Yoga and the Art of Putting Aside Distractions

Sand Hill Cranes in our backyard. Much of the time, our minds are akin to this family of birds - one unit, but constantly looking in several different directions. A.K.A. multi-tasking.

Yoga can help us focus our minds in one direction, on one thing at a time.

My experiments with eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ

This NY Times Opinion essay immediately caught my attention: Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It. Yup, I will admit it – I am guilty of multi-tasking. Wanna join me in admitting to this?!! Or at least I can have, at times, the appearance of multi-tasking, because as the article points out, multitasking isn’t really even possible, as mainly, we’re just switching our attention rapidly between different foci without realizing it, incurring cognitive costs each time we do so. The problem, the article points out, is that trying to multi-task decreases our performance.

The essay mentioned a Yoga Sutra that I was previously not familiar with. Evidently, even in Patanjali’s time back over 2000 years ago, people had a hard time focusing on one thing at a time. Patanjali wrote in Sutra 1.32:

tat-pratiṣedha-artham-eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ

Translation:

To counteract this (distractions), the practice upon a single stuff (is proposed).

So, Yoga and the Art of Removing Distractions is really an inside game: engage in eka tattva abhyāsaḥ. In plain English, practice focusing on one thing only at a time.

The payoff is you’ll get more of the things you want done, done. According to the essay:

At work, the way to get more tasks done is to learn to let most of them wait while you focus on one. “This is the ‘secret’ of those people who ‘do so many things’ and apparently so many difficult things,” wrote the management guru Peter Drucker in his book “The Effective Executive.” “They do only one at a time.” Making a difference in one domain requires giving yourself permission not to care equally about all the others.

An aside – a shoutout to my husband Ed. He’s really good at focusing on doing just the one immediately necessary thing, and waiting and putting immediately unnecessary things aside. Perhaps you are too, and if so, you’re a better person than I.

In principle, I like the concept and wisdom of doing only one thing at a time. However, putting it into action proved to be far more difficult. Like any new practice, I was gung-ho at the beginning of the month! I stopped jogging and working out with my AirPods in my ears. I stopped walking the streets of Manhattan while listening to music. With all the E-bikes whizzing by in all different directions, I’ve learned that letting go of any distractions can potentially be a lifesaver! I stopped listening to music while doing my yoga asana practice in the morning. I stopped listening to WNYC while I take a shower in the morning. I stopped listening to a new favorite podcast of mine called What School You Went while cooking. But slowly – yup you guessed it – the old habits started creeping in. OK, so I still don’t listen to music while practicing yoga or walking the streets, but I still find it comforting to listen to the Brian Lehrer Show while in the shower. Some habits are just so hard to break.

In my yoga asana practice, I’ve been more attuned to practicing drishti or “gaze points”, putting my attention at one point in each asana. I especially enjoy focusing on one spot while in downward dog, generally some point between my knees (traditionally in Ashtanga Yoga, the gaze point is the navel). Anything that will keep my monkey-mind in check is a good thing.

While I haven’t been 100% successful at eliminating all distractions, I’m glad I had time to experiment with eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ. Everything is incremental, after all, and the best and most sustainable habits are built up slowly. I think I will still continue to choose to stay as safe as possible when traversing the streets and riding the subways by removing unnecessary distractions. And hopefully, the practice will creep into other areas of my life and help not only to increase my productivity, but more importantly give me an abiding sense of calm from moment to moment.

If you take up eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ, I’ll be curious to hear of your experience. Feel free to send me an email, or leave a comment below. Good luck with the practice. Maybe it will even help save a relationship or two!

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you do one thing at a time as often as you can, …
May your new found focus benefit someone near to you, … and ultimately benefit ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Beautiful Maui Island on July 14, 2023. Lahaina is on the other side of the Extinct volcano on the right. The loss has left me feeling very sad. Join me in helping Maui to rebuild by making a donation to the Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund.