PhD + Peace

If it weren't for the daily meditation and sometime-y yoga schedule I keep, I'd probably have given up on this whole notion of getting a PhD years ago--like when I started it.

From day one it was an intense roller-coaster of "You expect me to read what? and write what? by when?"

It helped that I chose a school so far down south that the birds woke me up like l was a real live Snow White. While walking up to campus on the hottest of days was unbearable at any pace faster than a sloth's the exercise of slowing down my body kept my thoughts on an even keel--especially if I had just crammed in an entire anthology of Frankfurt School theory plus the philosophical supplements of their predecessors just to understand the class discussion from the day before.

But look, now I too find peace in long sentences that drone one with or without justifiable clauses. And the insidious joke of rushing to learn has to be tempered by something.

For me, it's breath. Not just the breath of living, but the kind of breathing one does while paying attention to it. But also breathing meditation allowed me to experience the kind of thinking that clears all of the baggage and pressure. In my experience, advanced graduate study can create the worst tensions, body aches, migraines, and general grumpiness. I found that a consistent meditation practice has eased some of my crankiness and made me more motivated to perform well in class. It didn't stop me from smoking though...