You take a large glass of water, dump in a tablespoon of dirt ...

 

You take a large glass of water, dump in a tablespoon of dirt and mix it up. How do you get the water to return to its natural, clear state?
 
The answer is simple. You leave the glass still and apply time.
 
Our minds are very much like this.
 
Our natural state of mind is clear and still. However, we dump in dirt (worry, anxiety, anger, greed) and we get all mixed up.
 
The solution for a clear and quiet mind is the same as it is for a glass of dirt filled water. We sit still and let it settle.
 
I want to focus on the importance of complete and total stillness.
 
A prerequisite for a still mind is a still body.
 
Many of us in the West have succumbed to the mind/body dualism that believes we have a “mind” which is “me” which drives around this machine of a body which is somehow separate from “mind/me.”
 
Yet we know intuitively that our minds and bodies are deeply linked.
 
I see this mind-body connection so clearly now that I am even uncomfortable with the phrase mind-body connection because it implies a possibility of separation. 
 
Our mind and body are deeply interconnected: When I am in physical pain, I get mentally agitated. When I think something is funny, my body laughs. When I worry about work my shoulders tighten up and I get a headache. When I have a massage, my body and mind are both relaxed.
 
Back and forth, our mind and body inform and shape each other. They are one.
 
So in our practice if we want a quiet mind we need a quiet body.
 
When I sit in daily meditation I make a commitment to myself: For the period I have set aside for meditation I will be completely still.
 
In this stillness I am free from the distractions and disruptions of movement. Physical stillness leads to a quiet mind.