Working Meditation
There's always a chance to experience working in mindfulness at our practice centers. Working meditation can be a very joyful, light-hearted time for the community as we work together. Whether we're raking leaves, chopping vegetables, washing dishes, folding linen, working in the vegetable garden or cleaning the bathrooms, we discover that we can keep our freedom, happiness, joy and peace while working.
Sometimes people ask, how do I know I'm working in mindfulness? If you're aware of your body and breathing, then you're working in mindfulness. If you are able to gladden your mind, and keep a relaxed posture and lightness in your actions, then you are working with the ease of right mindfulness.
Mindfulness will let you know if your body has become tense, or if you're using more strength or effort than is really needed. If you are mindful of this, you then have an opportunity to stop, breathe, relax, and smile, before continuing the work in a lighter spirit. If you're working simply to get the task done as quickly as possible, then that is not working meditation either. Because we think we can only be happy once the task is completed. In working meditation we want to keep our freedom and happiness in the beginning, middle and end of the task. So, we push the wheelbarrow of dung, not to move as much dung as possible as quickly as possible, but to enjoy the fullness of the experience of pushing the wheelbarrow. We enjoy every step, and we push the wheelbarrow *as a free person*. We are master of the task.
In our practice centres, we usually only talk when it's necessary and about the work at hand; if we are chatting, then it's easy to get lost in our chatting. We're no longer with our hands and the carrot, or with our arms and the rake.
Working meditation is also a chance for us to recognize our habit energies. Perhaps these habit energies have been handed down to us by our parents, grandparents or teachers. The way we scrub the floor, the way we push the wheelbarrow, the way we cook. Our energy of mindfulness recognizes our habits, smiles to them, and accepts them. We may like to gently say "Hello, Mum" or "Hello, Dad" or "Hello, teacher" when we recognize that they are with us in the way we do what we are doing.
As we go deeper in our practice, we may even actively invite our parents or loved ones to be with us as we work. "Dear grandpa, please enjoy raking the leaves with my arms," or "Dear grandma, please cook with my hands." Working mindfully allows us to touch life deeply across countless generations.
We can memorise and silently recite practice poems to support our mindfulness while we're going about our daily tasks. You can also create your own poems.
**Cleaning the Bathroom**
How wonderful
to scrub and clean.
Day by day,
my heart and mind grow clearer.
**Sweeping**
As I carefully sweep
the ground of enlightenment,
a tree of understanding
springs up from the Earth.
**Throwing out the garbage**
In the garbage, I see a rose.
In the rose, I see compost.
Everything is in transformation.
Impermanence is life.