The Animal Instinct

It's been one of those days... no, it's been one of those weeks... wait, it's been one of those months!
Stressed beyond most limits of stress, due to work, change, finances, weather, family, future, career, what everyone will think of me...

It's been one of those months.

I was on my way to teach meditation, cranky due to being dehydrated the day before due to subtle food poisoning, not to mention a tough day at work, when I realized do I really want to teach meditation being cranky deep down inside? I realized the yoga class before that might settle my mood. I needed it. Then again driving home in the snow storm which was supposed to hit around 8 pm, (when I would leave meditation class), came into mind and annoyed me further. As I was driving, ignoring the traffic, going with the flow, singing the songs, a song's lyrics specifically caught my attention.

It was The Animal Instinct"  by The Cranberries.

The lyrics went something like this: Suddenly something has happened to me, as I was having my cup of tea.
Suddenly i was feeling depressed, I was utterly and totally stressed.
Do you know you make me cry?
Do you know you make me die?
And the thing that gets to me, is you'll never really see,
And the thing that freaks me out, is I'll always be in doubt.
It is a lovely thing that we have, it is a lovely thing that we,
It is a lovely thing, the animal, the animal instinct.

So take my hands and come to me, we will change reality.
So take my hands and we will pray, they won't take you away.
They will never make me cry, no,
They will never make me die.
And the thing that gets to me, is you'll never really see,
And the thing that freaks me out, is I'll always be in doubt.

The animal, the animal, the animal instinct in me,
It's the animal, the animal, the animal instinct in me...

This song woke me up from this frustrated anger, annoyance and crankiness I was holding onto.
This is why we meditate, to rid ourselves of these basal instincts, our primordial instincts... that of an animal. So although this animal instinct in me, is a survival instinct, does it serve me now?
Our fright, flight and fight responses are useful, but did I need to be stressed and let it out right now?

I thought about it all, how I let myself get stressed by not being present. How I let myself be irritable and angry because of lack of sleep... I let it all get to me. I can manage this, but I wasn't being present, I was irate due to lack of sleep, but I missing my energy now, because I was upset about the night before.
The song helped me let out some steam, and get into a meditative state. It was great to enter yoga more positive. I was going to narrate this during meditation class, but sadly students got scared of the snow storm.

OM

Breathe

5 Finger Meditation Technique

Just as I promised to share my various meditation methods, here it is! One of them which i always like to start with is the 5 finger meditation method. Which has a very dear story to it.

I was going through a really painful break up, and I needed to get away. I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't function... so I hopped on a bus to Chicago to see my bestie, who I hadn't seen in a while. I kept myself occupied by watching a movie on the bus, and eventually dozed-off in an awkward position. I got there and it was friday night. We washed up, and went to bed. The next day was full of activities and occasionally I would have a break down. That night we visited her pool, which also had a sauna, and I had a major break down, weeping so much that I couldn't breathe or talk. So she held my hands and told me to close my eyes, feel the warmth of the sauna, and breathe with her.

She held out her hand and used her fingers to count to three. That was the deep inhale. The exhale was longer, and she used five fingers to count the exhale. We did this for 5- 6 minutes and it really helped me calm down.

She later told me this was a method she would use to calm down/ and relax her patients! It works wonders, and I use it to calm myself down, and also help me focus on my breathing. After which meditation comes in easily.

I am so grateful for having her as my friend, and am so glad and impressed she uses meditation and other breathing techniques to calm her patients down. Which goes to prove that yoga, pranayama and meditation are practices that heal! I hope you find this technique as helpful and soothing as I have found it to be.


OM!

Picture from The Legend of Korra (A "Avatar: The Last Airbender" adventure). Korra has to learn to meditate to tap into her Avatar energies!

Meditate to self betterment

The first few days of meditation was great, I made it a priority, plus it was the weekend. My weekdays are ridiculously busy. So, just like Chris, I set my alarm for 5 minutes. During meditating I was distracted by thoughts of "ok when is this going to end cause I need to get on with it".

Chris and I discussed this, and realized we have to make meditation the PRIORITY, cause although it's sitting and doing nothing, it does do good to our physical health, mental well being etc. So This morning I meditated, setting the timer at 5 minutes. Sitting up straight was a challenge for my body was sore from climbing. This was not fun.

I closed my eyes, focused on breathing, and then I decided to make this meditation less shallow than the one's I've had all week. I focused on my breathing, my muscles, my pains, my body. I envisioned what I want my body to be like, and how I want to improve my performance in dance, climbing, running, tennis etc. I made that my goal. In psychology, there was study in which basketball players and the power of "imagining" (Meditating) was tested. So there were three groups - players that practiced shooting hoops, the players that did not practice, and lastly the players that envisioned (imagined) themselves shooting hoops and getting it through. The last group was told to focus on how they wanted to perform, feeling every movement from their toes to their finger tips to getting the ball through the hoop. this was done for 5 minutes everyday. The results showed that the group imagining their practice did as well as the group that actually did practice, if not better. Both did better than the group that did not practice. I think this meditation may help me in more ways that one.

Lastly, an observation from my week, where my meditation sessions were hackneyed due to the fact I was trying too hard, yet stressed about time and getting on with the rest of the day; I was less patient, and more annoyed, than when I did wholehearted meditations. I kept wondering why I was so antsy, annoyed, and experiencing "road rage", when the meditation should have helped calm me down and see the larger picture. Well meditation can only work when you do it wholeheartedly, not in a rush, and make it the priority. Do it for YOU, not for the sake of meditating.

A different kind of Meditation

The 5 Minute Meditation Project

A few days ago I had just finished the first meditation session I had done in a long time and was ready to start the day. Naturally that meant checking my email and seeing to my social networking addictions. My friend Pree was online, and after a bit of catching up I excitedly informed her,

Me: I meditated and exercised today! drinking tons of water too!!


Pree: i need to do all of the above.


Me: yeah. I really want to stay on the meditation thing.
I only did like 15 min and it made a big difference.
Ive had really bad anxiety the last few days. I can still feel it there but its much more controlled now.


Pree: hmm. i dont meditate at all.
like if i do its less than 5 minutes.


Me: 5 min is sufficient
and like any other discipline youll naturally do more and more over time if you just do it everyday.


I recalled the times that a week or so of daily meditation sessions helped me pull out of a slump or some existential crisis. I told Pree of one in particular time when I was so lost and in despair and meditation was pretty much the only positive thing I was doing for myself. After only a few weeks of meditating my outlook was changing, my posture improved, and I even dug up some long lost childhood memories.

Pree: wow
i need to!


Me: wanna make it a committment?
lets both meditate at least 5 minutes a day for the next 365 days


Pree: OK!
deal!
hmm we should make a blog about it


And thus began the 5 minute meditation project. For whatever reason, despite the consistently positive outcomes of meditation I never keep up the habit for more than a couple of weeks at a time. But if the past is any indicator the cumulative effect of a full year of regularly centering myself, and clearing the murky waters of my mind could very well be life changing.

As everyone accumulates inner junk throughout life, everyone can benefit from looking deep inside and recognizing and sorting out the mess. Is 5 minutes each day too much to give for even a chance of overcoming past hurts and self-defeating patterns? Of course not! So if you're reading this right now I hope you'll seriously consider joining in on this little experiment. This blog is mine and Pree's way of tracking and sharing the impact regular meditation has on our lives. If you choose to join in we would love to hear from you and to be able to share your experiences and insights with everyone. Or, you can spend that 5 minutes each day compulsively looking at the same old uninspiring nonsense online. Your call.

Happy Meditating everyone!