All Eight Limbs
#HowIMeditate Part 2: Five Steps to Easier Meditation.
There is a lot of confusion, frustration, and misinformation around meditation. Perhaps the word itself needs re-defining. In most yoga circles you’ll more often hear it said that one has done their “siting practice”. It’s fair to say we’ve sat still for a length of time. What happens inside that stillness, only the practitioner knows for sure. I promise you, more often than not, it’s a louder internal landscape then you think, especially if one is just beginning.
Here are five steps for getting started:
1. Create a Sacred Space. This is a lot easier than it sounds. In my house it is literally a corner. The idea is that when you adorn a space and only use it for a specific function, that area takes on a new energy. (Think church.) Even if the energy were to remain the same, your brain associates that space with its single function (in this case meditation) and you’ll settle into that function more easily then you would in a different space.
2. Make Time. Set a specific time aside each day for your sitting practice. I recommend morning since as the day goes by, more and more things can get in the way. Also, the mind is quieter in the early hours. By coming to your space the same time each day it becomes a habit that you are unlikely to break. By scheduling in your meditation time you never have to “find time”. It’s already been made.
3. Be Still. Most teachers recommend that the spine be in alignment for meditation. If possible you’ll be sitting with a tall straight back, and the legs in a cross-legged position (ultimately padmasana). Some students who can’t sit up comfortably for long periods of time will sit against a wall or lay down on the ground. The most important thing is to be still. Once you find your position, try not to adjust or move in any way. Meditation is an attempt to move beyond the body so activating the muscles is out of alignment with your purpose. Most of the time, if you let the impulse to move pass, it will dissipate.
4. Just Watch. To meditate you will have chosen or been given an object of meditation which could be your breath or a mantra. (See my previous blog.) You will be telling your mind again and again to focus on that object only, but your mind will have other thoughts. This is normal. Keep working to make yourself aware as soon as the mind leaves the object of meditation and bring it back. Do this act without judgement. Simply observe the process. Ultimately you are the object of meditation, so by observing the way the mind moves, you are doing the work.
5. Get a Physical Yoga Practice. As mentioned, the upright spine position is optimal for meditation practice. Still sitting in this position for a long time is very difficult unless there is asana in your life. The physical practice helps you develop an easy seat and also does a lot of the pre-meditation work, cleaning and calming the mind. How long should you sit? The current experts say 20 minutes, but that’s really just for entering a space of meditation. For being in and deepening that space one needs closer to an hour. Sounds long, right? Even 20 minutes is very difficult at first. Start with 5 minutes daily and slowly increase minute by minute as the practice becomes consistent in your life. You’ll be at an hour in no time and craving more! Once you find the peace of meditation, staying in isn’t the problem, it’s coming out!
Three and a Half Acres Expands Services
Julia Knight, Area Manager, Independent Consultant with Arbonne International, visited our Three and a Half Acres young adults at Harlem United H.O.M.E. center last Tuesday to teach them about nutrition, skin care, and cleansing. The talk began with the passing around of one of her products, a Vegan, Chocolate Protein Shake made of yellow pea protein, brown rice, and cranberry. This tasty drink is Kosher Certified, gluten-free, and contains no whey or soy. Hearing it was healthy had some of our students skeptical at first, but soon everyone was asking for samples as each saw his friend raving over how good it was.
As the questions rolled in, Julia shared some simple health facts to help guide the young people in making informed choices. Here are some that really stood out:
- Diet Soda contains aspartame a chemical linked to a long list of diseases including Parkinson’s and Diabetes.
- Processed foods that a marketed as healthy can be misleading. Eating whole foods and fresh fruits and vegetables every 3 hours is better for our energy. Healthy fats like avocado and olive oil aid the body.
- We are not what we eat but what we absorb so having Pre/ Pro Biotics helps our body get the most from our food and create a healthy gut. Having more fiber in our diet aids the body in removing toxins and makes us feel more full. When we remove toxins we reduce inflammation and improve our health.
- For optimal health for skin, brain function and digestion, once should drink plenty of water. Julia recommended that we drink 1/2 our body weight in ounces. IE: if you weigh 150 you drink 75 ounces of water. In addition, to add another 8 oz of water if you have a cup of coffee or glass of alcohol.
In regards to skin, Julia spoke of her own personal history with Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The inspiration she received from her dancing daughter while she lay in bed recovering from her Melanoma Surgery birthed the poetry for a film installation called SKIN, a meditation. The beauty of being “in our skin” and appreciating others SKIN, and having the freedom to authentically express ourselves was a theme of Julia’s; woven into her sharing on health and product choices.
Here are the skin facts she shared:
- 0ur skin is our largest organ, and products we apply to our skin bypasses filtering organs of liver and kidneys. It is our most effective delivery system. Julia spoke of the animal rendering found in over the counter products and its toxicity, pointing out that what we put on our skin goes into our organs in just 26 seconds.
- Mineral oil is found in 98% of all body care products and make-up in the US. There are over 100 names for mineral oil. It is a cheap filler made from the distillation process of gasoline. Using products with mineral oil actually prematurely ages and dehydrates the skin…second only to the sun. Using essential oils and plant based, vegan products are better for caring for the skin. Mineral oil is even found in pop-tarts and Cheetos!
- Parabens, are linked to causing breast cancer. These are used to extend the life of a product sold off a shelf. 5-10 years. Chemical fragrance and Phthalates are also found in many products to cover up the smell of animal rendering. A 3 Billion dollar industry.
The class ended with another sampling, this time a hand lotion made from the FC5 line, with Strawberry, Kiwi, Mango Carrot and Pumpkin extracts. She left each one of the participants with Skin Care samples from the Calm Line, the Re9 Men’s Skin Care line and the FC5 line to take home, hand outs on the Arbonne Business and an Article that covered 7 steps to being a love activist by Alice Walker.
Julia is an Area Manager, Independent Consultant with Arbonne International. www.juliaknight.arbonne.com She is a Co-Creator and Producer of SKIN, a Meditation. With Creative Partner, Valerie Barnes, and Sound and Set Designer,Timothy Cramer, and Contributing Artist, Photographer, Kimia Rahgozar. www.eyelovemyskin.com She is an actress and has performed on Stage Film and TV. SAG-AFTRA Member. She has a BFA in drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She lives in Harlem with her family, and loves being a part of the Land Yoga Community.
Her offering is a part of our newest commitment at Three and a Half Acres Yoga to offer a holistic health workshop once a month to our students at the H.O.M.E. center, in addition to our twice weekly yoga, meditation, and mindfulness programming. If you have an offering and would like to volunteer, please contact us at jessica@threeandahalfacres.org. If you like the work we are doing and would like to help it be sustained and continue to grow, please consider joining us March 15th for our annual benefit or making any sized contribution here. If you like stories like this one and to keep informed of all we are accomplishing at Three and a Half Acres please join our new mailing list here. Certain opportunities and information will be given only to those who opt in, so we hope you do!
Why aren’t I positive? Why it’s ok to feel your feelings.
If you look at the images of yogis strewn across the Internet, you’d have to believe that all yoga practitioners are continuously and exceptionally happy. In fact, it may have been one of the reasons you’ve decided to take up yoga yourself. Yoga has been marketed as a positivity pill and that promise of unbreakable cheer has attracted many to it. The downfall has been an increasingly dangerous pressure on yogis and yoga teachers to cleave to a facade of positivity no matter what the situation. This skin deep display keeps us from experiencing and expressing our real truths that are much more healing and helpful to society than going around simulating bliss.
See the rest of this Huffington Post article HERE.
Books
-
TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA
$29.95
-
BLISS BOOK
Original price was: $39.99.$19.99Current price is: $19.99.
Podcast
