Unlikely Spiritual Practice

On Wednesday nights I head over to the local gym for the weekly table tennis club. Tonight my first match was against Adibh, a tall Pakistani man. We started the game and I quickly grabbed the lead. Adibh got extremely angry at himself, cursing and muttering under his breath. He would shake his head and glare menacingly at his paddle. There was a tangible energy of frustration and disappointment around him throughout the match. I could almost feel the pain he was experiencing at losing the match.

I tried to maintain my calmness and poise but I could feel myself being drawn towards his negative energy. When I made a mistake, I began to feel the urge to swear and be upset. When I won a point, I started feeling the urge to trash talk. While I had just wanted to have fun and enjoy the game, I began to be wrapped up in the confrontational and negative energy.

I plan on going on a silent meditation retreat for 6 weeks this fall. I envision that month and a half being excellent spiritual practice. Yet, as I was playing this table tennis match, I realized that Adibh was being a tremendous spiritual teacher. He was helping me realize the negative energy and anger within myself. By bringing out that side of me, he was enabling me to engage in spiritual practice by observing the emotions but not reacting to them.