The gatekeeper technique of meditation: focus on one point and watch your breath as it passes through that exact spot, as if you’re a gatekeeper watching people at the moment they pass underneath the arch to enter the city. I’ve never actually been able to do this, but I can imagine it – sensing molecules of air just as they pass through an atomically thin section of air – ignoring the molecule just before and just after.
New York should be a haven for practicing gatekeeping.
Thich Naht Hanh (I think) wrote that walking down the sidewalks of New York you have no choice but to be mindful – otherwise you’ll be hit by a car.
J-walking in Manhattan, which you do about once every 2 minutes, means that as your foot approaches the curb at 18th street, you are aware of each car, biker, stroller, dog, person that crosses the rectangle just in front of you. Rarely are you able to think of what’s happening a block away, the people you just passed, the bicycle at the end of the intersection – none of those are important.
Every second is an opportunity to learn how impermanent emotions are – stupid bike messenger cuts you off going the wrong way on a one way street and your anger spikes, but just as quickly as the tire spinning outside of your rectangle, you see someone helping another woman bring a stroller down the subway staircase and your anger is completely replaced by joy. All of it is quickly pushed aside again, replaced by anxiety, as you realize you’re only halfway through the intersection and the light just turned red.
When you stop being mindful – you approach an intersection with your head buried in your iphone or something interesting is happening across the street – it doesn’t take that long before something makes you pay attention to the oily, dirty puddle that you’re about to step in.