My sister has been slipping me CDs on meditation. She actually bought me an entire set for my birthday ... which mysteriously disappeared before I could even break the cellophane wrapping. Stuff like that happens a lot in my house--gremlins or something--so it’s really not my fault that I never listened to them. Really.
I think she paid a lot of money for that box of CDs and I feel commensurately guilty. I also feel guilty that I can’t find the latest CD she gave me--just the empty sleeve in my glove box--because that one is “borrowed,” if borrowing means my sister cornered me at Christmas and pressed it into my hand. But yesterday, as I was getting into my Prius for the ride home from a visit to my parents, she handed me another CD, looked me in the eye and said, “Listen to it on the drive. Text me what you think when you get home.”
My immediate reaction was crap. I’d been listening to Amy Poehler’s book, Yes, Please, and who really wants to do homework when you can lose yourself in Amy’s hilarious stories not to mention that voice? Unfortunately, my sister rarely asks anything of me so when she does I feel obligated. Let’s just say that the scales of could-you-do-me-a-favor tilt significantly against me.
I did not go into this with an open mind--you did catch that homework reference? But my sister has been reading my posts and she searched through what has to be a significant collection of self-help CDs for one on point with my Dry January goals. The least I could do was listen, begrudgingly and all. It was part three of four (yet the CD is numbered 5?), of Joey Klein’s Transformation Series, Physical Mastery: Creating Optimal Health and Well-being. Note to self. Add a long description after your blog title, something like: My Life in Change: One woman’s year-long journey to achieve long-lasting personal change.
Joey Klein is a teacher who marries the traditions of East and West with scientific approaches found in genetics and psychology. My sister is a teacher with a degree in genetics and a strong background in psychology, so I get the draw. I was introduced to Mr. Klein’s work mid-series (though I’m fairly certain that fat stack of CDs with their cellophane packaging was authored by the same). Listening was a bit like watching your first episode of Criminal Minds but in season 10. You pretty much get what’s going on but you know you’re missing something.
Honestly, the whole thing felt like brain yoga, which is what I texted my sister when I arrived home. And if you’ve caught any of my prior posts, you know how I feel about yoga--all that breathing and sitting still.
My ears did perk up when Klein mentioned neuroplasticity, a concept that involves changes in the brain made by changes in behavior. I’ve already posted about the allure of changing my brain (That Damn St. Germain, January 19), but I’m not sure I’m buying his pitch.
I believe the main point of the segment was the connections our brain makes between bad behaviors--in this case with food, or alcohol, or cigarettes--with joyful occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas or bonding with the bros. He gave the example of the first time he had a shot of vodka. How, despite the bad taste, the bonding with his friends turned the experience of drinking into a positive in his brain. For the same reasons, family holidays turn the taste of pie into something we seek for a morale boost when we’re feeling low. We connect the taste of pie with the joy of being with family and friends.
Now, I’m going to add here that some of us drink to survive family holidays, but I get what he means. Still, the argument strikes me as a little too tidy. After all, if the taste of the vodka was so foul, why wasn’t that the connection? And later, after we’ve eaten that pie over and over because we’re depressed and discover that, hey, babe, the pie just makes you sad and guilty for over-indulging, again, why isn’t that the connection made in our brains? Why don’t I look at pie at family gatherings and say, “Wow, that makes me feel sad and guilty.” Because I am damn sure I’ve eaten illicit pie a lot more times when I’m sad than at joyful family functions but I still light up like a pachinko machine at the sight of a slice.
So yeah. I’m missing something. But again, maybe I just came in during Season 10. Or maybe Criminal Minds is not my cup of tea--though I think that could be blasphemy.
In any case, the whole system appears to hinge on practicing meditation consistently. Which brings me full circle: It feels like brain yoga and I don’t wanna do it.
Honestly, the answer here is to get Amy Poehler to do a sketch on mindfulness and meditation. Now that, I wouldn’t mind popping into my CD player.
This is my year of change. I hope you join me.
Please feel free to comment below.
I think she paid a lot of money for that box of CDs and I feel commensurately guilty. I also feel guilty that I can’t find the latest CD she gave me--just the empty sleeve in my glove box--because that one is “borrowed,” if borrowing means my sister cornered me at Christmas and pressed it into my hand. But yesterday, as I was getting into my Prius for the ride home from a visit to my parents, she handed me another CD, looked me in the eye and said, “Listen to it on the drive. Text me what you think when you get home.”
My immediate reaction was crap. I’d been listening to Amy Poehler’s book, Yes, Please, and who really wants to do homework when you can lose yourself in Amy’s hilarious stories not to mention that voice? Unfortunately, my sister rarely asks anything of me so when she does I feel obligated. Let’s just say that the scales of could-you-do-me-a-favor tilt significantly against me.
I did not go into this with an open mind--you did catch that homework reference? But my sister has been reading my posts and she searched through what has to be a significant collection of self-help CDs for one on point with my Dry January goals. The least I could do was listen, begrudgingly and all. It was part three of four (yet the CD is numbered 5?), of Joey Klein’s Transformation Series, Physical Mastery: Creating Optimal Health and Well-being. Note to self. Add a long description after your blog title, something like: My Life in Change: One woman’s year-long journey to achieve long-lasting personal change.
Joey Klein is a teacher who marries the traditions of East and West with scientific approaches found in genetics and psychology. My sister is a teacher with a degree in genetics and a strong background in psychology, so I get the draw. I was introduced to Mr. Klein’s work mid-series (though I’m fairly certain that fat stack of CDs with their cellophane packaging was authored by the same). Listening was a bit like watching your first episode of Criminal Minds but in season 10. You pretty much get what’s going on but you know you’re missing something.
Honestly, the whole thing felt like brain yoga, which is what I texted my sister when I arrived home. And if you’ve caught any of my prior posts, you know how I feel about yoga--all that breathing and sitting still.
My ears did perk up when Klein mentioned neuroplasticity, a concept that involves changes in the brain made by changes in behavior. I’ve already posted about the allure of changing my brain (That Damn St. Germain, January 19), but I’m not sure I’m buying his pitch.
I believe the main point of the segment was the connections our brain makes between bad behaviors--in this case with food, or alcohol, or cigarettes--with joyful occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas or bonding with the bros. He gave the example of the first time he had a shot of vodka. How, despite the bad taste, the bonding with his friends turned the experience of drinking into a positive in his brain. For the same reasons, family holidays turn the taste of pie into something we seek for a morale boost when we’re feeling low. We connect the taste of pie with the joy of being with family and friends.
Now, I’m going to add here that some of us drink to survive family holidays, but I get what he means. Still, the argument strikes me as a little too tidy. After all, if the taste of the vodka was so foul, why wasn’t that the connection? And later, after we’ve eaten that pie over and over because we’re depressed and discover that, hey, babe, the pie just makes you sad and guilty for over-indulging, again, why isn’t that the connection made in our brains? Why don’t I look at pie at family gatherings and say, “Wow, that makes me feel sad and guilty.” Because I am damn sure I’ve eaten illicit pie a lot more times when I’m sad than at joyful family functions but I still light up like a pachinko machine at the sight of a slice.
So yeah. I’m missing something. But again, maybe I just came in during Season 10. Or maybe Criminal Minds is not my cup of tea--though I think that could be blasphemy.
In any case, the whole system appears to hinge on practicing meditation consistently. Which brings me full circle: It feels like brain yoga and I don’t wanna do it.
Honestly, the answer here is to get Amy Poehler to do a sketch on mindfulness and meditation. Now that, I wouldn’t mind popping into my CD player.
This is my year of change. I hope you join me.
Please feel free to comment below.
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