Thanks for the great idea.

Then again, this was in Hong Kong, where you see groups of oldies doing Taichi and what-not in every corner of the city. I still do it occasionally here in Vancouver, the city of Yoga, so it's still fine ;)

I think this is a really interesting takeaway. I'd like to propose another type of activity which I think most people probably wouldn't group together with meditation: video games.

If you're an avid gamer, you'll know where I'm coming from. Whether you're playing an MMO or an immersive story-based game, or even a competitive real-time strategy game, you're well-versed in the feeling of being hyper-focused and "becoming one" with the reality in front of you. I rarely find my thoughts wandering while playing a game because there simply isn't an opportunity to let my brain drift this way, especially if it's a multiplayer game (think StarCraft II, for example).

Video games are, at least for me, an activity that allows me to be in complete awareness and be in the moment, at that helps me relax. Any time I get ridiculed for playing video games as an adult, this is my default explanation.

To be "present" 24/7 is a very difficult achievement, but it's a great goal to keep in mind.

Edit: grammar

> If we can't wash the dishes, the chances are we won't be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future - and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.

This all also reminds me that there are people who view "true yoga" as a sort of 24/7 meditation of movement, where the person strives to be aware of and deliberate about their movements all the time.

Training your consciousness by playing sports vs sitting in lotus is analogous to training your biceps by rowing vs biceps curls. The latter is more targeted, hence more effective.

When you do what you love and you completely emerge in it, yes, you do get in a state of bliss. But are you conscious of it? If not, which is mostly the case when you see a group of people play soccer in the park, then I don't think that is beneficial in the meditative sense. Your mind is still very much active.

The reason why the traditional way of meditation is so effective (and has therefore been used for millennia), is because it is quite hard to just sit still and do nothing. And really clear your mind of any thought whatsoever.

It is this mental challenge that will really train your consciousness and raise your awareness.

An easier way to get started is to combine the two methods, in the form of tai-chi. Get your exercise, while clearing your mind (and raise your awareness). It has helped me a great deal -- my life has been so much smoother after I trained Tai Chi for 4 intensive months in China.

If you're interested, I blogged about that experience a while back: http://kuomarc.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/tai-chi-in-pursuit-o...

> But how does one raise awareness of being in the zone? It is that consciousness that I believe is paramount.

I believe first, we have to realize that people in general are not aware that they could be aware. What I mean by this is that at first, you have to realize that you can be better, or you can achieve better if you bring the rules, or guides, or signs, into your consciousness. For example, without being aware that your daily activities could be an activity towards self-improvement, you cannot really avail the opportunities to be conscious.

Secondly, and once you realize the above, you can further raise your consciousness level for the betterment of not only yourself, but for the humanity at large (starting from your immediate close-by people in your circle).

So all in all, with the combination as you suggest, people can become more conscious, more ethical, more compassionate....all because they are making an effort to staying in here-now.

Only if your goal is to make your biceps bigger. If your goal is to gain strength, isolation is less effective, as strength involves more than just one muscle, it also involves stabilizing muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. Who says training your conciousness isn't similar?

In the context of my meditation practice I have come to think of consciousness more like awareness — where I am the observer of the mind and all of its random, discursive activity. Tara Brach has referred to this aspect of mind as the “survival brain” — an evolutionary vestige that is always looking for a threat, or a problem to solve. And if it can’t find an actual threat it will often create an imaginary one.

Is that really the case? What gains could one expect from focusing on dishwashing, only to take time away from some other activity to plan one's future?

I don't want you to think that I am suggesting that you shift your "focus" from one activity to another, because that is ultimately is as same as a typical meditation routine. You are shifting your focus from whatever you were doing, to your focus on sitting idle and doing typical meditation.

That's not what I am suggesting with the dishwashing example. The meditation I am describing does not ask for you to focus .... instead, it asks for you to be "aware" and "be in present".

Here's the difference and here's what you can potentially gain:

When you are in the present washing dishes, you are training your mind to not be in the past and/or future. So now, if your mind is in present, than it does not matter if you are washing dishes or singing or dancing. The point is, that in present, you are closer to your true self and in present, you are more alert to the reality.

The mind constantly makes you wander either in the past or in the future and we generally don't and cannot stay in the present.

The example of doing your favorite activity (like running, exercising, singing, dancing etc) is important here because it is in these activities where you derive a whole lot of satisfaction and contentment for yourself. It has also been established that athletes usually find loosing themselves in their games at the moment of transcendence and we (the audience) have seen above-human or super natural acts come out of those moments (there is another subject of what audience derives out of watching such events, be that sports games, a movie, a concert etc, etc).

Hope you're following.

EDIT: Perhaps more to the point, many of the useful decisions or notions that might have arisen from thinking about the future or the past while washing dishes tend in my experience to arise more or less of their own accord, in their own time. Much of the mind tends to think itself once you let it.

I can't wait to do the dishes when I get home today.

Right, and I would suggest that there are no failures here — just notice what is going on in your mind, without judging it, and then gently bring your attention back to the breath. As we practice this over time the mind will more easily quiet down. Be the patient observer of your mind and know that you are not your thoughts.

I highly recommend some of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books, and/or some of his videos on YouTube. These have been very helpful to me.

Try meditating on Conway's Game of Life ;)

On a more practical note, I just find that I make more mistakes when I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. And as for planning for the future, how much extra time would it really take if you saved it for after the dishes? A couple minutes?

All that said, I still listen to podcasts while doing chores...

You'll do both things more efficiently if you give them your all rather than having your attention constantly flit between them. Imagine if, while programming, you had to switch between projects every five minutes. You'd never get anything done! Yet we expect our brains to perform well under the same harsh circumstances.

Of course, if you don't care about what you're doing, it doesn't really hurt to let your mind wander. You'll probably do a sloppy job, but you don't care anyway. But the real payoff to concentrating on something like washing dishes is that your mind gets better at concentrating, so you'll instinctively do it when it really matters. It's like muscle training — you don't want to wait until you need to heft a couch to start doing it.

Brain doesn't work like that. You can actually do stuff in parallel without performance penalty as long as the tasks you are doing use different types of mental resources. I find it easy to wash dishes well while simultaneously planning my future / thinking about whatever. Quite often the thinking I do while washing dishes or in the shower is much better in quality than the thinking at my desk or near the whiteboard.

Sometimes it's best to use your time to actually practice your football skills, go out on the field and play; or else spend that time planning the next game, doing strategy and stuff like that.

But other times it's best to go to the gym and lift weights. That may seem like a waste of time for a football player, but it actually makes him stronger, so he gets better results in the game - because he engaged in a seemingly unrelated activity. Strangely enough. ;)

Same with washing dishes. Sometimes you use that time to draw plans for the future, advance the theoretical side for the projects you're working on ("play actual football with your team mates in the field"). Other times it's best to use those moments to meditate ("lift weights at the gym"). Both are useful, and in fact it's best if you practice both, at different times.

one of the most difficult principles of zen to understand and follow is "no gaining mind". this is an extension of the notion that attachment is the root of all suffering.

http://theravadin.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/surfing-on-the-wa...

http://theravadin.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/anussati-sinking-...

While working out it is all I think about. I put on headphones with fast, heavy music and focus on the exercise I'm doing at that moment. I don't think about email in my inbox, I don't think about the errands I need to run, I don't talk to the other people around me. I think about my muscles contracting. I think about the extra 5 lbs I just added to the bar. I think about my form. I think about my breathing.

It is meditation as much as sitting on a pillow with legs crossed and eyes closed.

That's right. There are prayer or mantra techniques that could be practiced anywhere, any time. In the Indian culture, there are people who say their mantra (sometimes silently, with no external sound or movement of the tongue) when they go about their daily business. In Orthodox cultures in Eastern Europe, there are people saying the Prayer of the Heart, again, during their daily routine (often silently, without any external sign of the practice).

There are also techniques of focusing your mind on various psycho-physiological aspects (breathing, various "energy centers", etc), but those may be a little harder to do while engaged in your normal routine.

There are also ways of maintaining a meditation-like, or "prayerful", state of mind and feeling during normal activities. This may require some prior experience.

In any case, yes, meditation does not mandate sitting down either on a chair or cross-legged, with eyes closed. Some techniques may actually require that posture, but others don't. It depends.

If you are into watching movies and when you watch an exceptionally good movie, you are most likely staying in present in that moment where the mind is not there to distract. It could be a great scene or it could be the whole movie, the experience one gets out of watching good movie, is as same as the experience one gets out of being-in-present. But obviously the moment passes leaving the taste in your mouth, but the point is ... that one can find and cultivate those moments further in life in other situations.

I've been playing guitar (blues improv) long before I started meditating, and I really noticed the similarities in the state of mind it put you in.

I've been an insomniac for a long time and meditating did help me a lot. Be it playing guitar, sitting or doing yoga.

How I think it, giving up everything and sitting silently is a form of practice. You cannot be in-present with whatever activity you do if your mental muscle isn't toned for it.

In my own practice, I've noticed that when I skip sitting meditations, my attempts at staying aware through out the daily activities is harder than usual.