Why we practice

Like many, if not all, of you, I was entranced by the events of yesterday's miraculous plane ditching in the Hudson River. For any of you who have flown in or out of LaGuardia airport, even a normal landing or take-off can be a bit harrowing. Between the winds over the East River and Flushing Bay, the impressive yet daunting buildings that make up New York City and the sheer amount of air traffic, even seasoned travellers find themselves running through disaster scenarios in their minds. After what appears to be a collision with a flock of geese which took out both engines moments after take-off, the idea that Capt. Sullenberger had the presence of mind to quickly run through his various options, and then was able to put the aircraft down - safely - in the middle of the Hudson River without hitting buildings, bridges, piers AND with no loss of life is impressive indeed. Granted, a bit of luck was on his side. Except for the bone-chilling cold, the weather conditions were, as the aviation pundits like to say, favorable. Despite not being able to see below, there were no helicopters, aircraft or boats underneath him. Still, the single most impressive factor that saved the 155 lives on board was preparation.

Capt. Sullenberger is a former Air Force pilot with 40 years of experience flying planes. Additionally, he is an aviation accident investigator and safety expert. This mix of experience and preparation assisted him in quickly analyzing the situation and taking an appropriate course of action. According to some of the interviews with other pilots I heard on the news last night, the ditching was nearly textbook. One pilot, who happened to be in the cockpit in another near-tragic plane crash a decade ago, said that pilots have the rare opportunity to be in the classroom everyday. Between personal experience behind the controls, as well as discussions with other pilots, a mental file drawer of various scenarios and solutions is put together. Capt. Sullenberger, with his years of experience, had a mental file drawer that was overflowing, but the one quality that distinguished him yesterday was his ability to maintain composure under extreme conditions. Had he panicked, the results yesterday might have been quite different.

What Capt. Sullenberger possessed was an ability to focus, control his emotions and calm himself. Constant practice created a habit. As Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness. I recently found out that my brother-in-law, a retired NYC police officer, established a practice of only firing three shots at a time on the pistol range. He wanted to make sure that, should he ever have to use deadly force, he had trained himself to not lose control and empty his clip.

Most of us will never run into these extreme situations, however we never know when a crisis might hit. We hit a patch of ice and our car begins to slide out of control. We look around and don't see our child beside us in the mall. We get a phone call that our sister got bad results on her cancer screening. Our computer crashes and all of the files that we need for the presentation tomorrow are now lost. Any of these situations might send us into a frenzy of panic which will cloud our judgement and cause us to act irrationally. By continually observing our own lives, and by observing others, we create our own mental file drawer of scenarios and solutions. By continually practicing our attention to our breath, how we react to stressful situations in our asana practice and a mindfulness to our surroundings, we might be able to react in a calm manner, taking appropriate action and averting a crisis.