Me and the Dood: Learning to leave it
My main mini squeeze Koda teaches me a lot about disengaging. In yoga speak, we call it Pratyahara. That’s another way of describing an ability to turn inwards and away from distractions perceived by all our senses. Not by sleeping though, so don’t get excited that you’ve nailed the skill…
(“withdrawal”)…the ability to “switch off” and produce a state of extreme inward-mindedness at will
The Shambala Encyclopedia of Yoga – Georg Feuerstein, PH.D.
If you’re having a hard time visualizing such Zen, you can think of it another way. A turtle pulling head and limbs in. A puppy napping under a tight space. It’s the type of concentration that takes some discipline because you’re inviting focus and quiet despite incoming stimulus. You may notice the various tugs at your awareness, but you remain steady.
Yeah, I know. Sign me up.
Anyway, today’s lesson unfolded as I watched Koda learn from her trainer, Dylan. We’re in puppy 3 classes and he was teaching the command “leave it”. She’s a rockstar pupil…
When you tell your (city vs suburb) dog to leave it, he said, you’re speaking to a blanket emotion. The dog might want to chew on garbage in the street, a dead mouse, a discarded heroin needle, or just pull to meet another dog.
Disengaging with distractions to live from a deeper place
The leaving it analogy strikes me as an important lesson. I can only speak for myself, but I feel way less reactive and drawn into the soap opera of life when I can disengage. Leave it so speak. It makes me live from a deeper place. That said, it isn’t about checking out, rather touching base with a quiet and uncluttered (head) space. If you meditate, that’s the idea…
Does Koda leave it? She does but not without unyielding practice. Me? I can leave it too, but not without unyielding practice. Need a little reward? Follow @KodaHazWax for some smiles and let us know how it goes.
