Anyen Rinpoche - The Tibetan Yoga Of Breath

So-called “high” wind energy—which occurs when wind energy builds up high in the chest instead of dwelling deep within the abdomen and belly—can also cause us to perpetuate self-destructive patterns. We may know that bad things happen when we act in a certain way. We may want to avoid these negative outcomes, and even anticipate how emotionally unmanageable our lives will become if we create a chaotic situation. Yet, agitated wind energy fuels our thoughts, driving us until we act out on our impulses and create the exact situation in our lives that we wish to avoid. It seems like we cannot help ourselves. Propelled by the power of the wind energy, we feel powerless to change.

WORKING THROUGH RESISTANCE

While self-acceptance is harmonious with spiritual principles, again we should not confuse this with self-attachment. Self-attachment reflects the attitude that we are sufficient as we are; accordingly, it generates the fundamental belief that we need not change. This opposition to change can, and often does, come under the guise of self-acceptance. However, having patience, tolerance, and compassion toward ourselves is not the same thing as believing that we are perfect just as we are. Our resistance to change is not just a mental and emotional habit. It is also tied to our wind energy and how we breathe, since our breathing patterns are also habituated and respond to inner and outer stimuli. We can start to see more clearly how balancing the wind energy creates balance in the body and mind, which then manifests as balance in our daily lives.

Avoiding a Life of Disharmony

In the West, our sense of individualism makes it seem that it is better to go it alone in many situations. We may feel suffocated by the idea of conforming to the wishes of others, and that others should accept us for who we are, just as we are. When we have conflict with others, we are often unwilling to look in the mirror and see what part we have played. The Buddhist teachings tell us that listening to others, responding to their thoughts and feelings, and being willing to accept responsibility rather than blaming others creates a sense of inner and outer harmony. However, in the West, the value placed on individualism and utilitarianism teaches us that to focus on our own desires is paramount, and we must do whatever is necessary to achieve the desired end. This self-important focus brings imbalance to both our inner and our outer lives.

How does this imbalance show up in our lives? When we make a habit of considering ourselves first and focusing on our own wants, needs, and feelings, we often act alone. At times, we disregard or ignore the wishes and needs of others to better carry out what we want. This can cause us to feel lonely and isolated. This same tendency of putting our own wishes before others can also express itself as unwillingness to compromise, damaging our relationships and dividing us from others. In other words, the imbalance on the inside that arises from focusing so much on our own needs and self-attachment manifests on the outside as a lack of community and connection. Despite this, we may genuinely feel justified in not changing a bit. Although we may feel justified in doing things our own way, the real question is: does “being right”—that is, making up our minds and sticking with that decision—make us happy?

When we first take up the Buddhist path, one of the first instructions we receive is to reflect on how we are like others. This can be difficult to appreciate. After all, much of Western culture not only focuses on differences, it shines a spotlight on them. Noting differences can be wonderful tools for eliciting our talents and unique ideas, but a sense of harmony and the humanity we share with others may be lost. It can be difficult to look at others and imagine that they have any of the same thoughts and feelings that we have. Many of us suffer from the feeling that no one in the world can understand our experience, because it is so unique. Cultivating empathy is far more challenging without first believing—or seeing—that we are each essentially the same as all other beings.

We are all more alike than we think we are, even if, person by person, we have very specific differences. Despite the differences we have in personality, culture, gender, education, and socioeconomic status, Mahayana Buddhism teaches that all beings equally wish to be happy and to be free from suffering. So, at the most fundamental level, we have something in common with every living creature in the universe. Reflecting on this helps us create relationship and balance—cutting through our own feelings of being too special and different to be understood, feelings that divide and isolate us from others.

When we take up a spiritual way of life, looking to create balance both in the mind and in the environment around us, we must cultivate the attitude of being willing to change; to work with ourselves, others around us, and our environment. Many of us believe we are willing to change. But when confronted with a painful or difficult situation, we revert back to our deeply rooted patterns and justification in being who we are. We even think to ourselves, “There’s nothing I can do. That’s just how I am.” We feel that “how we are” is beyond our control. Deeply ingrained in the mind, this is one of the strongest roots of Western neurosis. We feel that we do not need to change, or that we cannot change, even though we know that our inability to change is making us miserable. The truth is we have cherished ourselves so much, we are so attached to the way we are, despite whether or not it makes us happy, that we do not know how to change. We feel powerless.

Becoming Flexible

There are many reasons that we hold on to the belief that we are unable to change, or need not change. Change terrifies us. We fear facing the unknown. Our minds will fill in the blanks for us, creating dreadful scenarios. We are often unhappy and dissatisfied with our own lives, but we prefer the security of what we have now to what we might have if we make a change. Often our well-meaning thoughts of self-acceptance become a force of stagnation, of avoiding change, and of rationalizing why we should keep on doing things just as we have.

When we are too attached to the way we are, we make ourselves rigid and uncompromising. When we lack flexibility, we are unable to respond to people and situations around us and to shed the unhealthy habits that cause our suffering. Wind energy training is a tool we can implement to cultivate flexibility. We become more able to respond in a balanced, thoughtful, and deliberate manner in each and every situation. When we draw upon wind energy training and develop awareness of our respiratory patterns, we can influence and even change them over time, bringing physical, emotional, and mental transformation. Wind energy training also brings balance and relaxation to body and mind. If we are willing to work with the breath and retrain our minds as well as how we breathe, we will find that fear will loosen its deadly grip on us and we can finally relax.

Riding the Wind Energy of the Neurotic Mind

In philosophical terms, Tibetan scriptures refer to neurotic mind as the impure or afflicted mind. But within the context of wind energy, neurotic mind is not just caused by self-attachment. The mind is also propelled by the movement of wind energy. The Tibetan language describes this relationship between the wind and the mind as the wind-mind (Tib. rlung sems). This compound word describes the wind energy and the conceptual mind as always intertwined and moving together—a singular motion. Again, a metaphor is helpful to understand how the mind and the wind work together. The Tibetan Buddhist teachings compare the mind and the breath to a rider and its mount. In this metaphor, the wind energy is the mount and the mind is the rider. This metaphor illustrates how it is the wind energy that carries the mind and that influences and shapes the mind’s energy. The wind energy is the root of all of our experience, since it provides energy for the mind’s movement. So, wind energy training is a powerful tool for purifying, calming, taming, and relaxing the wind energy to impact the expression of neurotic mind.