Meditation: Lesson 8 – Exercise 9

Walking meditation, or any movement meditation, tends to be my speciality. Yoga and Tai Chi are both meditations in a manner. When I first started riding my stationary bike, I had trouble getting past the four minute mark. I would slam against the ‘wall’ and have to stop. The only way that I could get past that was to meditate by concentrating on something other than riding the bike. While doing so, I was having the same color orbs and such as I do when I meditate in the normal, conventional meditation manner. At any rate, I am now up to 20 minutes with the help of meditation.

Lacking a walking track to do this meditation, I attempted to do it at a local mall. There were too many people so that didn’t work very well. I kept getting distracted. It is way to cold outside right now and you have to belong to the gyms in order to use their tracks. So, I did the next best thing – I walked around the house. My townhouse has a hallway that leads to the dining room that leads to the kitchen that leads to the living room that leads to the hallway. So, this was the plan of action. I also did this at work where the hallways are often not too crowded, especially after work on Friday when I am alone waiting for my Tai Chi Chih class to start. It is in the same building so I just hang out there.

This was a very nice change from the usual practice. I have often thought of walking meditation as being something that you did while being aware of that which is around you. Like going for a walk in the woods and just tuning into the things that were there. This, though, seemed to focus on the feet; how they were placed. Kind of like when you really pay attention to what you are doing when you are making tea or a meal. So that was a little different from what I am used to. But, like the way I used to practice, I was still very aware of what was going on around me. In fact, I was more aware, much like when I am in the conventional meditation sitting pose.

So I did this three times for the last three weeks and it really did make me feel more calm afterwards. It just seemed to offer the same benefits as the conventional sitting meditation but in a more energized fashion. I think that was the biggest difference, though. I did feel more energized after doing this whereas, with the conventional sitting meditation, I was more relaxed and ready to go to bed.

Revamped Personal Learning Plan

I had to change my personal learning plan because I got behind with the new job change and the holidays. Additionally, the courses are 8 lessons long and it took me about 1 week for each lesson. So I have made some changes in regards to the dates of completion. I also added some reading material to many of the sections. Basically because I felt that they fit well there and because there may not be that much reading in those sections. Alotting more time to complete the course allows me more time to read a bit more books. Hope you don’t mind.

Course Title/Book List	To Be Completed By
Meditation 101	January 31, 2010
How to Meditate by Lawrence LeShan
Learn to Meditate by David Fontana
Meditation Solutions by Paul Roland
The Complete Guide to Pilates, Yoga, Meditation, Stress Relief
Personal 101	March 31, 2010
Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
Recreating Your Self by Nancy J. Napier
Illusions by Richard Bach
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller
Reinventing Eve: Modern Women in Search of Herself by Kim Chernin
The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford
Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Communication 101	May 31, 2010
Talk Like a Winner: 21 Simple Rules for Achieving Everyday Communication Success by Steve Nakamoto
People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts by Robert Bolton
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Creative Aggression: The Art of Assertive Living by Herb Goldberg and George Bach
Anger-Free: 10 Basic Steps to Managing Your Anger by W. Doyle Gentry
The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin
Jedi Studies 101	TBA
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Does it Matter: Essays on Man’s Relation to Materiality by Alan Watts
This is It and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience by Alan Watts
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
Great Faith by Joy Haney
Force Studies (101)?	TBA
The Complete Guide to Chi-Gung
Tao, The Subtle Universal Law and Integral Way of Life by Hua-Ching Ni
The Field by Lynne McTaggart
Trust Your Vibes: Secret Tools for Six Sensory Living by Sonia Choquette
The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart
The Force by Stuart Wilde
Awakening Intuition by Mona Lisa Schultz
Healing 101	TBA
Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith
Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber
Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey
The Holistic Way to Health and Happiness: A new approach to complete lifetime wellness by Harold Bloomfield and Robert Kory
Creed 101	TBA
Morality: An Introduction to Ethic by Bernard Williams
The Evolution of Morality by Richard Joyce
Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong by Marc Hauser
Leadership 101 ?
Bringing Out the Best in People by Alan Loy McGinnis
Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
Leadership and Self Deception: Getting out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute
Spirituality 101?
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson
Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore
The Soul’s Code by James Hillman
How to Listen to God by Charles Stanley
The Direct Path by Andrew Harvey
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Meditation: Lesson 7 – Exercise 8

I had to wait for a couple of warm days before I could do this exercise. One nice thing about doing tree meditation during the winter is that the bugs don’t bug you.

I often do a similar meditation when I am out in the woods. I have learned through reading that pine trees are the most energized trees. I don’t know why but it may be because they are always ‘awake’. The seasonal trees that loose their leaves in the fall go into a slowed state so I only use them for meditation during the summer.

At any rate, I choose a lovely pine tree to meditate with and it was a wonderful experience. I attended yoga the Tuesday after this and in the class the teacher was telling us to feel our bodies being absorbed into the floor. So that is very similar to being absorbed into the tree and wasn’t much of a problem for me.

I could immediately feel the energy moving through me, leaving my back and legs tingling. Especially my back.

A while ago, when I was looking up something Wiccan, I came upon the following meditation to be done while meditating against a tree.

Relax

Take a deep breath and see the color blue,

A clear blue like the sky on a cloudless day.

Focus on that blue.

See it- feel it- the depth- the calm.

Now visualize yourself lowering your eyes,

And seeing yourself leaning against the tree.

Sitting against the large trunk of a huge tree.

It towers over you.

The branches reaching far out in front of you.

It shelters you.

It protects you.

Now see a white mist,

It will slowly become visible to you,

Getting more and more dense – like a fog.

This mist is your energy.

See it – feel it – know that it is yours.

No other energy is mixed in it.

Start the mist moving, in a clockwise motion,

Around you and the tree.

Make it spin faster and faster.

As it spins, see it create a funnel.

The smallest end touching your chest.

See it funnel down into your chest,

Into your center.

You are recalling your energy to you.

Quickly – and without fear.

Feel it at your center.

Know you are strong.

Know you are safe.

Know you are protected.

I really encourage you to try this meditation. It really does work. I did the meditation as presented in the book the first time out. Believe it or not, we had two warm days in a row. (Heat wave!) So the second time, I combined the two, being absorbed into the tree and then visualizing as in the above meditation. It was really, really effective. I believe more effective than the above meditation alone.

So, enjoy!

Colors and their Attributes during Meditation

In order to understand why I put this here, you may want to read the comments in the previous posting. There we are discussing making the color of the candle flame change during meditation. I have been doing some reading about meditation and found this nifty little guide to the colors and their attributes during meditation.

I made notes that the four main colors that I have seen crop up in my meditations are red, purple, black, and blue. White crops up once in a while, usually as a flash, and then it is gone. I did see a white orb with white rings in one of my recent meditations and found that interesting being that white symbolizes purity, wholeness, simplicity, innocence, order, and completion. Maybe the reason I saw it is because I am feeling more satisfied and complete in my life.

At any rate, here is the chart about colors and their attributes during meditation. Note that the attributes are listed as when they are ‘In balance’ and ‘Out of balance’.

Color	In balance	Out of balance
Red	The material world, status in life, survival, courage, physical strength, and vitality	Greed, anger, cruelty, vulgarity, and violence
Pink	Empathy, warmth, stimulation, and loyalty	Selfishness, fickleness, and egotism
Orange	Sexual energy, sensuality, happiness, optimism, and friendship	Loss of sexual energy or obsession with sex, fatigue, and pessimism
Yellow	Self-esteem, willpower, determination, confidence, inner power, mental energy, intellect, and mental alertness	Lack of mental clarity and concentration, stubbornness, inflexibility, and deviousness
Green	Emotions, including love and sympathy, relationships, harmony, freedom, growth, and renewal	Jealousy, possessiveness, insecurity, dislike of change, and dwelling on the past
Turquoise	Healing, eloquence and self-expression, independence, and protection	Allergies and other immune system disorders, tendency to be easily influenced, restricted self-expression, and vulnerability
Blue	Communication creativity, inspiration, expression, peace, trust, devotion, sincerity, and relaxation	Insincerity, suspicion, distrust, sadness, and inability to communicate
Indigo	Imagination, intuition, clarity of though, dreams, mystery, and secrecy	Paranoia, nightmares, confusion, and deceit
Violet	Understanding, higher consciousness, spiritual development, link with the divine, idealism, reverence, and commitment	Misunderstanding and misinterpretation, fanaticism, domination, adherence to outmoded beliefs, and lack of faith
Silver	Clairvoyance, the subconscious mind, fluidity, and transformation	Suggestibility and lack of stability
Gold	Wealth, abundance, spirituality, higher ideals, pleasure, and leisure	Avarice, poverty, apathy, laziness, and excessive pleasure seeking
White	Order, completion, clarity, purity, wholeness, simplicity, and innocence	Rigidity, extremism, obsessive cleanliness, Puritanism, and naivety
Brown	Stability and centeredness, resourceful, and nurturing	Depression, dullness, and inability to change
Black	Deep power, self-knowledge, discernment, and judgment	Tyranny, prejudice, blindness, and refusal to compromise

Meditation: Lesson 6 – Exercise 7

I tried this meditation for the last two weeks, 3 times each week for a total of 6 times. Although I was a flame-gazer in my younger years, almost to the point of being mesmerized by house fires, I just could not focus on the flame. There was always something going on that would distract me visually.

It is funny, though, because I can easily focus on a flame that I envision when my eyes are closed. So, I amended this exercise (Sorry) to be that I closed my eyes and visualized the flame. This worked a lot better than me worrying about the candle tipping over and burning down the house. (Yes, that did run through my mind once or twice.)

This is a very good meditation for me when I am laying supine. On one occasion, my back was hurting and I did the meditation laying supine. This, for some reason, worked better for this meditation because I was able to keep the flame firmly in my vision. Then I was able to just let go a lot more and merge, so to speak, with the flame.

I hate to say it, though, that I feel more unity when I am seeing the little purple, white, red, and blue colors in my visual field. I don’t know why that is but I feel an extreme amount of energy, tingling in my hands and feet, sometimes at the top of my head and throughout my body, when I am seeing the different colors. I didn’t feel any of that with the candle/flame imaging. It may be a matter of my having practiced for so many years that I feel more connected with the Force with the colors than with the candle/flame.

Meditation: Lesson 5: Personal Reflection and Chan Exercise

Personal Reflection

I had read this piece of writing a while ago. I can’t remember where I read it but seems it was in a magazine. This article, at that time, is what lead me away from focusing on any one thing and to do more connecting with the inner self. As he states in the article, you can focus on your breathing but it should be only 25% of the focus. He also states that you can focus on an image of a flower or something else but, in the end, the goal is to connect with the heart.

At any rate, I always found it hard to focus on my breathing. One of the reasons was because I could not keep the cadence that was recommended. The normal person takes a short time to breath in and a longer time to breath out. For this reason, breathing in and out to the same count was difficult for me. Add in asthma, and you can see where the problem is. So keeping focus on my breathing was never something that I was really, truly comfortable with.

I do the occasional focused meditation. If I have a lot of things running through my mind at the end of the day, I will do focused meditation in order to clear my mind. That is really the only kind of focused meditation that I do while in a meditation posture. The focus, though, is on my breathing when I do that kind of meditation. Or, it may be on visualizing a bird taking away my thoughts. It just depends on what I feel like at the time.

Life should be a habit of meditation. While working at the hospital, I would do a lot of walking meditation because I would put my focus on what I was doing, totally immersing myself in the action and connecting that action to the universe around me. This is not to say that I was not aware of what was going on around me. If a call light went on or I heard a person’s bed alarm go off, I was probably the first to realize what the sound was. My audible senses were peaked. So was my sense of smell and sight. I seemed to smell and see things that other people didn’t smell or see. I believe that is because, when you focus on the task at hand, you also are running your senses at a higher ability.

As for meditating in the morning, before dawn, I believe that the time for meditation is a very individual thing. I am more inspired in the evening. This is not to say that I don’t meditate in the morning. I was meditating in the morning when I was working in the evenings but I also meditated when I came home at midnight. Now, I sometimes can get in a meditation in the morning but I still do the majority of my meditation in the evening. I hope to eventually get back to meditating in both the morning and evening. This may mean that I will have to shorten both of them but that may not be a big thing.

Exercise – Chan Meditation

I have been doing a form of Chan meditation for several years without knowing it! Basically, I have been doing it when I am about to explode. It is very good for calming the nerves. I don’t do the counting because of the fact that I tend to perseverate on the counting. Just one of my weaknesses – I am like Count Dracula from Sesame Street – I LOVE counting. So I tend to get carried away and then I don’t concentrate on what I should be concentrating on – breath. Stop laughing!

I believe that the most important aspect of this meditation is the positioning of the tongue in the mouth. It definitely needs to be placed against the top of the mouth behind the teeth. In this manner, it does provide direction for the air flow. I often become mesmerized with the sensation of the tongue resting against my teeth. When this meditation is done properly, the tongue begins to tingling, just like your hands tingling during a good tai chi exercise or chi gong exercise. It really is an amazing sensation.

At any rate, I tried this at work right before I ate lunch for the last week and a half. Not everyday, though. Since I can’t really sit on the floor at work – I usually wear a skirt or a really good outfit – I sit in my chair with my legs in a comfortable position. Sometimes, if I have pants on, I can cross my legs but that doesn’t happen often. I found that this was a good pick-me-up as it supplied me with a bunch of energy and seemed to rejuvenate my mind. Still, I prefer not concentrating on anything in particular but I am learning through doing daily tai chi that breathing is one big way of building up chi. So I am going to try doing this meditation, paying attention to my breathing but don’t count on me counting because that is too distracting to me.

Meditation: Lesson 3- Exercise 4

Wow! I had to dig a little to find this posting but I have worked with mantras before and do mantras in the morning every day. You can find my posting on mantras at the following URL:

http://mysolitaryjedijourney.wordpress.com/old-writings/regarding-mantras/

At any rate, the two mantra vowels that I really have the most positive effects are ‘O’ and ‘E’. They just seem to connect me to the Force and open certain chakras.

On to the exercise at hand.

I tried all three of the suggested mantras. ‘Force’ just created a flat effect. It was like splatting something against the wall. One time with that was enough to tell me it was not for me. When I tried ‘Jedi’, for some reason, that just didn’t do anything for me. I did try it over and over for about fifteen minutes but it just didn’t assist in helping me connect to the Jedi lifestyle or the Force.

‘One’ seemed to be the only mantra of the three that did anything for me. It was similar to using ‘E’ or ‘O’, in that I could feel a few of the chakras opening, a deeper connection to the Force, and a tingling throughout my body. I also did it by vocalizing ‘One’ over and over, which, of course, meant that I was saying it on the exhale but it produced an even greater effect than just saying it in my mind. (I did vocalize the other two but that didn’t help.)

So, what should I say about this experience. I did the ‘One’ mantra, vocally, along with my other regular mantras. As a result, I did this particular mantra for the last two weeks. As with the other mantras, I had a difficult time focusing initially on the ‘One’ mantra. By the end of the first week, I had it down pat and was able to focus very easily.

I believe that the greatest effect that I got from the ‘One’ mantra is that it really did connect me to the Force as well as the other mantras that I am currently doing. I realize that this is because every mantra, when coupled with a particular thought, creates a different resonance within the individual. That resonance corresponds to a specific spiritual energy and state of being.

Spiritual energy can be used for cleansing and balancing. Since chakras are essentially pools of pranic energy or spiritual energy, it is not uncommon for mantras to resonate in a manner that will connect with and open chakras. Each mantra works in a different way because of the thought attached to it and the resonance created. The resonance will be different for each mantra so I am not surprised that the mantra ‘One’ was effective while the other two were not. I had the same results with my initial work with mantras and chose only those that were effective in working with chakras, connecting with the Force, or in doing what I wanted at that time.

Meditation: Lesson 2 – Exercise 3, Part 2

Day of Week	Comments on Meditation
Sunday	Well, this was an easy meditation for me tonight as I just assumed the meditation position, followed the guidelines for the exercise, and slipped right into a totally dull meditation where not one thing entered my mind. I actually made it into a 30 minute meditation because it was going so good, I thought why stop only to go into my regularly scheduled practice.
Monday	Even though thoughts of my new job floated through my head throughout the day, the only thing that kept cropping up in my head was about the insurance issue at work. I will have to change doctors and such because it would be too expensive to maintain my regular insurance plan. I quickly squashed that thought, though, and had a nice quiet, 25 minute go at meditating.
Tuesday	My wonderful day of no thoughts running through my mind continued throughout this meditation. I immediately slipped into a meditation that was well focused without a single extraneous thought popping in. Kind of boring, if you ask me, but still it was nice not to have things pull my focus off track.
Wednesday	This started as a fairly focused meditation but I lost it further on when I started dwelling on the fact that the maintenance people have not fixed the front door. The door does not meet flush with the frame and we are sucking in a lot of cold air. This means that the heat goes on quite a lot and my electricity bill will be high for the month. They assure me that the contractor will be out to look at the door but I will probably be getting a new door and frame because of the problem. I tried several times to get the thought out of my mind but the more it kept popping back in, the more teed off I got about the fact that it has already been a week since they looked at it and it still has not been fixed. So then I got the idea that I needed to call them in the morning and put pressure on them to get on it and get it fixed. Then I gave up on the meditation because I couldn’t settle down my anger. I did some weight lifting, hopped on the bike and rode for 20 minutes, came back and meditated with complete focus and not added thoughts.
Thursday	I almost fell asleep during this meditation because I was so tired and not a single thought popped into my head. Probably because I had already run through them during the day.
Friday	A nice clean, focused meditation interrupted by one thought – snow. Then I started with the list thing. This seems to be a favorite pastime in meditation. What things should I have gotten from the store? Too late. I am not going out at this time of night to buy a darn thing. No more thoughts about the list after that.
Saturday	For all the things that were running through my mind in regards to bills and budgeting, this really wasn’t too bad of a meditation. I was able to squash the on stray thought regarding money and focus entirely on my breathing. This was a really good session of meditating that lasted about 30 minutes.

Meditation: Lesson 2 – Exercise 3, Part 1

Day of Week	Thoughts I Perseverated Upon
Sunday	You can laugh if you want to but the only thing that I have been perseverating on is the fact that I have to log what I am perseverating on. I know that sounds kind of funny but, in general, I have been so busy today that I have not had the chance to let thoughts enter my mind outside of what pertains to what I am working on. Since what I have been working on is not all that complex, there are few, if any thoughts on that even. Pretty mundane stuff. That may change tomorrow when I have to attend orientation for my new job.
Monday	Okay, I started my new job today and dwelt upon whether I would make it to work on time. This is because the roads are variable in regards to traffic. Plus, one of the roadways is always afflicted with an accident or two. This means that I have a greater chance of not getting to work on time because I don’t know the roads around my new work area very well. I also have not figured out the GPS that my daughter has lent me. Once I got home from work, I didn’t have any thoughts run through my mind.
Tuesday	I didn’t dwell on anything today because I was too busy to do so. When I got home, I had paper work to do and things to look up that had to do with the retirement plan. Once that was done, I had nothing to do but watch television and read.
Wednesday	I woke up this morning and had visions of the stock market crashing in my head. This was because I chose a high risk investment for my retirement plan. As I showered, I mulled it over a bit and decided that I could take the risk because I can watch the stocks that the firm invests in and if they start to fail, I can change my choice of investment. I also was peeked to death because the insurance that I usually carry, Capital Blue Cross, will cost me an arm and two legs if I take it. So I will have to change insurance plans as well as doctor. I really like my doctor and hate the idea of changing to another doctor but I absolutely cannot afford Capital Blue Cross at my new place of employment. Realizing that this was really nothing I could do anything about, I eventually let it go.
Thursday	My son called early this morning, like around 1 AM, to tell me that he is at Fort Dix in New Jersey. He is hoping that they will get done with processing them in time for them to come home for the holiday. So now I have ideas of what I need to do in order to prepare for him coming home. In my mind, I am making lists of things to do – clean the back bedroom, get his car over to the house, clean up the kitchen, buy some chicken because that is all he eats, etc. I decided to crawl out of bed and write down the list because I would be awake all night if I didn’t. Once I got to bed, I then perseverated on whether I would get enough sleep to make it through a day of work. Somewhere there, I fell asleep. At work, I didn’t have anything going through my mind. Once I got home, I had a brief, five minute blurb of “Will I like this job” going through my mind but then nothing else for the rest of the day.
Friday	Not a thing went through my mind today. Probably because I was so busy at work and then so tired when I came home that I didn’t have time for things to go through my mind. What a nice day.
Saturday	Okay, although my new job pays well, I now have my student loan to start paying on. So this is what went through my mind all day long. Since I am going to set up a budget for next year and keep careful tabs on my money, I was perseverating on what I have to pay for and what I was making. I figured that this was okay, though, since it is something that I need to do in order to assure that I will have enough income to meet my needs. Then I started perseverating over whether I should move my car from the parking lot so they could plow. Noting that others didn’t move their cars, I decided not to but the thought kept popping back into my head from time to time. Then I was riddled with whether I should take the picture of the cats and hang it at work or should I take the Yoda picture with all the cool sayings and hang it at work. I was thinking that would be a fun thing to do but then realized that I need to be professional and that just wouldn’t be very professional. Then I realized that it was my birthday and I hadn’t even wished myself happy birthday. I usually go through all that I have accomplished in life so far on my birthday but decided not to do that, investing my time in cleaning house and making vegetarian chili. Otherwise, nothing else popped into my head.

Meditation: Exercises 1 and 2

Personal Reflection

What factors have led you towards meditation?

When I started meditation years ago, I did so in order to deal with depression and the inability to control my emotions – mainly anger. I have continued meditating because of the fact that it helps me connect with my inner self as well as nature and the Force.

What hopes and expectations do you have?

As I currently meditate, I don’t really have any hopes or expectations. I enter the meditative state with an empty cup, not looking for anything in particular and accepting what is revealed. Thus, I never contaminate my meditative experience by expectations and I am never disappointed in my meditation experiences.

Do you practice meditation currently, or have in the past? If so, how successful have you been?

I have been a practitioner of meditation for over 10 years. Over the last two or so years, I increased my meditation sessions to 45 minutes in the morning and evening. I find that when I meditate in the morning, I am left with an open mind and a more balanced emotional state. When I meditate in the evening, I can get to sleep a lot faster because my mind is clearer and more relaxed.

I feel that I am very successful with my meditation practice. I have gotten to the point where my mind is immediately cleared of any thoughts. When I went into meditation with intent, at the beginning of my learning about meditation, I found that it was too difficult to clear my mind of thoughts. Now I just slip into a meditative state and I am immediately at the point where my mind is clear and I am relaxed. Within seconds I am seeing purple ‘blobs’ that float around. I was once told to go beyond the purple ‘blobs’ but Sensei Andy told me not to do so, that I was where I should be. So, I would say that my practice is very successful.

One of the most interesting things is that my days are often marked by periods of meditation beyond the two sessions that I do. Meditation is the full focus of the mind upon activity. I often achieve this when I am working on something that needs to be done. I also find myself doing walking meditation, whereby my focus is solely on the form of walking.

Exercise 1 – Breathing

This exercise was relatively easy for me. I took several courses in music/opera in college where I learned to breath from the abdomen. For the most part, I breath from my abdomen pretty much most of the time. Only when I am having problems with asthma do I breath from the chest area. Then my breathing is shallow and a bit more rapid.

I have never done this exercise before or anything similar to it. While lying on my back, it was easy for me to notice how much I do belly breath. Even prior to putting my hands over my umbilicus, I noticed that I was already belly breathing. I warmed my hands and noticed that I did breath even more deeply when I placed my hands over my belly.

Since my belly is always soft, I didn’t need to soften it but did warm my hands and check to see how soft it was. I really need to do some sit-ups as it really is ridiculous how soft my belly has gotten. My belly was warm at that time and I didn’t really appreciate any more warmth after warming my hands for the third time.

Even as I sit here typing this, the computer, which is on my lap, is going up and down because I belly breath most of the time without even thinking about it. It is funny, though, because I wouldn’t have thought about it unless I had done this exercise.

Exercise 2 – Five Minute Meditation

It is 1600 on Saturday, November 5, 2009. I meditated for five minutes, attempting to concentrate on my breathing. This was a bit difficult because I am used to doing meditation without any intent or purpose. While concentrating on my breathing, I had things running through my mind. Some of those things included how I would write the meditation up, how much money I should send to my sister who is in financial straits, what should I eat this evening, why does the cat have to be like a child whose the mother is on the phone – bugging her when they were just playing by themselves, and things like that. Only when I quit concentrating on my breathing and just let my mind empty did the stupid thoughts stop. It was very irritating because it is something that I used to have to deal with, a long time ago, and have not had to deal with in the last two years because of the way I practice.

At any rate, I use a pillow under my butt and put my feet together with my legs in a triangle or diamond, depending on how my joints feel, in front of me. This is because of my sacral-iliac joint problem. I hold my hands on my knees with my index finger and thumb touching to form an ‘O’. I meditate with my eyes closed.

I often have tingling in my hands, lower arms, lower legs, and feet when I meditate. Sometimes I will have tingling in my face as well. It really depends on how long I meditate because, the longer I meditate, the more energy I draw in. Today, I could feel my fingers and hands tingling just in that five minutes of meditating.

I will be posting my regular meditation in my meditation  journal at IJRS and the exercises from the lessons here.