iVillage

The lunar cycle and its gaps are available to everyone, all the time. If we don’t observe these special times, it is because we have set no time aside to observe, to check it out for ourselves. In the East, most people are introduced to basic observation techniques or mind practice from an early age. It is unfortunate that mind practice is not much known of here in the West. I mean how many people do you know who practice observing or using their mind anyway? Most of us assume that the mind is perfectly usable just as we find it, and doesn’t require any practice.

In the Tibet mind practice is not only acceptable, it is pretty much obligatory. This is true for countries like Tibet, Nepal, much of India, and even parts of China and Japan. Over there, the mind is considered by nature to be unruly and hard to manage. No one would think of trying to do much with it without considerable practice. Mind practice or mind preparation or training, as it is sometimes called, is standard fare in the orient.