The Zen Of It All

Why do I call this "The Zen of Kitesurfing." From the advice of my Executive Coach, I began taking up meditation. Not only as a way to counter stress, a constant battle especially with a hereditary elevated blood pressure condition, but as a way to get centered.

Part of the exercise in meditation is to not necessarily just quiet the mind, but to acknowledge the noise but give it little to no attention. Allow it to become gray noise. My early attempts at quieting the mind through meditation has been somewhat strenuous. Let's face it, we're constantly on the move in our mind. Living in New York City, mid-town no less, and working in the Finance industry, you can't help but form a habit of constant multi-tasking in our head. Being aware of this is the first step.

From the advice of a friend, I took a course in meditation provided by The Art Of Living Foundation. I learned how to just "allow" the noise, how to breath, and center myself among the turbulent thoughts. It's an amazing moment when realize how you constantly clinch your jaw or tense your shoulders until you focus and relax those muscles. Your body just gets used to the tense feeling.

The same goes for the mind. You don't realize the kind of turbulence in your mind until you focus on your breathing and ignore all of the to-do's, all of the planning, all of the worrying. Just breathing in the moment, which brings to mind a great quote:

"I do not worry about the past
and I am not fearful of the future
because my life is supremely concentrated in the present
and the right response comes to me as it occurs."

Effective meditation for me is really about being in the moment.

So what does this have to do with kitesurfing?

On eof the visual techniques I use in meditation are analogous to flying and controlling a power kite. Turbulent winds can quickly take your kite out of control - consider this your multi-tasking mind. Parking the kite at the edge of the wind window at 12 o'clock brings it back. This is finding your center - bringing your thoughts to 12 o'clock and your breathing are the lines of the kite.

This visualization has served me well in starting off my meditations both in the morning, which is easier to start, as well as the evening - where the "winds" are fierce.