Mind

The natural place in the head for the mind – its throne – is atop the spinal column, pretty much mid-brain. This is the place a healthy mind will always return to: a mind whose normal state is calm and peaceful. Because it is a place of rest and repose – a place that requires peace and brings peace – it is without sensation – without striking feature, other than that peace; much like the eye of a storm. So we cannot intend or concentrate the mind there and expect it to relax, instead we relax it and let it gradually begin to settle there, which it will, in time. The best practice I have found is to simply turn the head from side to side, becoming aware of the movement, and then becoming aware of the vertical axis within the head about which it turns – an extension of the spine upwards. The mind will settle on this line – the still point within the movement – with the awareness. We never relax by trying. Instead we gradually become aware of the situation and the details of the situation. The relaxation we are after is not a lifeless slump but the natural state that becomes revealed when we fill with awareness.