Finding Meaning in the Routine

​Meet Kate, a YA living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Kate has found that in the day-to-day routine of her practice, there is always freshness and spontaneity.

Kate, a YA meditator for the last 15 years, uses her spiritual routine to channel her restlessness into personal transformation.

I’m a restless person by nature. I thrive on variety in work, school, social settings and interests. I’m someone who often starts a book with great interest, and after about one-third of my way in, abandon it, only to pick up a new one. I dream about being self-employed one day, so that I can choose to do something different every day, be somewhere different every day, and work with different people every day. As I finish graduate school this July, the thought of a routine day job or “daily grind” sends my mind into anaphylaxis.

Perhaps you’ve noticed I’m a tad dramatic as well.

As most of you may know, there is a fair amount of routine that is built into the eight-point program. We get up every morning, at roughly the same time, and sit in meditation for a full 30 minutes. At some point during each day, we use mantram exercise to balance our inward travel in meditation. We attempt to eat healthy meals slowly, and one-pointedly. In our interactions with people, we try and put them first, listening one-pointedly, and helping them wherever possible. We repeatedly turn down the cookie after lunch, and we resist the double latte and choose the single. Later in the evening, some sit down again for an evening meditation. The final thing before bed is spiritual reading by one of the great mystics, or one of Easwaran’s books, to send us into sleep with elevated thoughts. We turn out the light, close our eyes, and silently repeat the mantram as well fall into sleep. Then the alarm goes off, and we start the routine all over again…

Seen in this light, the fact that I have been practicing passage meditation and the other 7 points for 15 years is purely the grace of the Lord. Upon more reflection, it is also because my commitment to practicing this “spiritual schedule” somehow does not seem to have this dreaded constriction inherent in it. And with a playful irony, I’ve realized that learning to rely on a spiritual schedule actually brings freshness and depth to my daily life.

​Kate is finding her love of outdoor adventure also shows itself in her love of the "inner adventure" of her spiritual practice.

And yet, how could a spiritual routine bring freshness to daily life? Especially to someone who thrives on change and variety? The Bhagavad Gita describes three ‘substances’ that make up the world as we know it: tamas (inertia), rajas (energy) and sattva (law). Easwaran’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita Volume 2, describes how we all have some measure of these substances in our personalities. In particular, Easwaran notes that a sign of “rajas is restlessness, which is endemic in our modern civilization. Whenever you see someone who is restless, who travels around the world once a year, or who takes up one job after another, this may be a sign that he or she has real potential for meditation.”

Hmmm. Definitely sounds familiar. Here comes the bright side.

“Through meditation and the allied disciplines, all of us can learn to transform the self-directed energy of rajas into the selfless power that is characteristic of the third stage of consciousness, called sattva.” When I first read this, I wasn’t sure what all the terms meant, but now I can understand them through my own experience. For me, an application of these terms suggests that through a transformation of scattered and restless activity, we can begin to make more effective use of our energy.

For me, the key idea from this passage is the transformation of energy. On a deeper level, I believe my restless self really desires this kind of lasting transformation, even though it is often expressed superficially as incessant change, by beginning book after book, or seeking out dynamic situations. I have seen that the process of transformation comes through regular effort, practice, and commitment to these spiritual ideals. I think this makes sense intuitively, too.

​Here is Kate with the "traveling mantram book". This notebook is making its way to YAs around the world and each YA is writing lines of their mantram in the book. Read more about the mantram here!

Because there is transformation woven deep within it, my spiritual schedule is ‘routinely’ fresh and different. Concentrated effort in mediation, the use of the mantram, the interactions with others, all seem to take on a depth and a variety as a result of my regularity with the spiritual schedule. When I’m paying attention, this sacred routine seems to be freshly challenging day after day. Spontaneity through routine – who knew?

Not only does this schedule bring meaning to daily life through transformation, but it also brings solace during periods when I am weathering the storms of life. It acts like a safety net when life sends me a challenge with strength to bowl me over.  During a rough period, crawling onto my meditation pillows can feel like a true safe haven. It is almost as if our commitment to our daily spiritual routines accumulates serenity, little by little, like a retirement savings account.

Kate's bedside books.​

And yes, I am still a restless person. But I’m also a person restless to transform myself into a more loving and fulfilled person. Over the long run, it’s clear these difficult, incremental efforts bring greater focus and meaning to my life. So while the spiritual schedule is regular, there can be spontaneity to it because we always have a chance to put one more person first. We can always find another moment to repeat the mantram. We can always be looking for another sense craving to transform. We can always concentrate a little harder in meditation. And we can always keep trying to finish those unfinished books on the bedside table…

Changing the World By Changing Myself

Meet Jan, a YA finishing up his undergraduate studies in New York City. Passage meditation has helped Jan understand, for him, what it truly means to change the world.​

​Jan, now a senior in college, started meditating his sophomore year.

Why study music when there are children dying of war and hunger in so many parts of the world?

I am about to graduate from college with a bachelors of music in composition, confident in my decision to continue studying composition at the Master’s level.

Four years ago, however, after I got accepted into college, this kind of question confronted me again and again. If I care about the suffering going on in so many places, and if I am in a position to study medicine, work for the environment, or volunteer for peace programs, I asked, why am I spending my time figuring out how to write for organ or practicing how to write four-part harmony? Sure, music can heal and can bring people together, but can that save the child who will starve tomorrow?

As these questions continued tormenting me into second semester, I came across the story of Mahatma Gandhi. Reading his autobiography My Experiments With Truth and studying related materials, one insight stood out—the idea that violent means can never lead to peaceful ends, only to more violence. Simply put, the means determine the end.

If I started doing peace activism, my speech and actions would be my means. But speech and actions are born in the mind, and what was the condition of my mind?

Well, when I began practicing passage meditation later that year, on the first day of sophomore year, I started becoming aware of the condition of my mind. What a discovery—it couldn’t stay still for more than a few seconds! And even more humbling, most of what I did and said was conditioned behavior.

​Jan (left) with the YA meditation group he's organized on his college campus.

As I continued practicing, I even started noticing thoughts of jealousy and greed—thoughts that must have been there all along but which I had never been attentive enough to notice.

In other words, all the problems that I had seen as wreaking havoc in the world—all the problems that I was going to fix by switching out of music—were also within me to varying degrees.

If I wanted to change the world, what I really meant was, I wanted to change the people of the world involved in making wars and pollution. But meditation was showing me how such crimes began in the mind, how the roots of anger and fear went deep within a person’s consciousness, that such negative tendencies cannot be changed within a day, and that the only way to change the mind was by using the mind to meditate. Now, as far as I know, the only mind I can fully use is my own.

And so, with the help of Eknath Easwaran's books, the founder of passage meditation, I came to the conclusion that the most efficient way to change the world was to change myself.

Far from depressing me, these observations and the humbling conclusion they yielded charged me with purpose and fired me with enthusiasm to practice the eight-point program of passage meditation. I was convinced—I am convinced—that I have found a way to affect lasting change in the world.

​Jan sets up his dorm room to host group meditations and has managed to squeeze in seating for 8 people. The desk in the top photo also showcases a handy meditation "tool" in the dorms – earplugs!

Now the question of whether to study music or medicine or law is not so important to me anymore. As long as I am not hurting others with my career, it is not this choice that matters so much as the thousand and one little choices throughout the day, as Easwaran would say, between what is selfish and what is selfless. The more I practice this program, the more I see these choices.

For example, having slowed down my mind during the morning’s meditation, I am now often able to make the choice of dropping whatever I’m doing a little earlier to go to class without worrying about being late, so that, should anyone stop to talk to me, I can give them my time. It is a small example of transforming greed to generosity through meditation.

With the anxiety about job choice slowly fading, I am now giving better effort to the job at hand—composing, for example. And to my delight I am discovering all kinds of ways in which I can reduce violence in the world through composing.

One incident of violence can have many causes, and though I am by no means an expert on this, I see that alienation is often a cause. Can you remember incidents where some form of isolation by the actor preceded his or her act of violence?

Every effort to bring people together is one step towards reducing violence—not having more conversations, but approaching those conversations with ever kinder thoughts and ever kinder words.

​Jan (right) collaborates with a percussionist on a piece of music.

These principles in mind, I have made my composition process more and more collaborative. My current piece, for seventeen musicians, includes two co-composers besides me. Not only does this bring people together in my own small way, but, as Easwaran says, "human relationships are the perfect tool for sanding away our rough edges and getting at the core of divinity within us. We need look no further than our own family, friends, acquaintances, or even adversaries, to begin our practice."

And how to practice being kind to others? Easwaran is very clear. Give the person you are with your full attention—give them one-pointed eyes, ears, minds, and heart in every interaction.

Mother Teresa said, "There is hunger for bread, and there is hunger for love. There is a lot of the second kind of hunger." Four years ago, I was thinking about the hunger for bread, a vital issue, but I didn't think too much about the hunger for love.

Concentration equals love—Easwaran makes it so clear. When we can give someone our full attention, we are giving them all our love, and we will be able to be loyal to them in the long run, because what receives our undivided attention never becomes uninteresting. The mantram develops the capacity to concentrate. Meditation on a passage teaches us how, during the day, to keep bringing our minds back to our chosen subject of attention.

This understanding of the dynamics of the mind and the practice of the eight-point program has completely turned around my relationship with my father, to name my most visible and immediate success with the program. We can now enjoy a vacation together where before most conversations ended in loud arguments.

Seeing such positive changes in my life has deepened my faith that this practice really is building a more peaceful world, in that lasting, sustainable way that Gandhi calls “changing yourself to change the world.” It's deepened my motivation and enthusiasm for practicing the eight points too, so how can I afford to lose a minute not either repeating the mantram or practicing one-pointed-attention, these practices towards loving more, when there is so much suffering in the world, so much hunger for love?

​Jan (right) at a recent YA Retreat chatting with another YA about how to strengthen his meditation practice.

And struggling to practice these disciplines all the time is far from dull. More and more you can choose where your attention goes. Who wants to think about a random comment from last class when your friend is talking to you now? Why continue turning over your summer plans a thousandth time in your head as you walk past the opportunity to hold the door open for someone?

Gradually, meditation frees your attention and your energy for giving to life. I no longer feel overwhelmed by the endless ways in which to help when I hear of tragedies in our country and around the world. Instead, I turn to one of the eight points, because I know that lasting change happens one person at a time, starting with this mind. I see every day how passage meditation gives me the tools I need for slowly growing in love, creativity, determination, and patience.

A Day in the Life of a Passage Meditator

​Lisa has found that different aspects passage meditation program help her in surprising ways throughout her day.

Meet Lisa, a San Francisco YA who's been working on incorporating her practice into all aspects of her day.

I started meditating when I was 18, just starting college. Although I’d known that meditation was just one of 8 skills that make up Easwaran’s eight point program, it wasn’t until I’d been meditating for a few years that I really understood how I could incorporate those points throughout my day. Although I’m not always actively working on all the points, I’m starting to find them popping up in my day helping me through challenges (even where I wouldn’t expect!). Each point is designed to be a simple, practical skill to help me get the most out of my morning meditation and though I could go on and on about the details of each point… I’m not going to. I’m going to share some ways I’m finding them pop up throughout my day, but you should check out this page to get the details of each of the points: meditation on a passage, repetition of a mantram, slowing down, one-pointed attention, training the senses, putting others first, spiritual fellowship, and spiritual reading.

4:55 a.m. Wake Up: Good morning! I have been blessed (cursed?) with a finely tuned internal clock that inevitably wakes me up 10 minutes before my alarm and never lets me sleep past 6:30 am (even on a weekend, and even after being up past midnight). However, this blessing/curse does mean that waking up for meditation has never been a challenge for me.

5:05-5:10 a.m. Out of Bed: I roll out of bed onto my meditation bench that lives just two feet from my bed.

​You don't need a lot of space for meditation! Lisa keeps her meditation bench just inches from her bed.

Insert 30 minutes of meditation…

5:40 a.m. – 6:45 a.m. Morning Routine: After meditation I try to keep my morning one-pointed so I’ve got my morning routine down to an art: shower, breakfast, make my lunch, finish getting ready, and then out the door. The focused, task-oriented nature of my post-meditation time helps me extending the focus from meditation farther into my day.

6:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Commute to work, Classroom Prep

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Teaching: A few months ago I started working with students age 5-13 as a math teacher, and have decided that teaching is an endless string of opportunities to practice one-pointed attention (with many an opportunity to use the mantram… or really any of the points). If it’s Wednesday at this time I’m work with a particularly rowdy group of 10-year-old boys. The first few weeks working with these guys I was really scattered and when class would end I’d feel exhausted and really sped up and I wasn’t pleased with the kind of attention I was able to give the students. One week I decided to make an effort to set myself up so I could be more one-pointed during class. I increased the time spent prepping the classroom and the activity and I reminded myself to speak slowly and calmly even (especially!) when I was feeling like the class was heading out of control. What a difference! Modifying my behavior not only made me feel better, but it also helped the students notice when their behavior was speeding up. There are still days when this group of fellows tries my patience, but all the more opportunity for me!

12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch: Once you take late student pickup and classroom turnover into account my lunch “hour” can definitely tend to be lunch “minutes”. I take special care to do whatever I need so I can tackle my afternoon classes with the diligence I paid to the morning ones. Sometimes I’ll need adult social interaction so I’ll get up and chat with a coworker. Sometimes I’ll need a mantram walk, and I’ll walk around the block repeating my mantram silently (always a good boost!). Sometimes I’ll need some inspiration and I’ll do some quick spiritual reading in the form of Easwaran’s “Thought for the Day” online. Whatever I do, my goal is to get my mind settled and ready for what’s next!

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. More kids, more math, more putting others first

Even while driving Lisa has found the eight points to be a useful tool.

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Commute Home: I drive 45 minutes to an hour to and from the campus where I work and it often causes me to feel rushed, especially on the way home. I’ve used putting others first and slowing down to inspire two strategies which help me stay calm on the California freeways, which I think is a feat! 1st strategy: I always let someone into my lane. I had been feeling really resentful about letting other people into my lane when I realized, what’s one more car in front of me? By making it a general rule, I no longer worry about the other drivers. 2nd Strategy: I minimize lane changing. Obviously if there’s a traffic impediment, or the traffic is moving way below the speed limit I’ll change lanes (I’m a California girl after all), but generally, I don’t. This type of slowing down has really changed my outlook from always looking to where I can cut ahead a little bit, to just enjoying the drive.

​By sometimes running without her headphones, Lisa has found she's able to be more one-pointed and increase her attention during the day.

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Exercise: I’ve managed over the last four years to build up a habit of exercise (which is a triumph in itself), so after work I usually go for a run. I’ve always struggled with one-pointed attention in this realm because I have a long-time habit of listening to music while doing other things, and especially while exercising. Even though I started running after I had an established meditation practice, initially I would never dream of doing it without headphones. Then a couple of months ago I reread Essence of the Upanishads as part of my spiritual reading. Easwaran illustrates how we can train the will by describing a running race between the trained athlete “Desire” and poor, out of shape “Willie”. He describes how we can train the will, just as we would train our physical bodies for competition. Reading this story made me think about how I can incorporate training the will as part of my physical training as well. As a result I’ve started doing a few regular runs a week without headphones repeating my mantram. I’d say I’ve only gone from 100% headphone use to 65% headphone use, but change comes slowly. One of the cool outcomes of this small change is that I’ve found that I’ve been able to be more focused and one-pointed at other times during the day where I’d previously struggled to hold my attention still.

6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Dinner: In general, I cook for myself. This is actually a real high point of my day since I love cooking and enjoy the time making messes in my kitchen. Training the senses might seem really dull or intimidating, but when it comes to incorporating this into my cooking I’ve actually found it really fun. It’s all about working with likes and dislikes so I’ll experiment with finding new recipes, trying new vegetables, new cooking methods, etc. I try to cook healthy food when I’m at home and save my restaurant/takeout consumption for social occasions when I can share it with friends and family (which has both health and fiscal benefits). I also love putting others first in cooking by taking requests from friends, neighbors and family. It’s so fun to figure out how to make someone exactly what they want!

7:30 – 9:30 p.m.: Work & Recreation: I’m lucky to have flexible hours outside my in-class teaching responsibilities so I’m often able to spend some hours in the afternoon running, cooking, or hanging out with friends. The downside is that this means I often have to do work in the evening on my laptop writing lessons, work email, or homework sets. Real talk? In general, being anywhere near my laptop and/or the internet in the evening leads me straight into distraction. To stay one-pointed in my work, I’ve made a pact to make sure I have dedicated “recreation” time post-work. This serves both as a motivation tool and allows me to put my distractions aside since I know I’ll be able to follow them wherever they want during my break.  The recreation time differs by night – sometimes I’ll watch a tv program, or read a fiction book, listen to music and have a solo dance party, or just go ahead and do some mindless internet browsing. I’ve found that setting up a system that supports one-pointed attention has been key for me in working effectively in the evening.

9:30 – 10:30 p.m.: Out of necessity, knowing my internal clock will wake me long before the sun, I’ve cultivated the habit of winding down my evening early. I love reading fiction novels but I’ve found that if I read only fiction before sleep I’ll stay up all hours to finish the book, or my mind will get agitated by the plot points. I try to end most evenings with some spiritual reading whether it’s from one of Easwaran’s books, another great mystic, or even just reviewing a passage. On nights when I’m feeling like I need the engagement of a fiction novel I’ll choose spiritual reading that has a sense of adventure like stories about Gandhi, or an interpretation of the Ramayana, or stories about St Teresa of Avila (who has for some reason always struck me as an adventurous soul!). Regardless of reading I try to repeat the mantram as I fall asleep to keep my mind calm and allow me to have a good night’s rest –  I need all the support I can get cause I’ll be up in just a few short hours!