From Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
...from the Balinese Medicine Man: “He tells me
there are many ways to God but most are too complicated for Westerners, so he
will teach me an easy meditation.
Which goes, essentially, like this: sit in silence and smile. I love it. He’s
laughing even as he’s teaching it to me.
Sit and smile. Perfect.”
“You study Yoga in India, Liss?” He asks.
“Yes, Ketut.”
“You can do Yoga”, he says, “but Yoga too hard”. Here he contorts himself in a cramped lotus position and squinches up his face in a comical and constipated-looking effort. Then he breaks free and laughs, asking, “Why they always look so serious in Yoga? You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver. Practice tonight… Not to hurry, not to try too hard. Too serious, make you sick. You can call in the good energy with a smile….”
“You study Yoga in India, Liss?” He asks.
“Yes, Ketut.”
“You can do Yoga”, he says, “but Yoga too hard”. Here he contorts himself in a cramped lotus position and squinches up his face in a comical and constipated-looking effort. Then he breaks free and laughs, asking, “Why they always look so serious in Yoga? You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver. Practice tonight… Not to hurry, not to try too hard. Too serious, make you sick. You can call in the good energy with a smile….”
Photo: Stock.xchnge
