Saying hello to the mind.

A small exercise to notice the inner voice—and to step beyond it into the present moment.

The mind has many names and expressions, but here I will use the Sanskrit word manas. In the Charaka Samhita, “life” (ayu) is described as the ongoing combination of body (sharira), sense organs (indriya), mind (manas), and soul (atma).

In class today, I asked everyone to close their eyes and silently repeat the word “hello” in the mind. The purpose was to notice that inner voice—the voice we so often take for granted—and then, for a moment, try to sense where it lives.

This inner voice is the expression of the mind that deals with likes, dislikes, fears, and dreams. It’s not “bad” in itself, but it is a filter. If we live only from this place, we never really experience what is in front of us. Instead, we experience life through the constructions our mind makes: how we think the world should work, how it must fit our stories so we can understand it.

My own aim in practice is to learn to step back, to observe this voice, and then to choose whether or not to engage with it. Because when we’re caught in it, we miss the moment itself. And the real moment—the one happening right now—has a richness and clarity that no mental filter can ever match.