, so can the grooves that play sweet music. The grooves get deeper each time you play through either the scratch or the music, so therefore reinforces the problem or positive habit.
5) Mind Is Like A Fan
The mind, when switched off, or if one takes the time to really think about what one says and does- in Buddhism this is called mindfulness, one can slow down the mind. Similarly, when a fan is moving slowly, one can see the individual blades that make the air move, but as it moves faster, one has more difficulty in discerning between one thought, or blade in the metaphorical sense, and another.
Other Functions
The mind has other functions that aren't easily described by a metaphor or cut across several of the above metaphors. Below is how they practically work.
6) Strong Connection To Body/Breath/Senses
That which is beyond names and forms cannot be conceived in the mind and therefore cannot free us of the bondage of the sensual world, or provide a respite to it. Often we are drowning in sensual input from the world, TV, etc. and through concentrated practice we hope to get past them into something more real- more real meaning more subtle in the sense that our human material creations come first from the mind, then are constructed in what we term "reality". Following on from this, we find increasingly subtle states of existence.
7) Mind Thinks In Words & Pictures (Names & Forms)
Words are symbols that we have represented in our minds as a way of learning language. Pictures are the way the mind thinks, and therefore makes a strong reference point from the beginning of life towards the senses. It is impossible to imagine an object without a word coming up to represent it. We have therefore, since the creation of language, there is a propensity toward thinking that all of our representative symbology is reality, while reality itself is FAR more vast and subtle.
In our culture, we hardly even know where our words come from, what they mean, or what the history of language and words are, much less the reality behind them. If we do, we are often in a very very elite segment of the population. We, and by we, I mean the masses, spend much of our mental energy in pursuit of the mere representations of words or images, both spoken and visual, and this has trapped our minds into a very narrow version of "reality". Further, our reality is shaped by the mass media into even narrower ways of thinking.
Even the internet medium I am speaking to you on now is made more appealing (and a lot more time consuming for the author!) by the inclusion of photos.
8) Mind Is Fast & Powerful
The mind brings about thoughts, which are the fastest things in the universe, even faster than the speed of light. Being this way, they are incredibly powerful. The problem is that the faster the thoughts move, the less easy it is to see it rushing by (as in the fan metaphor above).
Therefore, we must learn to slow down the mind by retreating using various methods: meditation, yoga asanas, mouna (silence), etc. to limit the input and distractions so we can examine and focus strongly on each thought to become aware of them much more intimately.
This also means that just like sunlight concentrated through a magnifying glass, limiting the thoughts also produces much power and therefore responsibility. There are various allusions to this sort of thing in Hindu scripture and mythology.
9) Mind Keeps ONLY One Thought At A Time- The Key
If we can limit the input and distractions to the senses and therefore the mind, we can then use this fact to take some more control of our minds.
Mantras are one way of doing this. To read further about mantras, read Swami Vishnu-devananda's great and detailed book- Meditation and Mantras. An example is when you intensely focused on something- a good book or movie, or hard work, sports, etc. one can shut out all senses, pain, and other sense awarenesses towards the focus. This is a major tool of the yoga practice and so using this to counteract the quickness of the mind, and giving it many different ways of seeing god- chanting, mantras, focus point during meditation, karma yoga, etc. all of these give a specifically considered thought to the mind so it can have something to do, and then we focus strongly on that. After some time, this can lead to increased peace and eventually control of the mind and senses.
10) Mind Functions By Association
The mind functions by linking things together that remind you of something else- another time place, smell or other sensual reference. Understanding this and controlling it are important so that you don't spend lots of time reliving the past or imagining the future. Imagination functions largely from this associative place. This association function, left uncontrolled becomes the monkey mind.
11) Mind Is Habitual
The mind and the subconscious are often a mass (or mess, depending) of habits. These habits have been learned (in other words things you didn't necessarily choose, but rather adopted) and therefore can be unlearned. You can make choices about every interaction and every reaction to a stimulus. Seeing that habits are simply learned, one can also identify where one learned certain things and get to the root of problems by looking closely at where you adopted these behaviors, or opting out of them entirely so as not to reinforce them. When you operate out of habits, one is basically behaving as if one was in yesterday or some past time instead of operating out of the present moment or context.
This can be done by metaphorically "not watering" your old undesirable habits- i.e. paying attention to other aspects, and allowing these weeds of the mind to slowly die.
In summary, these are the mechanics of the mind. I have read and heard of differing psychotherapeutic perspectives on this theory, most of which closely resemble what I have outlined here.
Even the translation of “yoga chitta vritti nirodha” can be confusing- “yoga is the suspension of the modifications of the mind”. This article will hopefully cover why this is relevant in yoga.
The mind must be described properly to be understood. You describe it so that one can become aware of it's various aspects in order to bring it under control. Since the point of yoga is to suspend the modifications of the mind, then it's clear one must grasp how the mind works.
The mind NOT the brain
It's important to note here, we are not referring to the brain. The brain is considered to be the receiver and physiological "antenna", if you will, of the Mind. The subtle being more powerful than the gross, the mind is considered to 'cause' the brain, not the other way around.
Understand Using Simple Metaphors
The way the mind works can be summarized using metaphors to describe it's various "personalities". At no time are there no thoughts, except in highly advanced yogis.
It is the nature of the mind to create thoughts, like waves lapping on the shore; the waves of thoughts are gradually eroding or depositing on this shore, depending on the nature of what they contain, and how strong the wind is.
The metaphors are as follows:
1) Mind Is Like Water
if one is looking for an accurate reflection of reality, one must have a calm lake of a mind.
Lake, Distorted By Strong Emotions
If one has large distortion, as in the case of strong anger, hate, jealously or other outsized emotions, one will see nothing but huge waves on the mind-lake caused by emotional disturbance. If you can decrease the wind on the lake by controlling the breath, then the amplitude of the waves will decrease.
Beautiful Seashells or Garbage?
This is one goal of yoga to make the lake of the mind like a mirror, free of distortions. As these waves connect to the shore of your life, what they contain can help or hinder like in the metaphor above- they can add or remove material from the shore of your life. They can leave garbage or beautiful shells and rocks. The water can be clear and you can see the life flowing in it well, or it can be silty, muddy and rancorous.
2) Mind Is Like A Monkey
Thoughts often can jump like a "Drunk Monkey Stung by a Scorpion" in the words of Swami Vishnu-devananda:
The thoughts go anywhere they please in delight of their utter freedom one habitually has given them. Squawking and making a great noise all the while, utterly unfocused and random, these thoughts leave you in a state where one can never really say where one is, what one is doing, and what one's priorities are.
One's subconscious mind is filled with information which is bubbling up in emotions caused by the past, some imagination and often is forever allowed to have it's way with one's conscious mind as it likes in this random fashion.
This tendency is exacerbated by our culture of computers, driving, quick-cut television, and persistent cultural drug use (just visit any convenience store- they are like mini drug stores- every sort of caffeinated beverage is available, plus now even more substances are widely in use like guarana, ginseng, etc, etc...)
3) Mind Is Like A Wild Horse
The Mind can be like a wild horse which likes to run in a particular direction in a vast territory and do as it likes. Being large and powerful as it is, it can often feel overpowering and dominating. However, even wild horses can be tamed with patience and a firm yet gentle persistence. I like to think of Seabiscuit in this way. An excellent article on "spirited children" talks about this topic in the same way.
One has to let the animal nature have some part of what it wants as one gets to know it. One must first allow the animal nature represented by the Wild Hose Mind know you are there, then know your intentions, then gradually guiding it to the direction you want it to go.
It will rebel at too many restrictions too quickly, so one must be careful as to not get kicked. If this happens, one is likely never to go near the Wild Horse Mind again, and then many chances are lost and time wasted in making real progress that is only enabled by this discipline. One method to control this is the "little,little" method of Swami Sivananda. One makes a small achievable change and makes it stick. Gradually, those small changes amount of what appears to many to be a complete change with time.
Speaking for myself, I had to treat my mind (and still do when good habits fall away and need re-establishing) in this same clear consistent way. As a coach, I understand the need for this when coaching others, yet I had never considered doing this with my own mind until my fellow ashramites suggested it to me. Thanks Uma Shankar and Anita!
4) Mind Is Like A Shy Lady
The mind hides it's true nature when you examine it, and it looks at you while one is looking away or not paying attention to it. The subconscious mind is full of these sorts of sneaky habits and it has been used to running things on your behalf for a long time. It will trick you in this way often as you work through your unconscious. The point of these yogic practices are to make much of the subconscious conscious, then increasing the super conscious awareness also, so naturally there will be a resistance to unveiling this shy lady and to look at her 'eye to eye'. Yet, it's only through this can the pernicious habits be uncovered.
5) Mind Is Like A Music Record with Grooves
When a record is scratched, the needle must be picked up and placed back at the beginning for the sweet music to begin playing again. Sometimes, doing so can be difficult, as the grooves of these scratches can be quite deep-
yet at the same time, so can the grooves that play sweet music. The grooves get deeper each time you play through either the scratch or the music, so therefore reinforces the problem or positive habit.
5) Mind Is Like A Fan
The mind, when switched off, or if one takes the time to really think about what one says and does- in Buddhism this is called mindfulness, one can slow down the mind. Similarly, when a fan is moving slowly, one can see the individual blades that make the air move, but as it moves faster, one has more difficulty in discerning between one thought, or blade in the metaphorical sense, and another.
Other Functions
The mind has other functions that aren't easily described by a metaphor or cut across several of the above metaphors. Below is how they practically work.
6) Strong Connection To Body/Breath/Senses
- Mind has a strong connection to Body: In Yoga, we use asanas (yoga postures) to learn to control the body and therefore the mind.
- Mind has a strong connection to Breath: In Yoga, we use pranayama (breath exercises) to learn to control the wind on the lake of the mind in a similar fashion to asananas with the body.
- Mind has a strong connection to Senses: The senses rule the mind quite often and provide fodder for the imaginations and memories of smells and so forth, giving rise to many of the above metaphors and their interplay. The senses can only see/hear/touch/smell the names and forms of Maya (the cosmic illusion of duality we all experience).
That which is beyond names and forms cannot be conceived in the mind and therefore cannot free us of the bondage of the sensual world, or provide a respite to it. Often we are drowning in sensual input from the world, TV, etc. and through concentrated practice we hope to get past them into something more real- more real meaning more subtle in the sense that our human material creations come first from the mind, then are constructed in what we term "reality". Following on from this, we find increasingly subtle states of existence.
7) Mind Thinks In Words & Pictures (Names & Forms)
Words are symbols that we have represented in our minds as a way of learning language. Pictures are the way the mind thinks, and therefore makes a strong reference point from the beginning of life towards the senses. It is impossible to imagine an object without a word coming up to represent it. We have therefore, since the creation of language, there is a propensity toward thinking that all of our representative symbology is reality, while reality itself is FAR more vast and subtle.
In our culture, we hardly even know where our words come from, what they mean, or what the history of language and words are, much less the reality behind them. If we do, we are often in a very very elite segment of the population. We, and by we, I mean the masses, spend much of our mental energy in pursuit of the mere representations of words or images, both spoken and visual, and this has trapped our minds into a very narrow version of "reality". Further, our reality is shaped by the mass media into even narrower ways of thinking.
Even the internet medium I am speaking to you on now is made more appealing (and a lot more time consuming for the author!) by the inclusion of photos.
8) Mind Is Fast & Powerful
The mind brings about thoughts, which are the fastest things in the universe, even faster than the speed of light. Being this way, they are incredibly powerful. The problem is that the faster the thoughts move, the less easy it is to see it rushing by (as in the fan metaphor above).
Therefore, we must learn to slow down the mind by retreating using various methods: meditation, yoga asanas, mouna (silence), etc. to limit the input and distractions so we can examine and focus strongly on each thought to become aware of them much more intimately.
This also means that just like sunlight concentrated through a magnifying glass, limiting the thoughts also produces much power and therefore responsibility. There are various allusions to this sort of thing in Hindu scripture and mythology.
9) Mind Keeps ONLY One Thought At A Time- The Key
If we can limit the input and distractions to the senses and therefore the mind, we can then use this fact to take some more control of our minds.
Mantras are one way of doing this. To read further about mantras, read Swami Vishnu-devananda's great and detailed book- Meditation and Mantras. An example is when you intensely focused on something- a good book or movie, or hard work, sports, etc. one can shut out all senses, pain, and other sense awarenesses towards the focus. This is a major tool of the yoga practice and so using this to counteract the quickness of the mind, and giving it many different ways of seeing god- chanting, mantras, focus point during meditation, karma yoga, etc. all of these give a specifically considered thought to the mind so it can have something to do, and then we focus strongly on that. After some time, this can lead to increased peace and eventually control of the mind and senses.
10) Mind Functions By Association
The mind functions by linking things together that remind you of something else- another time place, smell or other sensual reference. Understanding this and controlling it are important so that you don't spend lots of time reliving the past or imagining the future. Imagination functions largely from this associative place. This association function, left uncontrolled becomes the monkey mind.
11) Mind Is Habitual
The mind and the subconscious are often a mass (or mess, depending) of habits. These habits have been learned (in other words things you didn't necessarily choose, but rather adopted) and therefore can be unlearned. You can make choices about every interaction and every reaction to a stimulus. Seeing that habits are simply learned, one can also identify where one learned certain things and get to the root of problems by looking closely at where you adopted these behaviors, or opting out of them entirely so as not to reinforce them. When you operate out of habits, one is basically behaving as if one was in yesterday or some past time instead of operating out of the present moment or context.
This can be done by metaphorically "not watering" your old undesirable habits- i.e. paying attention to other aspects, and allowing these weeds of the mind to slowly die.
In summary, these are the mechanics of the mind. I have read and heard of differing psychotherapeutic perspectives on this theory, most of which closely resemble what I have outlined here.