Zen Mind Tricks

Master the moment with these easy techniques

Your husband forgets to move that box into the attic like you asked, but he remembers to record the NBA finals for two weeks running. Well, you can’t really control that. But you can control how you react to the situation.

“Feeling in control starts on a physical level,” says Jeanmarie Paolillo, a teacher at YogaWorks in New York City. And that’s why yoga works, says Paolillo, who compares what goes on inside our heads to one giant movie that we direct. “Yoga is the quieting of the mind. If you silence the movies and try to project a blank screen, then you can decide what shows on the screen next,” she says. It’s the Zen notion of controlling the mind by controlling the body.

So, how do you turn an episode of anxiety into a scene starring a woman in charge? Practicing the following techniques will help you take control of some of life’s rough moments.

The Scenario
You are in a meeting and getting blistered by the boss.

The Solution
Use a rhythmic activity to deal with tense scenes: Take the thumb and touch it to the pointer finger, then the middle finger, then the ring and pinky fingers. As you touch a different finger, chant in your head—“Sa, Ta, Na, Ma.” Repeating this practice over and over when you are under fire creates the same effect baseball players get while chewing gum—alert to what’s going on yet relaxed under pressure.

This trick, from Edward Vilga’s upcoming book Yoga for Suits, is adapted from the Kriya yogic system. “Kriya techniques are like doing crossword puzzles. They keep you alert enough to pay close attention to the goings on but they are also pacifying,” Vilga says.

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