Here's something neat that happened: I'm very excited for today (friends' wedding). In fact, I'm kind of buzzing. I woke up at my normal wake up time of 6am. I had, however, only fallen asleep at 130am. There's no way I'd be of maximum service on that amount of sleep but I was too excited and couldn't fall back asleep.
630...7...730... I finally did my meditation, busy mind and all. My thoughts chattered around my brain but I forced myself to stay in "mental time-out" and I waited for the chime. Then it rang and I kept sitting for a little while.
I thanked the Universe with my hand, heart, and head for the gifts already realized in my life and you know what happened next? I fell back asleep.
Now it's 930-ish and I can get a move on to be here to support my friend. I can be of service and I can be present and I will have fun today.
Here's to the bride and groom!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 9
Sat nam. This morning I did a color-intention breath meditation. I use a website called Do As One which is really quite awesome. As I was guided through my breath, I focused on each chakra and its color. I set the intention of "Joy" today because one of my very best friends is getting married tomorrow and this is a weekend full of joy.
As I breathed up and down my chakras, I made space for love and joy and as I breathed to the white color of the ether, I sent it out to the rest of the world. When my chime rang after 10 minutes, I found I had been crying. Not sadness, of course, but with love. I shared yesterday that I was beginning to feel love for people I have resented in the past and this is just another sign that it is working. I am changing.
These 10 minutes a day with myself are becoming a way for me to grow and love and connect to myself, to others, to the world.
There is nothing else to say.
Namasté
As I breathed up and down my chakras, I made space for love and joy and as I breathed to the white color of the ether, I sent it out to the rest of the world. When my chime rang after 10 minutes, I found I had been crying. Not sadness, of course, but with love. I shared yesterday that I was beginning to feel love for people I have resented in the past and this is just another sign that it is working. I am changing.
These 10 minutes a day with myself are becoming a way for me to grow and love and connect to myself, to others, to the world.
There is nothing else to say.
Namasté
Thursday, March 29, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 8
I slept in today (until 7:15!)...and it was glorious. Meditation this morning was lovely.
I find that I am breaking through the "oh, I am doing this again" ho-hum of it all. I look forward to my sit each morning and am sitting past the chime most days. Today I was filled love and gratitude for a woman I have had a hard time forgiving. Meditated on her being surrounded with light and love...and I actually meant it.
The absolute tangible side-effect of daily meditation has been that my heart has opened up in ways I never imagined. I hear this happens to people - and its happening to me. It is a beautiful experience.
Namasté
I find that I am breaking through the "oh, I am doing this again" ho-hum of it all. I look forward to my sit each morning and am sitting past the chime most days. Today I was filled love and gratitude for a woman I have had a hard time forgiving. Meditated on her being surrounded with light and love...and I actually meant it.
The absolute tangible side-effect of daily meditation has been that my heart has opened up in ways I never imagined. I hear this happens to people - and its happening to me. It is a beautiful experience.
Namasté
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 7
One week. I have actually been meditating daily for several months but this week has had a new intention to it and I can feel a difference. It's almost as if I am training for something. And I suppose I kind of am. I am training myself to remain calm when I am excited, agitated, or worried. I am training myself to follow through something I have committed to. I am training myself to remain conscious throughout my life.
I have felt stressed at work - or maybe just busy - and my first instinct is to get excited and worried and run and hide. But throughout the day I find myself more and more able to stop, take a breath, and ask the divinity in the universe for a little help. And remarkably, I get it. Either calmness an strength from within or relief and assistance from without. I have been more able to remember that I am there to do a job and I will finish it. I am more able to stay focused on my one task before moving to the next (after a brief pause in typing this to send an email, of course...).
Whatever is happening; however this is working, I like it. It seems to suit me. I look forward to my next sit.
Namasté
I have felt stressed at work - or maybe just busy - and my first instinct is to get excited and worried and run and hide. But throughout the day I find myself more and more able to stop, take a breath, and ask the divinity in the universe for a little help. And remarkably, I get it. Either calmness an strength from within or relief and assistance from without. I have been more able to remember that I am there to do a job and I will finish it. I am more able to stay focused on my one task before moving to the next (after a brief pause in typing this to send an email, of course...).
Whatever is happening; however this is working, I like it. It seems to suit me. I look forward to my next sit.
Namasté
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 6
I'm starting to sit past the 10 minutes. Not much past...but still a little. I also noticed this morning that I have been waiting for something really "deep" to happen each day (maybe in hopes of an interesting blog?) and I realized that is not why I meditate. I listen to a talk on meditation and the speaker says that we "don't meditate to become good meditaters."
It occurred to me that sometimes I sit because. Perhaps I can just sit.
Something will happen. Something always does. It might be exciting or interesting or mundane...sometime it seems like it is just a sore ankle and a kitty that is upset he is not getting breakfast. But as I become more and more able to let go of the need for something to happen, more seems to happen. One of those funny spiritual paradoxes, I suppose.
That's all for today...
Namasté
It occurred to me that sometimes I sit because. Perhaps I can just sit.
Something will happen. Something always does. It might be exciting or interesting or mundane...sometime it seems like it is just a sore ankle and a kitty that is upset he is not getting breakfast. But as I become more and more able to let go of the need for something to happen, more seems to happen. One of those funny spiritual paradoxes, I suppose.
That's all for today...
Namasté
Monday, March 26, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 5
Mondays are my early day. Out of the house by 6:15 and so up at 5...and today, meditation at 4:50. But, honestly, waking up right away and doing my 10 minute sit is easier than hitting snooze and trying to wake up slowly. I thought it would be harder to do it an hour earlier but it isn't. In one of my yoga books without pictures (maybe Autobiography of a Yogi?) I read that getting up early for my spiritual practice is worth losing that 15 mins or hour in bed. I find (finally) that I agree.
I wake up early Monday because I go to a meditation group where we sit for 15 minutes. Before bed last night I tried to convince myself that that sit would count but my commitment was to do it before I left the house and so today is a double-header.
My first sit was not remarkable except in how every time I meditate it is remarkable. The practice of keeping this muscle working is where the magic is and the result is the bonus. I am realizing that fact more and more since I have been doing this "project."
I am interested to see what comes in Act II...
Namasté
I wake up early Monday because I go to a meditation group where we sit for 15 minutes. Before bed last night I tried to convince myself that that sit would count but my commitment was to do it before I left the house and so today is a double-header.
My first sit was not remarkable except in how every time I meditate it is remarkable. The practice of keeping this muscle working is where the magic is and the result is the bonus. I am realizing that fact more and more since I have been doing this "project."
I am interested to see what comes in Act II...
Namasté
Sunday, March 25, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 4
Good morning. Today I caught myself thinking that sleeping in was better than meditating. I was wrong. I got up with my alarm anyway and sat through my snooze time.
Doing this right when I wake up seems to be working well for me. When I first started to meditate I caught myself "running out of time" in the morning - and that was when I was only sitting for 2 and 3 minutes at a time! One day, it occurred to me that the meditation is going to happen and so if I want to leave the house earlier, I either need to get up earlier or spend less time messing around syncing my iPhone in the morning. Now that I am doing this right off the bat - and for 10 minutes - I am leaving the house earlier than I did before. Strange how these things work out.
So today it was a mindfulness meditation. Just as clouds pass overhead, I let my thoughts pass through me and I pay them no mind. When I catch myself winding up the brain machine, I repeat "I am a woman who is not present in meditation. I am now present in meditation." It seems to get me right back into the zone, as it were.
I find that overall, after only a few days of this longer and more intentioned sitting I feel much more calm and part of the grander picture. And that is worth 10 minutes of snooze time any day.
Namasté
Doing this right when I wake up seems to be working well for me. When I first started to meditate I caught myself "running out of time" in the morning - and that was when I was only sitting for 2 and 3 minutes at a time! One day, it occurred to me that the meditation is going to happen and so if I want to leave the house earlier, I either need to get up earlier or spend less time messing around syncing my iPhone in the morning. Now that I am doing this right off the bat - and for 10 minutes - I am leaving the house earlier than I did before. Strange how these things work out.
So today it was a mindfulness meditation. Just as clouds pass overhead, I let my thoughts pass through me and I pay them no mind. When I catch myself winding up the brain machine, I repeat "I am a woman who is not present in meditation. I am now present in meditation." It seems to get me right back into the zone, as it were.
I find that overall, after only a few days of this longer and more intentioned sitting I feel much more calm and part of the grander picture. And that is worth 10 minutes of snooze time any day.
Namasté
Saturday, March 24, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 3
Day 3. Yesterday I found myself short-tempered at work. I caught myself indulging in feelings of overwhelm at one point, there. But compared to what that kind of feeling was like before I started meditation - especially the longer sits I have been doing recently - I was able to move through it and remember that my job is to show up and do what I can. When I got home I laid down with my partner and a kitty for a little while to rest and all was well in the world.
This morning I found myself in a guided (perhaps "visualized" is a more accurate word) meditation that I do sometimes. I'll describe it for you in case you are ever in the mood for that sort of thing...
Picture yourself walking in nature. Maybe it is on the beach. Maybe in the woods. Today, it was a grassy meadow. You can see and hear and feel and smell the scene around you. With every breath, you feel yourself letting go of more and more of the world behind you. The scene becomes more vivid.
Eventually, you find yourself at a stone staircase. Walk down it. Step by step watch and feel as you descend into a grotto full of water. It leads out into the ocean and the water level rises and falls with your breath. Noises and movements occurring in the world around you reflect in the water.
In the middle of the water floats a lotus flower with a flame. The water is the world, the flower is you, and the flame is your spirit. As the water reacts to the world the flower rises and falls like a buoy and the flame flickers or burns steady. As you breathe, feel the water carry your flower-body gently up and softly down. As distractions occur, notice the water reacting but find that the flame does not have to. Even if the water is choppy, your flame can still burn bright and steady.
Breathe and observe here for awhile...
When the chime rings, take a deeper breath. Feel yourself slowly being pulled backwards back into the room. When you are ready, gently open your eyes. I like to bow at this point but if that isn't comfortable for you, simply sitting for a moment is perfectly fine.
I began to use this meditation a few months ago and since, I have found that during the day I am more able to keep my flame burning steady - even when the water upon which I sit is turbulent. Today, I feel calm and ready to go into the world no matter what it holds for me. I hope you feel the same.
Please comment below or go to the Yoga with Rachel Facebook page to share your experiences with guided meditation - this one or of others you have tried.
Namasté
This morning I found myself in a guided (perhaps "visualized" is a more accurate word) meditation that I do sometimes. I'll describe it for you in case you are ever in the mood for that sort of thing...
Picture yourself walking in nature. Maybe it is on the beach. Maybe in the woods. Today, it was a grassy meadow. You can see and hear and feel and smell the scene around you. With every breath, you feel yourself letting go of more and more of the world behind you. The scene becomes more vivid.
Eventually, you find yourself at a stone staircase. Walk down it. Step by step watch and feel as you descend into a grotto full of water. It leads out into the ocean and the water level rises and falls with your breath. Noises and movements occurring in the world around you reflect in the water.
In the middle of the water floats a lotus flower with a flame. The water is the world, the flower is you, and the flame is your spirit. As the water reacts to the world the flower rises and falls like a buoy and the flame flickers or burns steady. As you breathe, feel the water carry your flower-body gently up and softly down. As distractions occur, notice the water reacting but find that the flame does not have to. Even if the water is choppy, your flame can still burn bright and steady.
Breathe and observe here for awhile...
When the chime rings, take a deeper breath. Feel yourself slowly being pulled backwards back into the room. When you are ready, gently open your eyes. I like to bow at this point but if that isn't comfortable for you, simply sitting for a moment is perfectly fine.
I began to use this meditation a few months ago and since, I have found that during the day I am more able to keep my flame burning steady - even when the water upon which I sit is turbulent. Today, I feel calm and ready to go into the world no matter what it holds for me. I hope you feel the same.
Please comment below or go to the Yoga with Rachel Facebook page to share your experiences with guided meditation - this one or of others you have tried.
Namasté
Friday, March 23, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 2
Day 2. I had no idea what my alarm was when it went off. I was dreaming about taking a picture and as I went to turn on my camera my alarm went off. But wake up, I did, and sit, I did.
There was a lot more chatter this morning at first. Nothing in particular - just run of the mill "fluctuations of the mind-stuff" as Patanjali put it.
But then something neat happened: around what I will guess was the 5 minute mark (because I did not check the clock, thank you very much), things settled down. There was an ease to it. I sat up straighter and my breath came softer and I found myself really starting to dial in.
There was still some of that internal freak-out around 8 minutes (alas, I did open my eyes and see the clock on the wall). But even that went away quickly and by the time the chime rang and 6:00 things were soft and quiet and easy once again.
Maybe you've had that also. It's the panic in a meditation i get sometimes that it'll never end. That I forgot to set the alarm and I'll be sitting here forever and LET ME OUT!
It did end, however. And right on schedule. And all is well. And so into my day I go, centered, grounded, and peaceful. I hope you feel the same.
More tomorrow.
Namasté
There was a lot more chatter this morning at first. Nothing in particular - just run of the mill "fluctuations of the mind-stuff" as Patanjali put it.
But then something neat happened: around what I will guess was the 5 minute mark (because I did not check the clock, thank you very much), things settled down. There was an ease to it. I sat up straighter and my breath came softer and I found myself really starting to dial in.
There was still some of that internal freak-out around 8 minutes (alas, I did open my eyes and see the clock on the wall). But even that went away quickly and by the time the chime rang and 6:00 things were soft and quiet and easy once again.
Maybe you've had that also. It's the panic in a meditation i get sometimes that it'll never end. That I forgot to set the alarm and I'll be sitting here forever and LET ME OUT!
It did end, however. And right on schedule. And all is well. And so into my day I go, centered, grounded, and peaceful. I hope you feel the same.
More tomorrow.
Namasté
Thursday, March 22, 2012
30 Day Meditation Challenge - Day 1
Last night a friend and I committed to each other we'd do a 30-day meditation challenge. 10 minutes each day before we leave the house. I stole the idea from anther friend of mine who is now finished with hers and loved it.
So today is day one. My alarm went off at 5:50, I sat up, crossed my legs into half lotus, and used my 10 minute snooze for my first day.
The time went quickly this morning. I have been doing 5 mins twice per day for awhile now and longer sits have started to get easier but I'm excited to see how this goes to do 10 each sit.
I do know this: since I have been meditating regularly, I am calm, I seem to be more funny and likeable than before and in general, I have never felt better.
Check back in over the next 30 days to see how it goes and comment here or on the Yoga with Rachel Facebook page to tell me about your experiences with consistent meditation.
Namasté
So today is day one. My alarm went off at 5:50, I sat up, crossed my legs into half lotus, and used my 10 minute snooze for my first day.
The time went quickly this morning. I have been doing 5 mins twice per day for awhile now and longer sits have started to get easier but I'm excited to see how this goes to do 10 each sit.
I do know this: since I have been meditating regularly, I am calm, I seem to be more funny and likeable than before and in general, I have never felt better.
Check back in over the next 30 days to see how it goes and comment here or on the Yoga with Rachel Facebook page to tell me about your experiences with consistent meditation.
Namasté
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