5am Meditation Day 20- Living in the present moment

"My mind never grew still but Rick assured me that the goal of meditation was less to quiet the mind than to witness its ceaseless activity, using what Swami Kripalu called 'self-observation without judgment.'"

-from "Meditation and Me" by Danna Faulds, Kripalu Compass Feb 2012

It was reassuring to read Danna's words above. I have been struggling with trying to quiet my mind instead of just simply observing it. Hearing from another meditator that I can just observe my thoughts takes some of the pressure off. Hopefully over time my mind will race less and less during meditation. I am also looking forward to meditation without the need to blog about it, because during meditation I often think about the blog and what I will write about late on. I was thinking that today's blog post would be about BEING IN THE NOW and LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT, but while I was struggling to come across the perfect Dalai Lama or Buddha quotation that would sum up my thoughts precisely, I instead found Danna's article above and gravitated toward her words. She described her journey to becoming a daily meditator and expressed how it wasn't easy. I am definitely feeling the not-easy part of it. I am still struggling to commit to 20 minutes per day, so an hour a day seems unimaginable right now, yet remains an obtainable goal reading about others' journeys to get there. Whatever your goals are, focus on the journey, not just the destination.

5am Meditation Day 19 - Giving up Technology and Social Media

No, I'm not giving up technology and social media! I wouldn't be able to do my job or take my graduate course. But, I just read an article about a student who did just that. And he did it for 90 days. Check it out!

5am Meditation Day 15- inspirations

From a variety of sources...

Peace. It does not mean to be an a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.

Meditation is listening to the Divine within.

Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It's a way of entering into the quiet that's already there—buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.

Take the time to come home to yourself every day.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

It is not the number of books you read, nor the variety of sermons you hear, nor the amount of religious conversation in which you mix, but it is the frequency and earnestness with which you meditate on these things till the truth in them becomes your own and part of your being, that ensures your growth.


Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement.

image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmoorr/1922485388/

5am meditation Day 14- ocean breath

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

Wanderlust coming to Vermont

From the Wanderlust website (http://wanderlustfestival.com/):

"Wanderlust is a one-of-a-kind festival bringing together the world's leading yoga teachers, top musical acts and DJs, renowned speakers, top chefs and winemakers, and much, much more -- all in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty. We're talking about fun in the sun and dancing under the stars. Hiking on peaceful trails and gettin'your down dog on at the top of the mountain. Sipping poolside cocktails with your friends, and then enjoying a tasty farm-to-table dinner with views of the surrounding mountain peaks. Early morning meditations and all-night chakra spinning musical performances -- it's an all-out ecstatic celebration in the most awe-inspiring locations in the world.

So what's a day like at Wanderlust? Wake up to crisp mountain air and morning sunshine in your mountainside condo, throw a couple of items in your daypack, and join dozens of fellow attendees for one of Wanderlust's signature morning meditation hikes. If you have kids with you, no problem -- drop your children off at the Wanderkind kids' program before you head out. After your hike, cruise for some handcrafted goodness in the vendor village, grab a quick snack from one of our local & organic food vendors, and then hop into yoga class with one of your favorite teachers in a stunning outdoor classroom. After class, reward yourself with a delicious meal from one of our on-site restaurants. Have a seat in our outdoor food co-op, grab a cup of tea in our tea house, and stroll over to our Speakeasy venue, where you can listen to a fascinating lecture by one of our many speakers. In the afternoon, you might check out some of the live music at our Casbah stage, rock an afternoon yoga class, go kayaking down the local river, hit the trails with your mountain bike, or ride the free cable car up to the top of the mountain to kick it poolside with your crew.
As the sun sets, head over to Winederlust and sample a variety of biodynamic and organic wines from local vineyard, then take your appetite up the mountain to the Farm to Table Dinner. After dinner, you could sit back and enjoy a film at the Soulful Cinema, walk around the festival grounds to check out the eclectic art installations, or get your dance on at the Wanderlust main stage. And if you're still looking for more, Wanderlust's late night DJ dance parties go until 2 am. Eventually, you'll fall into your comfy bed -- but the best part is that another adventure awaits in the morning.

Whatever you do, the choice is all yours. That's Wanderlust. "

Yoga and Music schedules will be posted January 24th

5am Meditation Day 9- Kripalu's January Healthy Living "Time for Self Care"

This morning as I was meditating, I listened to my mind wander from one subject to the next. I was aware of my thoughts and kept trying to come back to the present and ground myself in the NOW. However, my mind kept wandering. After my meditation I came across Kripalu's January healthy living e-newsletter, and it included an article about meditation (pasted below). It reminded me to focus on my breath. Whenever my mind wanders, I need to bring it back to my breath. I had forgotten to use this technique, so the timing was perfect. I will try to remember this tomorrow when I start mentally planning my day instead of calming my racing thoughts. I have been considering recording myself saying "Breathing in, I am aware that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I am aware that I am breathing out" repeatedly, or something along those lines (Thich Nhat Hanh has some great books on this subject), so that I can have a soundtrack for my meditation that will help me focus on my breath until it becomes second nature.

yoga practice going within to let go

By Janna Delgado, Yoga Teacher and Personal Trainer

Anxious? Tense? Worried? Try meditation. This simple tool for self-care can be done anywhere and anytime to de-stress, and with practice, you can reboot and find inner calm in just a few minutes. A main component of any meditation practice is focusing your attention. By creating a single point of focus, such as the breath, the multitude of distractions that overload your mind and cause stress can be cleared away. Meditation allows your mind to settle and your body to relax, creating a balanced state that benefits overall health and well-being.

Ready to try it? Find a quiet place to practice where you are free of distractions. Get comfortable, whether you’re sitting, lying down, or walking. Begin to breathe deeply through your nostrils, taking slow and even breaths. Focus all of your attention on the flow of your breath. Bring your awareness to the feelings, sensations, and sounds that occur as you inhale and exhale. Continue to breathe deeply and slowly. When your attention wanders, gently return your focus to your breath. Remember, meditation takes practice, so be kind to yourself. It’s natural for your attention to wander. When this happens, simply refocus your awareness on your breath.

http://www.kripalu.org/KripaluOnline/hlenews.html

Happy meditating!

5am Meditation Day 9- guilty or proud?

I am trying to decide whether to feel guilty or proud of myself that I turned off my 5am alarm YET AGAIN, but I did choose to meditate at 8am when I first got to work to start my day off right, and I even did it for a new increased total of 20 minutes. I am also trying to decide whether I should feel guilty or proud that about halfway through my meditation session I chose not to sit but rather decided to lie down instead. I am so not used to meditating to the point where the back pain becomes distracting and takes over my mind.

I noticed that the first several minutes in my brain are all about the physical sensations- I'm cold, my butt hurts, this floor's too hard, where's my pillow, my pants are too tight for meditation and I should be wearing loose comfortable (elastic waistband!) pants, my back hurts, and so on. Then my mind started to drift towards all those other busy thoughts about my day, but this time, perhaps knowing that I had a full 20 minutes and could get to the point of calming my mind, I sort of stepped outside of myself and just observed the thoughts. I tried not to get mad or frustrated that the thoughts were there. After all, we can't really control our thoughts; they just appear. I tried to be that mountain observing the thoughts as clouds floating by, but instead, it was more like I was the cloud, and I was floating by my physical self, observing myself, and observing the thoughts in my head. Then, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this is how I spend my meditation session, but I went into an almost dreamlike state that played like a movie in my head as I imagined where I would hang the hooks on my living room ceiling if I decided to install chair hammocks. I know, crazy! When my mind shifted to another thought, it was almost like waking up too early from a good dream, and I struggled to remember what I had been so excited to think about, and then I went back to trying to figure out where the beams in my ceiling would be, and whether I still have that stud finder...

Should I feel guilty about my stud-finding thoughts?