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Buddha in Tbilisi City

Quite recently, one had to travel somewhere in order to participate in retreats or mindfulness development programs. For example, once I had to cover a rather long distance to Portugal.

 

But changes are fast to occur, Georgia attracts not just plain tourists but also spiritual travelers, and already this summer numerous yoga-retreats as well as self-development programs take place there. No wonder: mountains, nature, climate and whatever else here is quite perfect for a break from everyday routine and complete immersion into the practice.

 

The participants of the program “Buddha in Tbilisi” were to immerse into the mindfulness practice. Valery Veryaskin, a mindfulness coach and the author of the project “Buddha in the city”, has been in Tbilisi for the first time in his life, however, I am pretty certain, not for the last, as the impressions he and the program participants have received from Georgia and its people are only very positive.

In the course of his programs Valery aids in developing mindfulness in everyday life, helps to increase mindfulness in any situations, either routine or, on the contrary, stressful ones, and to retain clear and cheerful consciousness in the thick of things. Hence the name of the project.

 

After the program we are having a small interview.

Valery, I remember the times of the overall passion for psychology. I guess it is now being substituted by spiritual practices. All the more people are going in for yoga, visiting retreats. Don’t you think so?


Valery: Yes, in a way, though it is still far from being a mainstream. These days it is being widely spoken of devaluation of, say, yoga, that is, when yoga courses get started in each and every fitness-center. Just like that, the mindfulness practice, arising from the Buddhist tradition of meditation, adapts to the realities of everyday life and even to business. Despite the disputes concerning practice devaluation, they help people – at least, they reduce stress.

 

I can trace the situation in the post-Soviet space. I myself have come all this way, with short trainings at first – psychological, or esoteric. It all was a novelty then. There was an influx, there was demand. Gradually people realized that such sort of programs is characterized by reaching peak states. However, for a long-term result one needs a constant practice. Somebody considered a continuous work with a psychologist the preferable option. But I decided for myself that I would combine the approaches of psychology and Zen Buddhism.

 

I have met quite a number of people who got hooked on retreats, that is, when a strong addiction is evident with no ability to maintain the desirable mental state at the same time. Have you noticed that?

 

It is a rather wide-spread phenomenon. A retreat provides a possibility of intense practice, immersion, peak states and insights, so that the emotional aftertaste still lingers afterwards. But as soon as people return to the routine, they again fall under the influence of their remaining habits. The effect is gone, and the person goes to another retreat for emotional feeding.

 

As a matter of fact, rebuilding of the mental system can be fostered by the gradual and painstaking process of self-cultivation. Buddhism often uses agricultural metaphors, like “cultivating the seed of mindfulness”.

 

I don’t mind peak states and insights – they make good experience which is hard to achieve in the ordinary life. But my major theme is actually the introduction of practice into the ordinary life. Practicing daily is of utmost importance. For instance, one can conduct an individual 20-minute retreat at home. It is like a spine in the human body, the pillar of the entire body structure. In addition to that, informal practices are important, for example, the way I drink tea, or communicate with an individual. Where does my attention rest all this time? Too often it is centered on the smartphone, not on the partner. Many people are absorbed on social networks even in the course of daily meals, not feeling the taste, forgetting about the whole process. And thus, if we want to be more present in our own life, to keep in touch with it, to live it deeply and truly, we have to return ourselves regularly into the greater presence in the real moment. That is why we need to practice.


 

 

And thus, if we want to be more present in our own life, to keep in touch with it, to live it deeply and truly, we have to return ourselves regularly into the greater presence in the real moment.

And what changes do those observe who have introduced the practice of mindfulness into their routine life?


Valery: The changes are as follows: the ability not to be reactive, to trace the irritating factors, to observe one’s own emotional reaction. As a result, one acquires stress tolerance, calmness towards various life events, overall concentration. The other day one of the participants of our online program shared with us exactly such experience: as a result of regular practicing, she feels a lot calmer and more mentally balanced in the repeating situation at work, where she used to feel tremendously nervous and irritated.

Intense inner work often suggests changes in patterned values. Then there follows the necessity of change in the familiar surroundings.


Valery: Yes, that is true: people go through the crisis, and mindfulness changes the usual values. There might be a period of search, mess in mind. It is often painful. Some people decide on changes at work, in family relationships. Crises are an integral part of the spiritual growth and self-development.

Your method is a method of small steps, which means that only consistent and stable practice brings tangible results. But people often want everything at once. How successfully do the participants of your programs manage to conduct stable work on self-development?

Valery: We live in the dynamic reality, where the external changes occur in the blink of an eye and the same pace in our inner world is highly desirable. However, old habits keep us back. The mindfulness practice is very simple: you drink tea – pay close attention to it. But the difficulty relates to this seeming simplicity: without proper concentration and self-control we forget it all and get imprisoned by the old habits again.

 

At initial stages one really needs much support. My online retreats offer help exactly at these stages. It is similar to three supporting factors of Buddhism: Buddha, that is the seed of mindfulness, already exists in you, and you can awaken him; Dharma is like a doctrine, direction, a set of clues that develop your mind; Sangha is a group of support, a group of kindred spirits. The participants of online retreats are scattered across the globe, but we all are united by practice, exchange of experience.

 

Someone else’s concentration triggers our own. A certain external support is required at every stage of the practice, but at initial stages it is one of the most essential factors facilitating our taking root in it.

What plans are there ahead? Maybe some programs in new directions?


Valery: Yes, indeed. I take interest in various spheres of human life. In plans I have programs combining meditation and creation, meditation and interpersonal relationships, or, for example, meditation and food. I wonder how we can discover depth and sense in rather trivial, routine matters.

 

Or, for instance, money theme, human mindfulness in this sphere, convictions concerning money – it is all very interesting and important. Post-Soviet people tend to have the convictions and values forbidding them to have much money. For example, there is a conviction that having money is “awkward”. Other people are prone to another extreme – endless greediness, when they simply cannot stop and say, “That’s enough”.

 

Buddhism is, however, a median way. It is a constant search for balance between the extremes. And Buddhism, according to its name, aims at awakening. It aims to awaken us from three major vices of the human life: ignorance (unclear consciousness), hatred and greediness. And so through some certain practices we try to develop in our minds their opposites: mindfulness, generosity, and living kindness. I am curious to observe money from this point of view. I’d like to find the balance between receiving and returning, to see more clearly how much money is actually enough. “Enough” is the key-word here.

 

The site “Buddha in the city” where you can learn more about the mindfulness practice.

 

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