Now that the summer’s here, we may struggle to remain inert.* That’s because doing nothing is questioned, judged, and generally frowned upon. In our hyperactive society, resting is non-productive. But it’s essential to take a break, and summer is the perfect time, weather-wise. Heat helps slow us down. The world goes on, from one distressing event to another, and if we associate summer with holidaying, and sunning, we may find a way to experience a little mental relief and some physical unwinding.
Thich Nhat Hanh presents an interesting viewpoint. He says:
Walking meditation is walking just to enjoy walking. Walking without arriving, that is the technique. There is a Sanskrit word, apranihita. It means wishlessness or aimlessness. The idea is that we do not put anything ahead of ourselves and run after it. When we practise walking meditation, we walk in this spirit. We just enjoy the walking, with no particular aim or destination. Our walking is not a means to an end. We walk for the sake of walking.
We may be uncomfortable with anything ‘aimless’, thinking it’s of no value, wasteful, haphazard, random. But directionless, unstructured thinking – daydreaming – has been proven to be an important brain function, equivalent to refreshment, a reset, and a hiatus during which creativity expands and flows. Pausing in quietness also allows moments of appreciation, joy and delight to flood our whole organism, even briefly.
Meditation on a Grapefruit
To wake when all is possible
before the agitations of the day
have gripped you
To come to the kitchen
and peel a little basketball
for breakfast
To tear the husk
like cotton padding a cloud of oil
misting out of its pinprick pores
clean and sharp as pepper
To ease
each pale pink section out of its case
so carefully without breaking
a single pearly cell
the juice pooling until the whole
fruit is divided from its skin
so sweet
a discipline
precisely pointless a devout
involvement of the hands and senses
a pause a little emptiness
each year harder to live within
each year harder to live without.
– Craig Arnold
Yoga thought revolves around two seeming opposites – action and non-action – and we learn, as we continue practising, that the two work together and are, in fact, indivisible. Thich Nhat Hanh’s perspective is this:
The quality of being determines the quality of doing. An action must be based on non-action. We usually say, ‘Don’t just sit there, do something.’ But we have to reverse that statement to say, ‘Don’t just do something, sit there’, so we can cultivate the energy that makes peace, understanding, and compassion possible.
Now that the summer’s here, laze all day, your work can wait.* Seek out a favourite chair, elevate your legs, ground yourself, close your eyes, breathe, rest, and recover.
*Now That the Summer’s Here, by Michael Franks