Balance

April 2025 Yoga Blog

Balance of the mind

There is a constant stream of noise going on in our brains.  Our society has so many stimuli that the human brain is constantly trying to evaluate, interpret, and explain everything around us. The brain is a wonderful, complex organ, but it can often be on overdrive.  This blog will discuss the balance of mind.  

The Chitta vitta, as some minds have heard in meditation, mindfulness, or purposeful thinking at the beginning of class, is a recognition of the constant chatter of the mind.  Imagine for a moment you could stop thinking and have your mind be like a calm lake.  Your mind gets a ripple now and again, but taking your mind to this place is a dream or is possible. 

The hardest part of working toward balancing the mind is acknowledging that your brain is constantly driving and that you have to sit with your thoughts. The first time I did this, I thought, “This is insane”.  How am I going to get everything to stop?  I continued to come back and sit with myself, and I caught a glimpse of one minute, then two minutes. I have gotten to the point where I can sit for 15 minutes like a lake.  

What is the purpose of sitting still and balancing the mind?  The mind, like a computer, needs to be reset.  Sometimes, we get lost in our thoughts, expectations, and the business of our schedule, and we don’t focus on ourselves.  When you reset, you can reframe your mindfulness, put what is important first, and allow the body to calm. 

How do I get there?  There are multiple ways to get to balance the mind.  Some use stillness and quiet in meditation to get there. When there is a thought, they acknowledge and allow it to drift away.  We know thoughts will come in, it is how we deal with them.  Others find chanting or mantra helpful.  Forcing you to focus on one thing, and the vibration begins to sooth the Vegas nerve.   There is no wrong answer for developing a system that works. What needs to be done first is you have to sit with yourself.  

Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, both were once asked what were thinking during the game.  Both had a very similar response. They said they were just there.  They did not predetermine what they were going to do, they did not get distracted by the crowd, noise, or sights. They simply were.  

This balance can transform everything around you if you allow it.  Stress, things to do, and work, are all things that can be organized and balanced when you take the time for yourself. It is true we have to go back to the world of what we do, but we now have tools to help us continue in our journey of understanding ourselves.  Take the time to find your balance.