What's on your mind?

"What's on your mind?" my husband asked. 

I had zoned out somewhere between bites of grilled peppers and rice. Not unlike how our dog shakes off water after a bath, I jerked back to attention and searched for a response to his question, still hanging unanswered in the air.

Oops. What was I thinking about? Something. Everything. Definitely not nothing. But, in truth, not anything worth sharing. Which got me thinking even more.

Lost in thought. 
In her head.
Deep in thought. 
Checked out.
Penny for your thoughts.  
La-la land. 
Zoned out. 
Come in for landing.

As a society, we've coined so many phrases for being in our minds, alone with our thoughts, rather than being in the present moment. If it's so commonplace, how much of it, exactly, is there?

According to UCLA's Lab of Neuro Imaging, the average human has about seventy thousand thoughts per day.
70,000. (So much for counting with fingers and toes.)

How to lower that number and get a few moments of peace? Meditation is one way. So is pranayama (life force, breath control) – particularly ujjayi. Ujjayi (ooh-jy) is an in-and-out-through-the nose breath that uses a constriction at the back of the throat.

To try: On your inhale, draw air in through the nostrils and send it down across the back of the throat, exhaling, for now, through the mouth. You should hear a soft noise. Some say it sounds like a hiss. Others say Darth Vader. And still more liken it to the roll of the ocean, giving Ujjayi its common name of "ocean-sounding breath."

Hands to heart center, anjali mudra, and be present with ujjayi.

Once you've got the soft sound – ocean or hiss – close the lips and bring the hands to heart center. 

Now breathe in again through the nose, send the air across the throat once more, but exhale, this time, through the nose. Close your eyes gently and stay with it for awhile, listening and focusing on the sound.
  
Release the breath and tell me: What was on your mind?

Chances are, not much. Ujjayi translates to "victory" or "conqueror." Victory over the mind. Somehow, some way, that slight ocean sound helps us quiet our internal conversations, our inner voice. So instead of 70,000 thoughts... we can have 69,999.

Or less.

Namaste'.