We have all heard of
Yin and Yang
.
They are ancient concepts that have been recovered in the last century from these latitudes to try to account for the most obvious reality of life that we try to ignore: that there are complementary opposites, that every pleasant aspect includes its counterpart, pain, the unexpected, the changing, which highlights our vulnerability.
In reality, it is about essential opposing forces in the universe: yin, associated with the feminine, darkness, passivity and earth;
and the yang, linked to the masculine, the light, the active and the sky.
According to this philosophy,
both energies are necessary
to maintain universal balance.
This concept comes from the Yin yang school, one of the so-called "100 schools of thought", a series of philosophical and spiritual currents that emerged in China between 770 and 221 BC.
c.
Subsequently, Taoism, a philosophical and religious doctrine of Chinese origin that emerged in the same period, absorbed the principles of the Yin yang school to state that everything that exists has a counterpart that is necessary for existence.
There is no immutable, static, but
everything is changing continuously
, in an infinite flow, harmonious and balanced by the forces of yin and yang.
Considering the foregoing, it is curious that there is no mindfulness practice that directly and explicitly leads us to
connect with this duality
.
It is true: the practice of mindfulness is, by definition, the practice of full consciousness and that includes receptivity, openness, connection with all the phenomena of existence, through all the senses (including that of the mind itself).
But if we talk about a generative practice especially, that is, that
through images
leads us to the heart of the duality of existence, we do not have any present.
Instead, we do have the
mountain practice
, which helps us find the strength and resilience of our secure core as we contemplate the impermanence of life.
We also have the
practice of the lake
, which connects us with our peace and contemplative capacity and non-reaction, serving as nutritional support for our entire environment.
But
the sea is ambivalent, challenging
, and much closer to the contrasting experience of being alive.
The duality of the sea allows us to connect with our own duality.
Photo Shutterstock.
The sea: the simple, the subtle, the immense, the inconceivable
I have always felt a special attraction for this salty giant that has moved like a tired animal since inconceivable times.
It is water, it is salt, it is movement, it is dance with the stars and deep hidden spaces.
It is life of all kinds
, it is a connection between distant terrestrial spaces.
It inspires me with enormous gratitude and a feeling of abundance.
But it is also an
anarchic power that destroys
, a stronghold of unknown species that we barely manage to name.
The sea at night and its reckless hidden life that rebels with violence was recounted in a beautiful story of the twelve pilgrim tales by Gabriel García Marquez, who tells of a fisherman who encounters a ghost ship in the ocean.
Nobody like Gabo to demonstrate the terror of that night vision.
Here is a snippet:
The breathing of the water became sad, and so he rowed so absorbed that he did not know where a terrifying shark breath suddenly came to him or why the night became dense as if the stars had died suddenly, and it was that the The ocean liner was there in all its inconceivable size, mother, bigger than anything big in the world and darker than anything dark on land or water, three hundred thousand tons of shark scent passing so close to the boat that he he could see the seams of the steel precipice, without a single light in the infinite portholes, without a sigh in the machines, without a soul, and carrying with him his own realm of silence, his own empty sky, his own dead air, its stopped time, its wandering sea in which a whole world of drowned animals floated...
Meditation can be done anywhere.
Photo Shutterstock.
A meditation of the sea
Valid clarification, to do this meditation it is not necessary to be in front of the sea: it is enough to carry out an
internal visualization
in which we are included.
Sitting in a dignified position, with our backs straight but our faces and shoulders relaxed,
we take a few deep breaths
to begin this practice.
The breath is like the sway of the waves: it extends and collects.
Release and blanket.
Goes and comes.
Perhaps those in-breaths and out-breaths
initially connect you with that moving softness of the waves.
feel
.
The sea is ancient but it is renewed in each watery movement that follows the mandate of the stars.
Watch, smell, listen
.
It is soft and at times it rocks you lovingly, but it is also implacable and lapidary when it explodes in fury.
Accept that double expression
of your ungovernable nature.
It is primitive, home to prehistoric species and unknown vermin, but also nutritious and generous in exquisite delicacies.
Try to imagine the multiplicity of life
, remember the wonderful fruits of your womb.
On the surface, it is untamed in dynamic waves, while in the depths the silent peace of nirvana reigns.
Move up and down and feel the difference
, appreciate the dynamism of change on the surface and the contemplative silence that repairs, restores, deep down.
It is an invitation to renew yourself, to wash away your sorrows, but also a hunter of lost souls and melancholic suicidal beings.
Imagine learning to cleanse yourself
and be compassionate to the deep wounds that sometimes make you feel lost in the course of your life.
What other dualities does the sea inspire you?
Joy-sadness
, generosity-greed, calm-chaos, permanence-change, simplicity-exuberance.
Can you connect with your own personal experiences, which are constantly changing?
Can you see the plot of life represented in its existence?
Hopefully we can learn to be wise by looking at it, by recognizing its complementary qualities, its boundless existence.
May we also accept
our dual and vulnerable condition
.
Our perfect humanity.
*Martín Reynoso is a psychologist, director of Train Your Brain Argentina and author of "Mindfulness, scientific meditation".
***
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