THIRD GROUP OF FOUR EXERCISES
- "Breathing in, I am aware of my mind. Breathing out, I am aware of my mind. ”
- "Breathing in, I make my mind happy. Breathing out, I make my mind happy."
- "Breathing in, I concentrate my mind. Breathing out, I concentrate my mind."
- "Breathing in, I liberate my mind. Breathing out, I liberate my mind."
Commentary
The previous two exercises 7 and 8 develop an awareness of the modes or formulations of the mind and their fleeting nature, this awareness brings the practitioner closer to the understanding of the mind. It becomes happy and it becomes unhappy. It becomes focused on something, or it becomes distracted by its changing modes. Focus frees it from the tyranny of its modes, otherwise it is a slave of its modes changing from time to time depending upon what pops up from its accumulated stack of subconscious memory.
This set of exercises amounts to the development of mindfulness of the mind. Mindfulness of the mind means understanding how it works and how we can make it work better for our own and common good. We then become free from the tyranny of the mind and can use the mind in the capacity of its master as a tool.
Exercise 9: This exercise is meant to make the learner experience how with deeper and deeper awareness of the mind develops as one goes on breathing in and breathing out.
Exercise 10: This exercise is meant to make the learner experience how deeper feelings of happiness appear in the mind with increasing awareness of the process of breathing in and breathing out.
Exercise 11: This exercise is meant to create an awareness of the experience of the person focusing his attention more and more on the mind as we breathe in and out with awareness. This focus on the mind developed with breath awareness results in successively deeper understanding of the workings of the mind.
Exercise 12: This exercise is meant to create an experiential learning how deeper understanding of the workings of the mind resulting from sustained focus on the mind, frees a person from the slavery of the mind. What does that mean? Does our mind enslaves us? Surely. What is addiction? What is anxiety? What is depression? What is anger? All mental disorders are nothing but the mind enslaving us with constant recall from memory of experiences that keep us addicted, anxious, depressed or angry.