Last friday I blogged about my meditation practice and how I needed to focus on my breath to bring myself back to a place of calm and to quiet my mind. Today I discovered that doing my "yoga breathing" helped me bring my attention back to my breath whenever my mind wandered.
I have gone to several yoga retreats in the past, and for some reason, when I sat down to meditate earlier today, I was reminded of ujjayi, or "ocean breath" from yoga. I think it was the sound of the breath itself that kept my mind more quiet than usual. I found this to be a very effective technique for getting more out of my meditation session. I was able to sit still longer. I'm not sure whether I drifted off to sleep, but I may have, because I felt so relaxed and the time sure seemed to fly by today! I didn't seem to be as aware of myself in the physical sense as usual. Perhaps I did fall asleep! If I can fall asleep on the massage table, I am sure I can fall asleep during meditation!
image from: flikr
I think your change is coming about. You are now talking about the relaxation instead of the rushing thoughts going through your mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply! Meditation recently came up in conversation, and a woman suggested free writing as a way to get all those thoughts out and quiet the mind, and I think it would be a good experiment to do some free writing right before meditation and see whether it impacts my practice.
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