Of Two Minds
500 Words on Thursday | Written by Lee Schneider
Disclosure: I like doing yoga. I don’t go for the workout. (I have running for that.) I don’t go for the women. (Though I met a woman in yoga whom I have married.) I go to explore the mindscape and the soulscape. That said, I have a request for all yoga teachers: Can you stop telling us to throw away the mind? You might know the type, the teacher who cranks up the volume on their shallow pop music and shouts over it, “You don’t need your brain – just listen to your feelings!” This instruction makes me want to puke, but I would have to use my brain to do that, so I guess it’s not allowed.
I’m thinking about this because I just saw a new documentary called “Enlighten Up!” It’s the story of a skeptic who tries to find out if yoga can change him. I experienced the story very much through the skeptic’s eyes because he wanted tangible proof of how yoga was working. 
I like that, because it speaks to the existential engineer in me. Seeking such proof involves the brain in the process of healing the body and the spirit. That’s good. Here’s why: You might already know that there are two parts of the brain and they work together. The left brain takes care of the sequential, analytical, logical stuff like doing your taxes and complaining about it. The right brain is non-linear, intuitive and big picture. It’s what we use to connect to the soul, interpret people’s facial expressions, dance with abandon and heal ourselves.
“The brain? That’s my second favorite organ.”
-Woody Allen
As Daniel H. Pink writes in A Whole New Mind, the left brain is bossy and tends to bully the right brain. This is why in meditation we’re asked to “quiet the mind.” It’s an oversimplified instruction – you really want to quiet the left brain — it’s analyzing how annoying it is to sit still — and try to listen to the right brain as it tells its subtle story. One great technique for this is to sit and hum loudly. It gets everything vibrating, clears the mind of extra thoughts and if you don’t go insane first or get evicted, you might discover something new.
I was amazed to learn from Daniel Pink’s book that for years scientists believed it was the left brain alone that “made us human” – our logical, analytical selves vaulted us above dumb animals who have never even attempted to write a novel. The mute, mysterious right brain was thought to be a vestige of a more primitive form of human. But as Pink points out, “We need both approaches in order to craft fulfilling lives and build productive, just societies.”
Works for me. Even when I gaze into my own past I see that my father is a lawyer whose default mode is analytical left brain rationality while my mother, who was an artist, was a devotedly holistic right brain person. Genetically, that’s my recipe. Whatever I am pursuing or pursued by these days is orchestrated by biology, biography and those two halves of the brain playing their symphony together.
Lee,
Interesting about meditation and the two halfs of the brain. When I do my standing post, I focus on my breathing and funneling energy into my pineal gland, then down into my center. And I don’t think at all, or at least the thoughts slow to a crawl. I feel, but I don’t think.
Is that my left brain shutting down, stopping the endless supply of analyses and judgments? Is it my right brain achieving dominance?
I tend to be right brained, going on feelings and seeing the big picture. The left brain always brings me back to the brass tacks of reality–and that’s not the place to be.
Bob
Throwing the mind away is impossible. Perhaps it’s more about paying attention to the mind until the chatter is seen for what it is — just …chatter. Then suddenly, the mind vanishes.
If you go to the complete list of people appearing in the film, you’ll see that there is not one skeptic among them. This film is obviously not an honest exercise in gaining knowledge, but rather the (professed spiritualist) filmmaker’s documenting of a skeptic assaulted on all sides by kooky believers until he submits (however unwillingly) that there **may** be something to the allure of yoga.
From Kate Churchill, the filmmaker:
“I decided to prove that yoga can transform anyone. My plan? Select a subject and follow him anywhere he goes until he finds a practice that transforms him.”
Her plan to **prove** her already ossified idea should be the first red flag that this film is not an honest endeavor, but rather a propaganda piece (not unlike “Religilous” or “Expelled.”
No thank you, sir.
The balance is what’s most interesting and helpful to me – I rather like the brass tacks of things but place a great value on the jazz solos also. Thanks for commenting.
That’s a good point – something like the “reverse psychology” of mindfulness, focusing on the mind until it goes away. Of course, for me, that’s the great contradiction. It can never go away entirely, because then we’d be unable to wash ourselves or watch baseball games and that would be unpleasant. Seriously, though, I think the “mind” becomes a codeword for left brain – a code coined in the age before MRI’s, before the mind could be mapped.
You’ve expressed a very valid point. I’ve found that most documentaries worth anything actually aren’t shy about having a point of view. Spike Lee’s “When the Levees broke” is my favorite example. The viewer knows how Spike Lee feels about New Orleans and the Bush administration, but he also allows others to have their say – even people who don’t agree with him. I thought Kate was bravely honest about acknowledging that her experiment failed – no conversion, no true believer, no glory. Plus she was honest about her frustration that it failed. For me, that made it a better movie.
Thanks . Another interesting journey. I guess that’s why your parents got along together notwithstanding.
I really enjoy your blog, Lee! It keeps evolving for each week. It’s amazing that you just started! And just as your comment above that the most interesting documentaries are those that have a stated opinion, I look forward to see you being even more blunt about where you stand. The more open I’ve become about my belief system, the easier it has been to come across as ‘authentic’, and trustworthy, even by those who don’t share my ideas and ideals. Just a thought…
Have fun in NY!!!
Lotta
A symphony – I love it!
Ingrid