Third Eye Thoughts
Some readers have expressed an interest in finding out more about some non-football habits and revelations in my life and so I wanted to share an update on my Vedic meditation practice today. If you only have an interest in football, I also have a bonus list at the bottom of the fourth QB taken in every draft since 2000.
Probably not a paragraph that Buddha or Bill Simmons ever expected to meld into existence.
I first began meditating in February of 2019 as a way to react to a painful life event (in hindsight, should not have been so painful) and fortuitously within a month I had been gifted a free four-day lesson on a transcendental meditation practice while I was at an Oscars gifting suite.
(That’s another story, but yes, like one of those parties that celebrities (rarely actual celebrities) go to for free bags of “$40,000” worth of merch that they wouldn’t have bought and don’t need and will gladly accept, as I did (no I didn’t get that much value in merch, more like $2,000 for press).)
On April 10, 2019, a woman named Yashoda came to my little apartment, almost assuredly expecting me to live in at least a two-story house in Los Feliz, and first began to teach me about Vedic meditation, which is just a trademark-free way of saying Transcendental Meditation. I have since come to distrust Yashoda and Vedic’s true intentions, but I am above all else grateful for one phrase she taught me that day and it is not my mantra:
“Non-negotiable practice.”
Yashoda told me that what makes Vedic different than TM is that it is a “non-negotiable practice” that includes one 15 to 20-minute sit in the AM and one 15 to 20-minute site in the PM and that “we do not negotiate whether or not we meditate.” I instantly felt attached to that concept and was elated that somebody finally put it into words for me, but what sealed the deal is when Yashoda said that if I stuck to that method, I’d meditate 730 times in the first year.
“Then I will meditate 730 times in the next year,” I told her.
As many of you know, I didn’t lie to her. And I also meditated 730 times in the second year.
Every day since April 10, 2019, I have meditated twice. That means that I am now up to almost 1,500 sits in the last 736 days. You also know that I applied that “non-negotiable practice” to other parts of my daily life, which includes over two straight years of intermittent fasting, over two straight years of the daily Seahawks newsletter, and a number of other daily routines at various lengths of time that I consistently keep “non-negotiable.”
It’s a reasonable way to change your life.
But here’s one interesting thing that has happened to my body — not my mind — as I’ve kept up that practice.
For the first year, I forced myself to always go at least 15 minutes per sit. In the second year, I upped that to 20 minutes. Sometimes I go 22 minutes. Sometimes I go 30 minutes. But I have not meditated for fewer than 20 minutes in a very long time. One other part of meditation is that about two minutes before you’re set to finish and open your eyes, you “let go” of the mantra and begin to accept your reality again. This creates a physical sensation similar to waking up. There’s a little stretching, a little labored breathing, some eye rubbing, and you’re back in the world.
Well, within the last month or so, my body has started to stretch, yawn, and eye-rub around 18 minutes into my practice. I’m not thinking about stopping, I’m not thinking about how long I’ve been meditating, and if I’m supremely lucky, I’m not thinking at all about anything. And yet my body, like an internal alarm clock, starts waking up around 18 minutes.
I guess that is something that happens after two straight years of a non-negotiable meditation practice.
What’s the value of the 4th QB in a given draft? (I recorded a quick YouTube video detailing all these picks!)
2020 - Jordan Love, 26th (Packers traded 30, 136 to move up)
2019 - Drew Lock, 42nd (Broncos traded 52, 125, 182 to move up)
2018 - Josh Rosen, 10th (Cardinals traded 15, 79, 152 to move up)
2017 - DeShone Kizer, 52nd, Browns (part of larger deal)
2016 - Christian Hackenberg, 51st, Jets
2015 - Sean Mannion, 89th, Rams (part of larger deal)
2014 - Derek Carr, 36th, Raiders
2013 - Matt Barkley, 98th (Eagles traded 101, 210 to move up)
2012 - Brandon Weeden, 22nd (Browns acquired pick in 2011)
2011 - Christian Ponder, 12th, Vikings
2010 - Colt McCoy, 85th, Browns
2009 - Pat White, 44th, Dolphins
2008 - Chad Henne, 57th, Dolphins
2007 - John Beck, 40th, Dolphins
2006 - Kellen Clemens, 49th (Jets traded 53, 189, 211)
2005 - Charlie Frye, 67th, Browns
2004 - J.P. Losman, 22nd (Bills traded 43, 144, 2005 1st (20th))
2003 - Rex Grossman, 22nd (Bears acquired pick from Jets moving up to 4)
2002 - Josh McCown, 81st, Cardinals
2001 - Marques Tuiasosopo, 59th, Raiders
2000 - Tee Martin, 163rd, Steelers