In the Eye of the Tiger: A Tale of Adventure and Mindfulness
“Bagh!” “Bagh!”
Our safari guide in India yelled as he frantically waved his arms pointing in the direction of a tiger coming out from underneath the road bridge we were parked on. बाघ pronounced “bagh” in Hindi for tiger. The sight of his slow saunter across the sandy earth took my breath away. I could feel the weight of each paw as the tiger made his way to a shady area at the edge of a dry riverbed.
It was late in the afternoon in the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India, one of the largest national parks in the country, and the sweltering heat of the day was breaking. What made the moment even more stunning was on the other side of the road bridge, where we were parked about a hundred yards away, was a group of young boys in their underwear bathing the elephants they used to patrol the reserve in a pool of water, unaware of just how close one of the striped felines they patrol for was lying about. While the boys did not see the tiger, I am certain the tiger saw them yet did not care. The peacefulness of the two wildlife scenes co-existing was a privileged sight, and our vehicle had the vantage point of sitting between the two.
That was number six for the day. Each day, while on my tiger safari in Central India, I would look for eight things that touched or impressed me. Why eight? The number, when turned on its side, is the symbol for infinity, reminding me of the completeness and continuity of life and its ebb and flow. Witnessing this sight easily made the day’s hit list. We sat there for about an hour and a half, watching and clicking our cameras, becoming its own kind of meditation.
The Joy of Open-Eyed Meditation
As a teacher and traveler, I look for moments when I can practice Open-Eyed Meditation, which helps you be aware of and appreciate your surroundings. I write about this practice in my book, “Take a Shot at Happiness: How to Write, Direct & Produce the Life You Want.” This meditation style helps to keep you present in the moment, to thoughts and emotions as they arise, and ultimately, as a result, more connected to your inner being. I use it to focus my attention on the sights, sounds and smells and savor how they make me feel in a new environment.
Intentionally savoring these moments trains your brain to look for the good. Done consistently enough, even when you are not in a distant land on a tiger safari, research in the field of positive psychology and neuroscience has shown that you can create neural pathways that tune into the positive and away from the negative, which has the benefit of nourishing your emotional wellbeing.
Restructuring Your Brain Toward the Good
The brain has the remarkable ability to restructure itself throughout life, a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. Savoring positive experiences encourages the formation of neural pathways associated with positive emotions that strengthen these pathways over time, which can help better navigate negative emotions, including reducing depression and anxiety.
Savoring the Good
The other thing about practicing open-eyed meditation and savoring eight good things during the day is it gives you the opportunity to reflect on how these moments impact you and what you learn, how you have grown. It is easy to get excited and charged by adrenaline when you see a tiger. However, before you see one and in between sightings, there is a lot of searching and waiting. My intentionality on this safari allowed me to appreciate the details that often get overlooked, like noticing and savoring the moment the peak of a 104-degree afternoon broke. Feeling calmed by the sound of leaves rustling in the wind in an otherwise still jungle. Driving in an open vehicle with my shoes off and feet propped up to feel the wind cooling down my toes. These moments made for a more profound sense of contentment and joy during this journey.
Your Practice
So, the next time you travel or even do it as a practice in your everyday life, intentionally look for moments to savor for at least twenty to thirty seconds–long enough to create a positive memory that you can reflect on at another time, perhaps a time when you need to feel uplifted. I do this regularly, and it has made a significant difference in how I see a more hopeful world. As the Zen tradition wisely reminds us, “No day comes twice. Each moment savored more precious than a span of jade.”
You can find more intentional practices in my book or by downloading my Take a Shot at Happiness app.
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