March Meditation - Day #1

Yogis,

Welcome to “March Meditation”!  Tomorrow we begin this one month journey into ourselves.  We are starting out as a group of 22, and if you find others who would like to join, send them my way!

What is meditation?   Here is one definition:

The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices (much like the term sports) that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.  Meditation involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way.

But really, meditation is as simple as stopping, coming to the present moment and watching…...

 

 

Things to plan for tomorrow:

·        Where to meditate – a place in your home that is quiet and has a calming energy.  Use the same spot every day (although if a spot doesn’t feel right after you have been trying it, move to a new one).

·        How to sit – Sitting is recommended;  If you choose to sit on a flat surface (floor or bed) it is best to prop your hips up by sitting on a firm pillow or folded blanket, with your legs off the blanket .    You want your spine to be long and straight.  If this is difficult for you while sitting, sit with your back against the wall or your headboard.    Sitting in a firm straight backed chair is also fine, but have your feet grounded on the floor, or if they don’t reach, have something under them (like a stool or books).   You don’t want to be in a lot of discomfort, but some is ok.  Part of the practice is to learn to let go of discomfort and over time your body becomes more open and can stay still longer.

·       When to sit – this is up to you but it is best if you can pick a time of day that you can stick with every day.    Morning is nice because your mind is still relatively clear, but evening has the benefit of aiding in sleep.  By staying with the same time each day your mind and body are more ready.    I meditate at 6:30 am if anyone wants to meditate “with me”.  On weekends I set the alarm for 6:20, brush my teeth, get set up and meditate.  Then I go back to sleep!  And what a wonderful dream filled sleep that is!

·        How long – a minimum of 10-15 minutes.  Start with 10 and work up to 15 over the month.  If you continue with the practice you will work up to 30 minutes.  At the beginning I suggest setting a timer so that you can forget about time and not have to keep looking at the clock.   Over time you will be able to feel when the time is up.

·        Shawl/blanket – I suggest wrapping a shawl or blanket around your shoulders.  Wrapping it around you tells your body it is time to meditate.  A separation from your day.  Use the same one all the time so it soaks in your energy.    

Technique #1:

For these first several days we will do a simple breath meditation.

·        Get yourself seated and close your eyes

·        Take a few big exhales and visualize everything up to that moment floating away from the body

·         Notice your posture – root down with the sit bones, lengthen the spine, drop the shoulders, bring the chin to level and reach up with the crown.

·        Take a moment to settle in and notice the moment – the sounds, the air on your face, how your body feels

·        Then begin to notice your breath.  No need to change it.  Just watch it……….watching the rise of the breath up the spine on the inhale, and the fall of the breath on the exhale.  Just watching.  As if there is nothing but your breath.

·        When your mind wanders (and it will), as soon as you notice it, take note and then gently guide your awareness back to the breath.  Again and again. 

·        Observe anything that arises – emotions, boredom, the urge to move or scratch – just watching

·        When the timer goes off it will pull your awareness away.  Turn it off, and then close the eyes and take 5 more long slow breaths.   Often, once you are “done” the meditation becomes the best!

·        Open your eyes and verbally or mentally thank the Universe for this gift!

And most importantly, this is a practice and can become a beautiful life long journey.  So be compassionate with yourself.  Resist the urge to “judge” your meditation.  Let it just be exactly what it is………….

Aaaahhhhh………………

SARAH

March Meditation

Yogis,

As most of the country begins preparing for March “Madness”, my thought is to host March “Meditation”. 

Just like March Madness, you would sign up, commit and follow it throughout the whole month, with the same interest, intensity and visualization of a positive outcome. 

However………No money needed.  No counting on others to bring you success. No need to know anything about brackets or basketball.  And….it’s impossible to lose!

 

So here is the my “pool”:

Dates:                Entire month of March

Frequency:       Every Single Day

Time:                 Minimum of 10 minutes (everyone has 10 minutes…everyone)

Where:              In your home

How:                  Emails will be sent with suggestions, inspirations and differently weekly techniques

Who:                  Creating our own community to share questions, ideas and discoveries

Everyone has heard the benefits of meditation – reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, increases concentration, improves focus, builds empathy and calms the nervous system.  Science is even beginning to prove it (although hopefully you would take my word for it!)  Most have said “I should meditate”.    Here is your chance to do it virtually, but with the support of a like minded group.

So let me know if you want to join in!    All I need is an email and you will be put on my meditation email DL with a lot more info to follow!

It takes a month to make something a habit,

 

SARAH

Sarah@SerenityCircleYoga.com

Winter as nourishment

Dear Yogis,

Today was a beautiful day!  The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky.  That slight hint of spring on the horizon that you can smell in the air this time of year and see in the sunrises. 

But yet as I lay on a rock down by the river bathing my face with sun, a stiff west wind would rush over me every now and then.    A gentle reminder that winter isn’t over quite yet.

But you know what?  This year I am actually glad………………….

Winter is the season of hibernation.  The season of earth.  Going inside, slowing down and resting.  A time meant for sleeping longer and nourishing our souls and our body. 

Look around you.  Outside everything is still.  The birds only make a brief showing each day before heading home.  No crawling bugs, flying bats or slithering snakes.  The trees, having shed their leaves at the coming signs of winter, sit barren and still.  Yet everything is still very much alive….they have all just gone inside to rest and nourish.   Not feeling the need to resist the winter, but instead using the time to store and build the needed energy  for the explosion of spring.  Building strong roots.

Before electricity, people slept for 11 or 12 hours in the winter.  Recharging the batteries.  Eating foods that build our roots and warm us from the inside.  Where summer is salads and fruit, winter is stews and soups.   Where summer is the season of action, winter is for meditation.  But lights and the ability to eat fresh strawberries in January has changed all of that.  With heat in our houses, cars and offices, we have the ability to stay just as busy in the winter as we are the rest of the year.  And often we do.

Somehow November through January stayed very busy for me.  I felt that every weekend was planned weeks ahead.  No true down time.  But then February hit.  And finally….everything slowed down.  Not much on the agenda.  Not yet feeling as if there is something I should be doing out in the garden.  No spring chores.  And I am getting into the groove of it!

We have what I believe is an entire underground city of chipmunks who live in our front yard.   I half expect to come home one day to find that the entire house  has sunk down about a foot due to all of the tunneling.  This week I noticed that they have begun to “tidy” up their entrances and exits, putting fresh leaf piles to hide them.  But they know it isn’t spring yet.  They will stay below, not rushing this time to just be.  Knowing that soon enough they will be scurrying back and forth across the yard to fill their pouches and dump them out – over and over and over. 

I asked my mom for a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas, so I have got that going on the dining room table.  I am not feeling guilty if I stay in bed until 9:00 on a weekend morning.  I have slowed down my yoga practices, am always wearing my fuzzy socks, look forward to my dreams each night, and love my afternoon tea.   Less time with friends and more with family.   Hot baths and oil massages.  And like the chipmunks, I have started going through the seed catalog, but just for a quick glance of what lies ahead. 

So step back and look at your schedule over these last 3 or 4 weeks of winter.  Does it have plenty of empty space on it, and if so are you ok leaving it empty?  Are there things you can remove?  Have you taken the time to nourish and build your roots so that you too will be ready when spring and all of its energy bursts forth? 

I for one, still need these next few weeks.  So I will be staying in my cocoon…..knowing that spring will come soon enough.  Somehow it always does J.

Thankful for  the stillness of winter,

SARAH

Friday Night......

It's Friday Night....... time for me.

Do you have a time for you?




You must love yourself first,
SARAH

Island Time........

Dear Yogis,

I have returned from my week in the islands!  What a wonderful way to let go, slow down, warm up and open every pore to soak in the healing energy of the earth.

I headed down there with the intention of being aware.  Trying to remember to keep coming back to each moment to really notice.  To be present for the sights, the smells, the textures and the sounds. 

And one of the learnings I walked away with was about …………….…time.

 

 

Here is Webster’s definition of time:  a nonspatial continuum that is measured in terms of events which succeed one another from past through present to future.

I don’t wear a watch so we were constantly asking each other, “what time do you think it is?”.  But what did it matter?

Time is an illusion.  It is something humans created to help us organize our lives.  But in reality there are only present moments.  There is this moment…….and then there is this moment…..and there is this moment.    The past no longer exists.  It is just an imprint in our memory.   The future will not exist until we are in those individual moments.  It is just our anticipation.    But too often we become locked into either the past or the future, bypassing what is here for us right now. 

Anyone who has spent time in the islands knows that time there is quite unlike our hectic, scheduled down to the minute time that we live here.    They live on Island Time.

There is a famous beach bar in Jost Van Dyke called Soggy Dollar.  All day long sailboats pull up, the people on board swim in to shore (therefore a lot of soggy dollars),  have a few of the famous Painkillers, hang out and then swim back.  A constant flow of activity.  After a day or two of sitting there it began to feel as if I was just watching a movie.  Every hour new people, new stories.  Each day distinct. 

And above the bar is their “clock”.  On our first day the clock hand told us it was Monday.  Just Monday.  That’s all we really needed to know, although even that information began to seem superfluous.   

And when you place an order for a sandwich at One Love, she tells you to go out and relax and she will let you know when it is ready….which could be 5 minutes or 25.  It is ready when it is ready.  Boy does that drive a lot of Americans crazy!

For four of the nights we camped.  By the end of the first day my body “clock” was already in sync with that of nature.  Once the sun was down we followed quickly behind.  In bed by 8:30 at night (which embarrassingly is only 7:30 at home), and awakened by the daylight and the birds arriving to see when we were coming out to eat breakfast.  This was how we all lived for centuries, in tune not with our watches, but in a beautiful  rhythm with the movement of the sun and the seasons.   Dancing to the hum of the Universe.   Eating when hungry.  Napping under a tree when tired.    

So how does that translate into our modern day life?    For me it all comes back to this returning to the present moment over and over.    Slowing down even when in the midst of activity.  Noticing the sun and the moon, the clouds and the wind every day – and not just on weekends.  Not wanting days to rush by just because of an anticipation of something in the future.    Being just as grateful for Monday as for Friday (that took me a lot of work).  Knowing that every moment has the opportunity for something amazing……..if only I am there to receive it.

The island “clock” now says it is Sunday, but not sure that makes any difference,

SARAH

 

 

All my bags are packed....I'm ready to go......

Yogis,

All my bags are packed....I'm ready to go......     Heading south to soak in some earth, water and sun!

All week everyone, including me, has spoken of having a "relaxing time" on vacation.  But you know what?   The journey I am on has the destination of a life of relaxation.



That doesn't mean I won't be working.  In fact I seem to keep taking on more work.  That doesn't mean there won't be challenges.  In fact there seem to be more of those too.

But it is all in how we embrace life each day.  And my vision is to stay relaxed through it all.  Relaxation is an inner journey, not saved for vacations.

And you know what?   I can feel that it is possible!

 Have a brilliant week, notice each moment, and feel alive,
SARAH

Your life as a mirror

Yogis,

There is one of the spiritual teachings that I have found to be quite challenging.  For the longest time I just tried to ignore it because I couldn’t imagine that it could be true.  How could it be ………

But lately I have been seeing it a little more clearly and noticing that maybe, just maybe it might actually work.

It goes something like this:

The outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world.  Your life is an invisible mirror reflecting back to you your inner landscape.

So what does that mean?  That when you look around, you are seeing yourself.  In everything.  This includes your friends, relationships, your job, your home, your beliefs and capabilities.   That the joys, frustrations, complications and bliss that seem to come to you, or at you, from the outside, are merely a reflection of what is happening in your soul.

So if this law of the Universe is true, then the life you want to live, the things that you desire, the feelings you want to be surrounded by, must all be created within you in order for your outer world to reflect them. 

Hhhhmmmmm…..  Wow.  If that is how life works, that leads to another whole level of responsibility that we have to take for ourselves.  No longer can we blame, complain, or feel hopeless.  We can’t wait for the right time, or wish for things to be different.  We can no longer look to the outside for solutions or believe that “life just happens”.  Only we can cause a shift.

Have you ever known someone who always seems to have some crisis going on in their life?   Or those who are always getting little injuries or catching every single germ that passes them by?   Those friends who always date the wrong person?  Or the one who gets mistreated constantly by others?

Often when we see this in others lives we can see it clearly.  We watch and notice that many of their troubles seem to be drawn to them because they expect them.  They talk about them.  They almost need them for their current identity.  But can we see it in ourselves?  Much harder.

So how do we cause a shift?

Whatever it is that you want to draw into your life……give it away to others as much as possible.  The is the law of giving and receiving.

One example comes to mind from my life.  I am very trusting.  Always have been.  I believe that people, for the most part, are good.  I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and have people coming in and out of my house all day long, and am very open with my space and belongings.  And in return I am trusted back, feel safe and don’t ever feel taken advantage of. 

If you want more happiness in your life … choose to be happy, even if it feels fake for a while.  Awaken happiness.

More money …..give more.  Simple gifts, your time, donations.

You want to be loved……show more love to others.  All of the time with no expectation of anything in return.

More contentment in your job…..smile while you work.  Let go of struggle and your job will either become more satisfying or a new one will find its way to you

Better health…..feel healthy.  “Will health” as you walk through the germs.

A less busy life……slow yourself down

And those annoying people that drift into your world – they are there to teach you something you are ready to learn, so thank them

And the list goes on and on, but the simple premise is give, give, give.  Be of service.  Smile.  Live internally exactly the way you want your outer life to become.  And that is what will begin to show up for you. 

So don’t wait for the things you desire. Give them to others starting right now and watch what happens in the mirror!

 Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.
                  ~Ernest Holmes        

Sending out love to you all,

SARAH