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.

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!

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’.

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.

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.

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.

Day of Week

Comments on Meditation

Day of Week

Thoughts I Perseverated Upon

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.