Why did you decide to teach vipassana meditation through driving—and not another activity—in your CD “Awake at the Wheel: Mindful Driving”?
There were three reasons: I meet a lot of stressed out taxi drivers in city traffic jams while traveling to teach. One taxi driver asked me a lot of questions about meditation and he didn’t think it was possible to be aware in the present moment while driving. Most people have no training or practice in what mindfulness actually is. He not only learned how to be mindful while driving, he was profoundly grateful that he could access this ease of well being in such a difficult work environment and that he could keep practicing this while working. I learned from him that it is fun and challenging to train people to be mindful while driving. I felt so inspired by his willingness to learn.
I see so many people on their phones in the car, Bluetooth or not, or texting, eating, or putting make-up on—never mind whatever else might be going on in their heads! Most of us act out the urge to get more and more done in the car, instead of attending to what is really happening as we drive. I realized that mindfulness while driving is a training that we all can learn and practice. We spend so much time in our cars. It is such a rich time to learn and practice mindfulness! Because so many of us drive everyday, it can be a habitual, automatic, half-attended endeavor or it can be an opportunity to be really present and engaged with what's happening. Besides, driving is NOT something you do between times of being awake. It's actually a very good time to be awake. Yet we need encouragement and tools. That is what the CD is about.
I also was in a car accident some years ago in Honolulu, hit by someone who admitted that he was talking with his girlfriend and wasn't paying attention to driving. The speed we travel can dramatically heighten the consequences of inattention. These intense karmic consequences of the responsibility that goes with driving, the stress on each other's lives of car accidents, or even the stress of driving without the tools that come with mindfulness training, also motivated making Awake at the Wheel.
The website of Vipassana Hawai'i mentions that you like to help individuals “find entry points into stillness.” How can driving, where one is constantly moving, be one of those entry points?
An "entry point into stillness" is simply a moment of knowing experience in the ever-changing stream of experience, in which mindfulness of present-time activity becomes framed, or a focus of attention. We all discover which kinds of knowings are easiest for us to be mindful of. That is different and unique for everyone. When driving, for example, we can train our attention with moments of knowing we are hearing, with knowing the body sensations happening with our hands touching the steering wheel, or the body sensations of sitting in the car. We find a sense-door that is easiest to be with in the present moment, and then apply that ease to all of our present moments.
What I mean by stillness is Samadhi: body/mind unification, or collectedness. The mind not distracted is present with things as they are. Sensations, sights, sounds, thoughts, mental moods, all of these phenomena are happening in the present, continually arising and disappearing. An entry point into stillness is a moment where the mind is not drifting or distracted with the constantly changing nature all around. It doesn't matter if you're driving on the freeway or sitting in a cave. This is a Samadhi that is alive and not fixed. The awareness is settled back and with the stream of life as it is changing, not absorbed in or lost in what is happening.
Often we are told in vipassana meditation not to “conceptualize” our experience—is it possible to do that while we are driving?
Non-conceptual awareness means you're not engaging the meaning as the primary reality. You notice seeing and notice red, but wouldn't necessarily conceptualize the meaning that you should stop. But mindfulness is designed to give you options, freedom whether in conceptual or non-conceptual reality. So when you're driving you want to be fully in the conceptual world, of course. There are two aspects of mindfulness called ‘clear comprehension of purpose,’ and ‘clear comprehension of suitability’—in this case you need both of these to be operating really well. They help us to be mindful and clear in what we are doing (purpose) and to respond skillfully and be flexible to change (suitability). Mindfulness is able to adapt to both the conceptual and non-conceptual world. Say you're driving and you see a red light, the mindfulness will help you notice seeing, see the red light more quickly, and to brake. Your response times are going to be quicker and will allow you to assess any dangers on the road and respond more intelligently and spaciously. The wisdom-intelligence ends up being applied, no matter what's happening.
And say you're in a traffic jam…you'll be able to slow down and enjoy where you are instead of worrying you need to get somewhere. Mindfulness allows you to live on many different dimensions of reality, but when, through clear comprehension of purpose and suitability, you know you need to be on the conceptual level, it will give you much more capacity to be so, because you are able to attend to the moment clearly without being so affected by it.
Does Awake at the Wheel include any tips for city-dwellers who more often take public transport than drive?
Yes, it is a matter of simply shifting from being in the driver's seat to being a passenger. It will be easier as one is less responsible for the safety of everyone on the road. It will be the same engaged mindfulness interacting more with externally changing conditions to more internalized attention, sensations, thoughts, feelings, sounds and visual sights arising from the experience of being transported. You get to just enjoy the ride.
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