In order to control your mind you need to understand how it works – which is best done by observing it. That’s how the original Yogis figured it out: experientially!
The next time you look in a mirror, wave to your reflection and think about what you had for breakfast yesterday. No, this isn’t Candid Camera, just an exercise to help you see the parts of your mind as clearly as you see the reflection of your head, arms, and legs.
The original Yogis determined that your mind has four distinguishable parts: 1) your thinking or conscious mind; 2) your sensory or subconscious mind; 3) your memories; and 4) your root, or rudimentary ego.
Practice experiencing each of the four aspects of your mind:
Observe your rudimentary ego – this is the very subtle, generally subconscious, recognition that you are a unique being – as opposed to the not-so-subtle, often conscious part of your ego which thinks of yourself as witty, cute and tall. Your root ego is simply the part of you that recognizes “Hey, that’s me in the mirror!”
Observe your memories – this is perhaps the easiest part of your mind to observe.
Observe your sensory mind – note that you aren’t engaging your thinking mind when you wave at your reflection in the mirror. Generally, you’re not conscious of the workings of your sensory mind; it constantly runs in the background, automatically receiving sensory information and processing routine bodily functions. It’s your sensory mind that waves your hand (i.e., you don’t consciously think, “move hand left, move hand right…”).
Observe your thinking mind – this is the part you used to recall what you had for breakfast. Like heartbeats and breaths, your thinking mind continuously processes singular, sequential thoughts, which are naturally drawn to the objects of your desire (the products of interactions between the other three parts of your mind: sensory, memory and ego); however, you can control your thinking mind – and thus your actions – and thereby overcome desire.
Next practice observing interactions among the four aspects of your mind.
