I am trying not to spend too much time online at the moment but I did want to report that yesterday and today I carved out 20 mins meditation time when I got up.
And although my mind was jumping around like a flea, particularly today, I had a sense of light and space surroundnig and containing it. And that was reassuring.
I want to continue doing this. For the past month or so I have been all over the place. The upheaval of the impending move - and other unexpected happenings pleasant and unpleasant - are bringing up all sorts of feelings and issues and I think the key to surviving it all may be to have the discipline just to carve out the time. Doing the practice, just sitting there. That's all.
This morning it is beautiful. The first thin autumnal mist and the sun shining through it. Ethereal.
Safe travel to MB! And bravo to Mary for taking an online break: I, too, have been trying to spend less time online, but it's difficult since I'm teaching two online classes.
I accidentally double-posted the day today: when I clicked over, it didn't show Sunday, and then after I posted & refreshed, there were TWO Sundays. I guess I should beware browser cache issues!
I did "driving meditation" yesterday and about 15 minutes of cushion meditation the day before. It's all a matter of befriending one's Inner Flea. :-)
Last night, after a dog walk through some large parks with that huge moon near the horizon listening to Pink Floyd through one iPod earbud with my daughter, I meditated only on breath.
It seemed easier than with mantra and the intricacies of keeping the teeth touching, the tongue at the roof of the mouth, the eyes semi-open focussing on the tip of the nose, the mental focus at the 3rd eye beaming energy out as well as the heart, and intoning the simple mantra, sa ta na ma, birth, life, death, rebirth, and keeping the breath very slow and deep, and the hands in gyuan mudra, thumb and forefinger touching.
Perhaps using a mantra with specific postures (including inside the mouth!) is about finding freedom in structure.
Just following the natural breath last night seemed so delightful.
I suppose which ever one one does, the other looks easier :-)
I survived 3 days of filing, with only a 15 min lunch break on Friday in an 8 hour day. It'll give us enough for groceries for 2 weeks, a gift really. Still in heavy menopausal moon, I'm popping iron pills which are helping.
The rigors of 3 days of such unrelenting labour have reminded me of my respect for the invisible working class... without which the comforts of our world wouldn't exist.
I bow to workers everywhere.
It's mindless, hard work. Yet the computer I use, the coffee in the mug I'm drinking from, the pajamas I'm still wearing, the very room in which I sit, the roads outside, the entire world we have manufactured rests on the labour of the working class. And sadness wells up...
Sorry! Another essay here!
Mary, moving is upheaval literally. It was so wonderful to see you here this morning. Hope it all goes smoothly in all its stages...
hey all, I had no access whilst away after all ... but plenty of quiet time and many ups and downs. Missed you really ...
I'm not back properly til tomorrow, but am staying with a friend tonight and needed to touch ... something familiar I guess.
I've walked many miles, climbed mountains, had a lot of thinking time, laughed, cried, and learned of the untimely death of a very close friend, and the passing of another who was less close but still sad because she was a child. Awful really, and very challenging to be essentially alone with all these feelings - no shoulder to cry on and quite literally in the (very beautiful) middle of nowhere.
So, I return home with two funerals to attend next week, and also needing to take care of the very last removal of my possessions from the flat my partner and I lived in for a long time, as she is leaving it. Plus emotionally charged anniversaries ... so be gentle with me because right now I am made of glass!
I've thought often of you all here though, and a fair few words from these pages have popped up at very helpful times.
Mary - I'm glad it's helping ... you're right - making the time and space is the vital part.
Lorianne - I've spent half the week pulling ticks off myself and my dog - so my inner flea is ready and waiting :)
oh no ... even hearing/reading the word 'fleas' makes me itch ...
mb, you're the first person I've met who was also allergic ... I had to leave my life, my job, my friends, my teacher in Hawaii because of severe allergy to fleas that sent me to the emergency room twice ... there were grass fleas, sand fleas, and fleas from the sleek and shiny rats that lived the good life in the banana trees
have you read The Great Dragon's Fleas by Tim Ward? I'm pulling out my very old copy to read again.
from the book jacket: "Dear boy, to a bodhisattva, there's no difference between a human and a flea ... the only difference between you and a flea on the Great Dragon's back is that a flea doesn't ask so many questions"
10 Comments:
I am trying not to spend too much time online at the moment but I did want to report that yesterday and today I carved out 20 mins meditation time when I got up.
And although my mind was jumping around like a flea, particularly today, I had a sense of light and space surroundnig and containing it. And that was reassuring.
I want to continue doing this. For the past month or so I have been all over the place. The upheaval of the impending move - and other unexpected happenings pleasant and unpleasant - are bringing up all sorts of feelings and issues and I think the key to surviving it all may be to have the discipline just to carve out the time. Doing the practice, just sitting there. That's all.
This morning it is beautiful. The first thin autumnal mist and the sun shining through it. Ethereal.
MB: have a good trip!!
Love to all.
... and Janice, thank you. I love seeing your picture!
Mary, thank you very much. I'm glad to hear how you are doing (though I'm allergic to fleas)... hang in there!
Safe travel to MB! And bravo to Mary for taking an online break: I, too, have been trying to spend less time online, but it's difficult since I'm teaching two online classes.
I accidentally double-posted the day today: when I clicked over, it didn't show Sunday, and then after I posted & refreshed, there were TWO Sundays. I guess I should beware browser cache issues!
I did "driving meditation" yesterday and about 15 minutes of cushion meditation the day before. It's all a matter of befriending one's Inner Flea. :-)
Last night, after a dog walk through some large parks with that huge moon near the horizon listening to Pink Floyd through one iPod earbud with my daughter, I meditated only on breath.
It seemed easier than with mantra and the intricacies of keeping the teeth touching, the tongue at the roof of the mouth, the eyes semi-open focussing on the tip of the nose, the mental focus at the 3rd eye beaming energy out as well as the heart, and intoning the simple mantra, sa ta na ma, birth, life, death, rebirth, and keeping the breath very slow and deep, and the hands in gyuan mudra, thumb and forefinger touching.
Perhaps using a mantra with specific postures (including inside the mouth!) is about finding freedom in structure.
Just following the natural breath last night seemed so delightful.
I suppose which ever one one does, the other looks easier :-)
I survived 3 days of filing, with only a 15 min lunch break on Friday in an 8 hour day. It'll give us enough for groceries for 2 weeks, a gift really. Still in heavy menopausal moon, I'm popping iron pills which are helping.
The rigors of 3 days of such unrelenting labour have reminded me of my respect for the invisible working class... without which the comforts of our world wouldn't exist.
I bow to workers everywhere.
It's mindless, hard work. Yet the computer I use, the coffee in the mug I'm drinking from, the pajamas I'm still wearing, the very room in which I sit, the roads outside, the entire world we have manufactured rests on the labour of the working class. And sadness wells up...
Sorry! Another essay here!
Mary, moving is upheaval literally. It was so wonderful to see you here this morning. Hope it all goes smoothly in all its stages...
MB, have a great week! Will miss you...
Lorianne, you're nothing short of amazing.
xo
Lorianne, thank you. ("befriending one's Inner Flea" — snort!!)
Brenda, I'll miss you too. Thanks.
hey all, I had no access whilst away after all ... but plenty of quiet time and many ups and downs. Missed you really ...
I'm not back properly til tomorrow, but am staying with a friend tonight and needed to touch ... something familiar I guess.
I've walked many miles, climbed mountains, had a lot of thinking time, laughed, cried, and learned of the untimely death of a very close friend, and the passing of another who was less close but still sad because she was a child. Awful really, and very challenging to be essentially alone with all these feelings - no shoulder to cry on and quite literally in the (very beautiful) middle of nowhere.
So, I return home with two funerals to attend next week, and also needing to take care of the very last removal of my possessions from the flat my partner and I lived in for a long time, as she is leaving it. Plus emotionally charged anniversaries ... so be gentle with me because right now I am made of glass!
I've thought often of you all here though, and a fair few words from these pages have popped up at very helpful times.
Mary - I'm glad it's helping ... you're right - making the time and space is the vital part.
Lorianne - I've spent half the week pulling ticks off myself and my dog - so my inner flea is ready and waiting :)
xx
oh no ... even hearing/reading the word 'fleas' makes me itch ...
mb, you're the first person I've met who was also allergic ... I had to leave my life, my job, my friends, my teacher in Hawaii because of severe allergy to fleas that sent me to the emergency room twice ... there were grass fleas, sand fleas, and fleas from the sleek and shiny rats that lived the good life in the banana trees
have you read The Great Dragon's Fleas by Tim Ward? I'm pulling out my very old copy to read again.
from the book jacket:
"Dear boy, to a bodhisattva, there's no difference between a human and a flea ... the only difference between you and a flea on the Great Dragon's back is that a flea doesn't ask so many questions"
and please have a safe and happy flealess journey
Listen to me:
Flea-free is the way to be!
(okay, now y'all know why I don't write poetry!!!!)
:-)
(((Stray))) I'm so sorry. May coming home give some comfort as well.
Janice, haven't read the book... you recommend it? Other possible perils, but no fleas where I'm going that I know of!
See you all in a week. Have a good one.
xo
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