Mental Floss

For body-mind hygiene you have to floss each day. If not, gummy, gunky, sticky bits will lodge in your connective tissue and you are prone to decay. Start by flossing your nerves. Do stretching, sliding and brushing movements to lubricate and protect your nerve fibers. Without flossing, gluey tension builds up in the fascia and muscle tissue. It is the same with the mind. Each day, emotional and psychological detritus can get caught in the cracks, crannies and crevices of your mind and heart. Bits of worry, grief, despair and confusion accumulate and if left unattended, cause inflammation and cognitive decay. For this reason a yoga practice must include regular mental flossing. In your mindfulness practice you have to get out your small bristles, your thread, or tape and extract the scraps of negative thought that take root inside.

Mindfulness is the most essential way to practice mental hygiene. Mindfulness builds the “mind enamel” to help prevent psychic content from festering inside. Like flossing the back tooth molars, it is most challenging to cleanse the depth psyche where old habits, fears and traumas collect. In your practice of mental flossing you may need to use other implements—loving kindness, non-dual awareness, mantra and insight meditation.

So each day do total flossing. Get out your little scrubbies, floss your nerves and rinse and swoosh fluids through your connective tissues. Then use your breath to polish and buff your heart-mind until you shine.