The Body Is Already Mindful If you struggle to tame your thoughts, try turning over the reins. By Willa Blythe Baker WINTER 2021 Ilustration by Michael Woloschinow Toward the end of my year in Nepal, two of my friends and I—with nothing but our backpacks—boarded a crowded bus for the long, dusty overland trip to Lhasa, Tibet. We stayed for three months, traveling like nomads all around the country on the backs of trucks, staying in tents, and always aiming straight for the temples and monasteries. On the walls of the temples we visited, we came across a certain mural again and again. The mural, which was usually in the entryway, depicted a monkey and an elephant traveling uphill on a winding path. It seemed to be telling a story. Eventually I asked one of the temple keepers what it meant. The temple keeper, a monk clothed in deep burgundy robes with a face beautifully etched with lines, replied that the mural was depicting the developmental process of meditation. The elephant, he ex