Stressful day? ... Meditate!

I was having a super stressful week, forget the day... and today was the epitome of it all. I wanted to scream, cry, or punch someone (sometimes this is when those video games come in handy). I have been reading the Mahabharata (Devdutt Patniak's version, if you are curious), and I remembered Krishna's words "anger multiplies, but calmness divides.

Instead of feeding my rage, letting it all get the better of me, I took a few minutes and closed my eyes and breathed. I meditated focusing on positivity which people were sending me. That's what friends are for. I then had the strength to focus and feel the positivity within me; even in the darkest times it is there, only you can let it diminish, or shine. I let the positivity fill me up like a glowing light from within, and showering on me from without.

I focused on breathing, and light, and suddenly I felt lighter. I decided to avoid the negativity at work, and focus on myself, and goodness. I can deal with the negative once I have recharged over the weekend, however this positivity would tide me over IF I were to have a confrontation. I know the evening held treasures of relaxation, rest, rejuvenation  and rejoicing, so I was ready to take on the rest of the day.


Namaste!

Meditation: Be present and Climb On!

Yesterday I climbed after a year. I do have a fear of heights, also I "self doubt" a lot regards to what I am capable of, I am also anxious about falling, although there is a trusty belayer ready to catch me; these afflictions in my mind, affect my body, and my climbing.

My first wall, I panicked the whole way up, forgetting to breathe, scared of falling. On my second climb, I heard my climbing teachers voice yell in my mind "breathe! breathe like you're having a baby." My breathing brought me to an utter awareness, and it was easier to climb.

My next climb, I almost gave up, but I took a few minutes to breathe, focus, meditating while hanging on a harness, 20 feet off the ground. Just collecting myself to here, now, me and my body. I let everyone else fade away, I let the world drop away, my breathing, my muscles, my heart all united in completing this small task of climbing to another 10 or 15 feet. It was a simple climb, but it seemed a gargantuan task, for a non-beginner, beginning to climb again. Those few minutes helped me gather some phenomenal energy to calm down and climb on. My focus was solely on me, and it was easier.

Why do I fret? Because I forget to be. I let fear take over, when all I need is me.

Meditation can help us immensely even though it maybe short... Maybe that's why they say when stressed, breathe and count to 10 when angry or flustered! So if you think about it there's been different types of meditation, through out the ages, cultures, places, and religions! The effects are always the same.

Breathe!

Om.

Meditation and Filling the Cup

Every now and then I feel drained: work, friends, family, commuting, altruistic work, hobbies, and sometimes we forget to take time out for ourselves. I felt that recently, I let myself get stressed, I noticed the lack of quality time with me, and I crashed. A mini breakdown. I as afraid I wouldn't be able to live up to my busy schedule and I would let people down.

What I really needed to do, was focus on being present, and let things fall into place. Let go of control, and just focus on my breathing. That simple act for 5 minutes even can help so much. My mind wanders, but I bring it back, to the breathing. So I finally had time to do that on Friday during my yoga class (I hadn't been able to do Yoga during the week, or meditation), except it was longer than just 5 minutes. So it really helped me align my mind, body and soul. Suddenly ten minutes was not enough! I needed more time to enjoy this feeling of calming down. This meditation, basic as it is, was filling up the shell of my body with positivity, nurturing my soul,  calming my body, and taking pressures off my mind.

The exhaustion, and emptiness I was feeling, was gone! I introspected, and then gently looked at the world around me, and suddenly it dawned on me, that I had missed connecting with me. The thing is things will never be less crazy, or slow down to resume whatever schedule I would like, so I have to make time, and fit my meditation in, I do this for me. Same with the Yoga, I have to just make minimum 10 minutes for it. Sometimes taking out time for yourself may seem selfish, but we need it, and more often than not.

OM

Meditation for wellness

 

Justin 101: An Introduction

Hello! My name is Justin. I am thrilled to be a part of this project. Meditation, while relatively new to my life, has changed me. Simply taking a moment to pay attention to my thoughts, feelings, and emotions has had a profound effect on how I live my life.

My story begins a long time ago in a faraway land. Ok, not really, but that sounds cool! My meditation journey actually begins not so long ago, and right here in Grand Rapids Michigan. I was raised by parents who loved me and provided a safe place for me to grow up. I had a normal childhood, went to great schools, and had great friends (still do!). By the time I got to high school, I was comfortable with who I was and I was loving life. In college I had the opportunity to travel, make new friends, and learn much more about the beautiful world we live in. Shortly after college I got married. I was living the West Michigan dream. Then things started to unravel.

In the span of a year, the following events took place: I had a heat-stroke and spent 3 hours in a coma after a triathlon, I broke my nose (you should see the pictures!), my grandfather died (I'm named after him), my marriage of four and a half years ended in divorce (I could write a novel about this, but I won't... yet ;D), and my parents moved from Grand Rapids to Salt Lake City. Nothing was going my way. I had spent all of my energy for two years trying to save my marriage and I was drained. I struggled constantly with depression, and I was consumed by anxiety. It was not until I sought help from a therapist that things started to turn around.

In counseling I started to figure out why certain things were the way they were. I learned about co-dependency and the effect that it had on my failed marriage. I learned about the voids in my life and the vices that I used to fill them. I came to the realization that for months on end, I was living ten feet above my body. In other words, I was constantly in automatic pilot mode. Then, my therapist introduced me to a practice that would end up changing my life: Mindfulness Meditation.

During a particularly difficult session, I felt completely drained. My tank was empty. Tears were flowing. I had no words. My therapist instructed me to close my eyes and allow the tears to flow. He instructed me to allow the sadness, loneliness, and whatever other thought or emotion that was happening in that moment to be there. He explained it like this: If you are in a cabin in the woods far from any trace of civilization and an old man knocks on your door, you are not going to turn him away. You are going to invite him in and get to know him. The old man of sorrows had come knocking, and for the first time in years, I spent time with him in curious awareness.

That is what Mindfulness Meditation is all about; simply being aware of your present experience right here, right now, in this moment. It felt amazing to allow myself to be lonely and to grieve. It seemed like every time I met with my therapist, we got real work done. One day I decided to go camping by myself. When I got to the lakeshore (Lake Michigan) I scurried down the beach to set up camp. Once I got settled, I took a seat where the land meets the water and closed my eyes. I noticed thoughts racing through my head, and instead of letting them get the best of me I simply allowed them to be. As thought after thought passed through my head like clouds in the sky, my mind grew quiet. When I finally opened my eyes, the whole world seemed new! It felt good to be me. For the first time in years I felt good in my own skin. Most importantly, I was IN my own skin!

Since my "re-awakening" on the beach, I have had the privilege of taking an eight week course called "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction" through the Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness (seriously, check them out). Throughout the eight week course I learned the benefits of regular meditation as well as many practices that have become a part of my daily life. After eight weeks I am feeling more connected to myself, to others, and to the world around me. I feel good! (da da da da da da da!!)

While this post is meant to be an introduction, it is also an invitation. It is an invitation to join me in my journey of healing and self-awareness. Some posts will be "big idea" stuff; other posts will be very practical. I hope that you will learn something from them and be able to apply some of the lessons to your life. Every step towards mindfulness is a worthy step in the right direction. Now join with me in the most basic form of mindfulness. Ready?

Breathe.

ॐ Yoga and Meditation 1 ॐ

I've been meditating a lot recently, thanks to yoga class, at least 2- 3 times a week. Meditation and Yoga go hand in hand. One must do yoga to quiet the body, and then meditation calms the mind and the body! Also 3 ॐ s at the end of practice can help seal the deal, in helps the vibrations from the practice be vocalized. I used to be embarrassed of the ॐ we said as a greeting and farewell, at the Sivananda Yoga center, when growing up in India. now I find beauty, mysticism, wholeness, and energy in them. Perhaps chanting, meditation and yoga all go hand in hand. It makes sense why all the Sanyasis do all three and more. So it should feel right. There is a beauty in silence and fasting too!

Last night at yoga, we meditated after the 45 minutes of vinyasa. The yogi guided us through a very interesting technique where we focused on breathing. The difference was we focused on inhale right nostril, exhale left nostril, then inhale left nostril, exhale right nostril. When focusing on this, just through your mind, I believe the nose muscles, and nostrils start actually doing it! So it is like doing Anuloma Viloma, with no hand! It was a very amazing, although I felt my breathing was loud, deep an obnoxious, so I tried to quieten it a little. We closed with a chant, and three ॐ.

At the beginning of the practice and the end, we always set our intentions for our practice, individually, for ourselves. It's internal, a quiet whisper to ourselves. We close with remembering those intentions. At the end of the meditation, we repeated our intentions to ourselves and the yogi also asked us to remember sradha the word for faith, belief and trust, and focus that onto ourselves: Internally and externally. To have sradha in ourselves, the world, the practice, to listen and then have faith. An example was when we were in headstand, we should listen to our bodies to see how far we can go, and not to push it, but trust it. It's an amazing thing to meditate on, and be aware of. Also remembering to let go of the things we can not control, those that add to our worries. These external problems/unchangeable do not help us in our sradha, but we should let it go and accept it the way it is. I am so glad the yogi is mindful to always go back to that - the philosophy, the spirituality, the connectedness and energy behind meditation and meditation.

ॐ

 

 

Notes:

Practice = the practice of living something, in this case it is yoga and meditation. Although I won't perform it, I practice it daily. :-P I guess I picked this up from my yoga teacher training class.

Sradha - Faith or see the hindu or collective definition or Buddhist definition... I hope to post more on this subject!

Finding the True Self

As the meditations have progressed, I grow. it has been 2 months since I started this. I have experimented, developed and nurtured, healed, searched, found, met with peace, met with aggression, felt such deep passion...
I haven't blogged here in a while, but it doesn't mean this project failed. For my part I carried on. I didn't ever stop meditating, in fact I actually have been able to focus on things I really want, and achieve them, by letting go.Meditation is just not a thing we do. It is a discipline, an exercise, a pathway to deeper spirituality, a medication, a journey and experience that never ends.

There are so many different kinds of meditation, and I am still exploring it all. I have meditated with prayers, and visualizations. It takes practice to achieve and feel the full affects. One does not merely sit and hope for the magic to happen, it takes effort. Recently a friend sent me a meditation for healing, where I had to imagine my Chakras cleanse. This was true visualization of nature and it was very difficult, but soothing. I tried, but it was difficult, so I let go so that I could try another time.

I also started meditation in different yoga poses (savasana, sirshasana, padmasana) and this has proven beneficial for my body as well as mind. For I focus, hold the pose, feel my body, and I am so in touch with the energy flow in my body. The result being I feel refreshed and have way too much energy for the day.

All the different types of meditation set aside, I feel like in the exploration of my mind, soul, and body, I have slowly come to find and love my true self. Slowly. It is a work in progress, and the maintenance of it will be as tough as any other work. In doing so I have found a peace, and have been able to let go and love more openly. It's like a sigh of relief.


Namaste.

Spinning Meditation

Meditating still, but i switched it up.
Sometimes I sit still, sometimes I use music, sometimes I walk, sometimes I stand in a corner and breathe.
A few weeks ago my sister taught me how to spin Poi. The Mexican art of dancing with fire. I found it strangely meditative, yet requiring fitness, and relaxing. So now I spin while meditating and it helps me focus my energies, perhaps a lot like Tai Chi, which I did practice for a while as well (2 years of tai chi in the zoo, I kid you not. best experience ever).
Along with spinning playing music, (practicing guitar, or a different instrument is highly meditative too. This practice helps clear the mind while you focus on a task for a longer time.
So this has helped me focus. Which in turn has helped me regulate my emotional reactions. Which is strange, for I am usually very emotionally reactive.

Pick up your guitar, flute, or make some sock poi and meditate!