So in this video,
What I want to do is give you a quick briefing on the monkey mind,
Which is a critical concept to understand and get familiar with no matter what style of meditation you practice.
So when you meditate,
The number one most basic thing you're trying to do is to calm down your monkey mind.
Monkey mind is just another name for your chattering,
Anxious,
Hundred mile an hour racing mind.
It's the mind that gets angry.
It's the mind that gets worried or fearful.
It's also the mind that analyzes and judges and evaluates.
And its basic job is to protect you.
Its job is to look out for your interests and help you get the things you desire.
And its job is also to help protect you from the things that will hurt you or the things that you fear and dislike.
Now normally,
You need your monkey mind to live and get ahead.
If you didn't have your monkey mind,
You'd be dead in the gutter.
So you need it.
It is a very,
Very good thing.
And the people who have the strongest monkey minds are the ones who are often very successful,
Well educated,
And the captains of industry,
The pillars of their communities,
Incisive critical thinkers,
Entrepreneurs,
And innovators.
So monkey mind is a very good thing.
But when your monkey mind is over-tired,
On excessive red alert,
And runs out of control and just thrashes on overdrive,
It can also lead to excessive anxiety,
Insomnia,
Depression,
And fear.
In other words,
When your monkey mind runs out of control,
And it is incredibly hard to calm down because it has built up an irresistible and overwhelming momentum all its own,
It ends up becoming the very engine of suffering itself.
And if you have ever lost a night of sleep because you were worrying about something,
If you ever couldn't function at work or at home because you were just uncontrollably anxious and panicked about something,
Then you know exactly what I'm talking about.
And when it is running out of control,
It's not trying to hurt you.
It's actually just trying to do its job.
Its job is to try to protect you from dangers,
Both real and imagined.
And it's not stupid.
It knows how to push your buttons and get under your skin to keep a tight grip on your attention because it is a part of you.
And it is also programmed to do whatever it takes to keep you out of things like meditation,
Because it does not want to be calmed down.
It does not want you to turn away from it.
And it will do everything it can to keep you engaged in the everyday practical world.
And in order to keep you engaged,
For instance,
When you're trying to do something like meditation,
It will continuously change the channel of the TV of your mind from topic to topic until it lands on something that will completely engross you and maintain your anxiety and attention.
And when you meditate or use a specialized meditation technique like a launch exercise or drift exercise,
You're doing exercises specifically designed to unhook you from the monkey mind to short circuit the monkey mind so that you can actually get some rest and sleep and recharge.
And if you get really good at it,
You'll be able to calm down the monkey mind for longer and longer periods of time.
You will eventually be able to step into the zone of awareness that is beyond the thinking mind,
Beyond the monkey mind.
And I won't get too much into what that zone actually is other than to say that once you hit it,
It is,
By the way,
Insanely intoxicatingly pleasurable.
And the Hindus actually have a name for it.
They call it the ocean of bliss.
Okay,
So that's it for this first briefing on monkey mind.
And if you'd like to dive down deeper into this topic.
If you click the all videos link,
You will see that there's actually an entire video series just on monkey mind,
Which goes deeper into the dynamics of monkey mind in a lot more detail.
And there is also another video series that goes deeper into the ocean of bliss,
Which covers things like how to get there,
What the transition feels like,
And what the pleasure or bliss itself actually feels like and what it means.
So you can dive into those at your leisure.
But for now,
In the next video,
I want to quickly touch on some meditation logistics.
So some practical issues like how long you should meditate for,
What time of day to meditate,
What postures you can use.
So for instance,
Can you lie down and meditate if you have back issues and other questions like that.
And the goal of the next video is to give you a cheat sheet for everything you need to get your lifelong meditation routine started tonight quickly,
Immediately,
And with zero effort.
And when you are ready to go,
I will see you in the next video.
