Ommmm

This morning, I started a simple meditation. I wanted to clear my mind, clear my body, clear my soul, and listen to the universe and my own small, still voice. I heard Ommm in my head and I started chanting Om. I've never done this before. It always sounded scary and boring to me, yet I sat there for an hour, and really connected with the love of the universe. What a wonderful way to start my day. Just wanted to share that love with my friends.

Cat Meditation

It's quiet in the house the morning.

Pooh, my cat, jumps on my lap and starts purring vigorously, and I realize that he is at peace.

I put my arms around him and hold him tight. I let the purrs vibrate through my hand, and feel them permeate my being.

I breathe deeply with Pooh.

I bury my fingers in his soft fur and feel grounded and connected to him.

I forget what is going on in the room, and I let this peace flow through me.

I set aside the cares of my life, the urgency of work, and let breathing and purring define me.

I am.

I am not defined by what I do but by the person that I am.

I listen to the truth of who I am and let this truth flow through me.

I open up the connection with the energy of the universe and let this energy flow into me. It flows through me to Pooh. It flows through Pooh to me.

And I feel complete.

at peace.

loved.

Winter Meditation

This morning, I reached deep into the earth to find my grounding. I had to penetrate the icy layers of my resistance, my barriers to growth, my walls built up to protect my roots from the cold, and I found a spot deep in the earth that was warm and I wrapped my roots around it.
I let the warmth move slowly up into my body, reaching my arms out to the light of the sun, bright orange as it was emerging, promising growth and new beginnings.
I looked inside myself at the areas where my sap was no longer flowing, where I have shut down to protect myself, and let the warmth from the earth come up and revive me. There is a promise from that glowing sun that the snow and ice is temporary. Spring will come. Now is the time to recharge and prepare for the growth that is to come.
I look inside my thoughts and find a place where worry used to thrive. Instead, I am filling it with peace. I can make plans and anticipate what is to come, but for the moment, I am alive, I am at peace. I may look like I'm not alive. Every night as I sleep I feign death. Every winter the trees shed all appearance of life as they prepare for the growth to come. I can prepare and I will be ready for the growth that will come.
For now, I will relax and let calm rule my life.
I will remember first and foremost that today, I can breathe.

Cool Morning Meditation

I woke up early this morning, feeling very tired, sick, and stressed.

I opened the front door and the cool air was refreshing.

I stepped out and took a deep breath. Such a beautiful day.

I focused on my tree in the front yard - I do love trees for meditation.

The roots remind me to reach deep into the earth for nourishment and support. I remembered that I am connected to the earth, the planet, and all life everywhere. I let that life come up out of the earth into my body as I reached up toward the sky. I was able to focus on the energy flowing through me and touching the pain in my body. The energy moved up and woke up my brain, bringing me a new awareness of the world around me. I feel recharged and ready for the day.

Meditation is becoming more natural as I do it more often. I have been trying to meditate before bed, when I wake up, and a short meditation between activities. I find that it is a great way to clear my brain for the new ideas I am switching to. This makes it much easier to focus on my many varied activities.

Let's Get Physical!

It seems now days everywhere you go there are signs and brochures for yoga classes. There is a plethora of yoga accessories available to pick up at almost any store. And if you pay close enough attention there are even several types of institutions dedicated to teaching yoga. I know of a few people who have become instructors, even people who have gone to places like Costa Rica to learn yoga. This popularity or trend of yoga in the U.S leaves me with one big question. Why is yoga so widely accepted.
Frequently I find myself in the position of explaining myself in terms of my meditation practice. People at times have poked fun, or more often have looked at me like I am talking about some type of alien concept. One women even asked me if during meditation I am chanting to some type of anti-Christian god. These reactions don't deter me or even sway my opinion of meditation but they do make me wonder... It seems wild to me that meditation, which is actually a practice that was born from yoga, is so foreign in a country that is so taken with it's origin practice yoga.
Well after doing some deliberating of my own I decided it was time to get some outside opinions. So I made a survey. It attempts to answer the question why yoga; why not meditation? Well it really isn't either or, but just why is the one so popular. What I found is that we really value physical activity in America. The survey wielded somewhat of an indifferent result, but this was not a bad thing.
Nearly 60% reported they would be more likely to practice yoga than meditation. Unanimously people said they preferred yoga for the physical activity and physical benefits such as flexibility. Every survey taker reported trying meditation at one point in their lives, so we can rule out the fact that these answers are being reported blindly.
The question that I found had the most interesting response was this: Do you believe that meditation is something you could benefit from? Is meditation something you are willing to do or is it out of your comfort zone and why? " Yes - I have benefited from it in the past, especially during my younger years as a competitive athlete. It is something I am willing to continue, though I implement it much less as I primarily used it as a pre-performance technique for relaxation and visualization." I love this response because it shows that an American at a young age was able to implement meditation in their life with a very successful outcome.
"I personally do not meditate as my mind tends to wander and generally toward unpleasant thoughts. Instead of in a peaceful and centered mindset, I end up agitated." This answer is one that I am familiar with, not personally as I benefit greatly from meditation, however I know many people who cannot allow themselves to "get in the zone" of meditation. This is a very real aspect, I believe, that makes people not want to meditate. I have often wished that there were some way I could help these people to see that, in fact, mediation aims to tame these types of thought.
Over all what I see is that Americans put physical activity on a pedestal, one that is surely important, yet ever forgetful of the importance of the mind body connection. America has had sort of a cognitive dissonance in terms of the mind body connection since the beginning. Again this is not that I am saying yoga doesn't aid us in the mind body connection. What I am saying is that meditation sort of puts us in the captains chair of our mind body connection. And it seems to me from all of this inquiry that Americans indeed value the physical over the mental, and this must somehow be why we are more willing to participate in yoga.

Sunset Meditation

It is the end of the day, the end of an 8 week doctoral class on Technology and Organizational Management, and I am ready to shed the stress and anxiety of the day.

I look out over the sunset and take a deep breath. The beautiful colors in the sky remind me of my connection with the universe. I close my eyes and breathe out.

I imagine the stress that has settled into my forehead slides down and rolls into the ground.

Another deep breath. The stress in my neck slides down and gravity takes it away.

Breathe. The stress in my back is no longer a part of me. Again, I remember to breathe. I visualize all the stress in my life rolling out my toes and going deep into the earth.

I let the energy exchange of the universe turn it into healing strength that comes up from the ground and slowly moves through my body, recharging me.

I feel relaxed.

I breathe.

I am at peace.

I can rest.

Namaste.

Rain Meditation

I am sitting on my tiny patio, listening to the rain falling.

I picture the love and nurture of the universe falling from the sky as the gentle raindrops land on my head.

It cleanses me.

I let my cares and worry slide down with the water and seep out my toes into the ground.

I listen to the birds cheerfully singing to each other and remember that I am connected to these birds and their joy. I am connected to the rain and every living thing receiving this nurturing water today. I am connected to the wind blowing the clouds into my view.

I gently let the rain cleanse me today and the birds bring me joy and hope.