Grateful to Have NOT Caught on Fire Today

Life gratitude: Today I went the entire day without catching on fire.

I am experiencing utter elation! It’s a peculiar sensation to be so happy about not catching myself or something on fire. Not that I am a pyro or anything, just that I usually go every day WITHOUT being grateful for NOT catching things on fire…

I came home from some “office work” feeling rather disheveled mentally. I was trying to heat up  food before leaving to take a Relax Deeply yoga class, when what do I do but run out of time for the food BUT forget to turn off the oven. I drive to the studio, do an hour and a half class, and drive home, when suddenly at the last few blocks I remember…

DANG!!! I LEFT THE OVEN ON!!! TWO HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES!

Does anything cook that long without catching the house on fire?!?!? In between prayers and driving just up to the upper speed limit I start having flash backs…

As a youth I was an accomplished fire starter. There was catching my dad’s business on fire by trying to broil bologna. Catching my dad’s business on fire by trying to boil water. Knocking over the candles I had placed on my bed. Trying to light a candle and instead lighting my thumb. My cat following my fire example and pulling the light fixture off the wall and into a box of combustible items…. But wait!

What about turkey?

Turkey cooks for a good 5 hours or more, right? Why can’t other food, vegetables and pasta maybe, why can’t that cook 5 plus hours?!? If my calculations are correct I may have another two hours and fifteen minutes of cooking time left to go.

Finally arriving home I race up the stairs looking for the familiar flames, fire engines, smoke and smoke smell, still praying with all my faith. And SURE ENOUGH…

(To be continued…)

Everything is Yoga

Everything is everything.

Everything is yoga.

Today I took my imperfect yoga practice off the mat and into my street wardrobe. I went the entire day (unknowingly) wearing sunglasses with a price tag sticker still on the side band AND a little SUV rating sticker on one of the glasses. That’s pretty bad! Or good I guess, depending on how you look at it, lol. Well, what can you do but laugh, right?

Sometimes you will find this same type of imperfection happening in your yoga poses. Whether it is an inability to defy gravity as you float from Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand)  into Chataranga (the bent armed plank pose), or a tight calf muscle in your Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog). Whatever the “imperfection” notice it with loving kindness and keep going. Eventually, all of these things will pass. You will be left with what is most important – the love and kindness you have grown on the inside.

 

EXERCISE:

Sit in a comfortable position for meditation. Take a moment to think of something you did recently that was embarrassing or imperfect. Close your eyes and visualize, imagine, or pretend an image of yourself doing that less than perfect thing just in front of you as if there was a TV screen or hologram a few feet away from you. With each inhale imagine breathing in the pain or embarrassment or hurt from that other you. With each exhale imagine sending back love to that image of yourself. Keep with it. You might start adding a mantra like, “I love you. I love you.” Eventually, imagine any hurt being breathed away and just breathing love and acceptance to yourself. If there is still some hurt or embarrassment left that is OK too, but just keep sending the love.

When you are ready to end your meditation gently blink open your eyes keeping the loving feeling inside. As you go through the rest of your day periodically send that love and acceptance back to yourself with a breath or two.

 

Wisdom tells me I am nothing.
Love tells me I am everything.
Between the two my life flows.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

Monkeys Gone Wild – How to Tame the Beasts of the Mind

I just finished the most monkeyest-mindiest meditation ever. “Monkey mind” is a term used to describe a restless mind that is jumping from one thought to another, just like a hyper-active monkey swinging from tree to tree. 

Today 100 or more monkeys swung by and tried to hang out in my meditation. They were trying to help, telling me things like 1) what I need to do today, 2) what I need to do this month, 3) things that happened in the past, and even 4) the horrible, gruesome news story my co-worker told me today and that I wished she had not. All of this and more.

Sometimes meditations are like this. At other times, there are no monkeys and sitting for 30 minutes feels like 3.

Weirdly, after all of the monkeys, I felt calm afterwards and still have this good, tingly-brain feeling. I can’t get over the number though. I’ve never seen that many before – definitely a Monkey Extravaganza!

 

EXERCISE – COUNTING BREATH:

If you are doing a meditation and having a Monkey Extravaganza try adding a counting breath.  There are lots of counting related meditations, but this one is easy, forgiving, and soothing.

Sit down in your desired meditation position. Close your eyes and start taking some deep breaths. Add a steady count with your inhale and exhale. In other words, as you breathe in count, “One, two, three, four…” Exhale and count, “One, two, three, four…” Try to keep the inhale and exhale even so they both last the same amount of time and extend with the count. You don’t have to count to 4. You can pick any number that works for you – 5, 8, any number you can match with your breath.

Keep the count going during your entire meditation. When you are finished, gently blink open your eyes and keep the relaxed feeling with you as you go about your day.