With the encouragement of the book "A New Earth: Awaken to your life's Purpose," I've been concentrating more on the present moment. The key seems to be starting my day with meditation, however I am so lazy when it comes down to it or maybe it's my ego derailing me. Admittedly, a few weeks ago I fell off the wagon. But in the middle of last week I began waking up and immediately going to my meditation mat, even for three minutes. It seems to help my day go more smoothly and picks me up out of the doldrums.
I found a simple meditation for expectant mamas.
Bring your right hand to your heart and the left to your baby. Inhale and focus on your love and absorb the feelings in your heart. Exhale and focus it towards your growing baby. Continue this conscious breathing and focus for five to 10 minutes.
"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest." ~ William Blake Gratitude is the key to prosperity and abundance so I dedicate every Thursday to what I'm grateful for this week. I'm thankful for:
Hubby figuring out how to program the garage door openers so we may park in the garage - yippee!
Baby's head being down and in the right position for labor.
A WONDERFUL baby shower with family and friends this past weekend who were more generous than I deserve. I feel so loved and blessed.
My friend Vicki for giving me Nag Champa incense to try.
My dad telling me I'm a good writer (probably for the millionth time but I always enjoy hearing it from such a talented writer)!
Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's online classes, especially this week's episode about the pain body - check out "A New Earth" if you haven't already. It will change your life.
My yoga students reading my blog! Make sure to "comment" so I know you stopped by!
Having friends who love food just as much as me (That's you Maria!).
Tomorrow being Friday and having Royals tickets for me and the hub to enjoy.
The weekend being empty and open to vegging.
I have to add one more - when I arrived home last night I received the curtains for the babies room from my sister-in-law in Virginia. I put them right up - they look soooooooo cute!
Make sure to give thanks today and every day - it will pay in dividends!
"There is no fear of the cycle of birth, life and death for when you stand in the present moment, you are timeless." ~Rodney Yee, YJ's Yoga for Relaxation and Meditation dvd
Armed with two bags full to the brim with at least twenty pounds of books, I ventured to our local-used bookstore. And yes, probably not smart of me to carry so much weight since I'm almost eight months pregnant, but I'm nesting and need to make room for baby! This must have been the first time I actually sold books at this particular store because they totally jipped me.
"Your total trade in is $7.50," said the store employee.
"Uh, so what books aren't you taking?" I inquired.
"That's for all books..." he replied. In my mind I wanted to FREAK out about how they were taking advantage of the process, but then I reminded myself of the heaviness of the books and lugging them into and out of my car. Not to mention how much room getting rid of them would save. After taking a deep inhale, I said, "Thank you" and took my pathetic amount of cash where I spent it times four in the store. BASTARDS! I need to open my own used bookstore, man!
Enough of my self pity, however notice how I practiced presence (kind of) and didn't allow my pain body to show up (if you're reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth you'll know what I mean). Let's return to the quote at the top, which I heard in one of my purchases at the used bookstore - yoga dvd "Yoga for Meditation" with Rodney Yee. Even before I began reading A New Earth, I wanted to dive deeper into the seventh limb of yoga, meditation or dhyana. But due to the words in Tolle's book, I am convinced of its power. Here's a quote from A New Earth that really conveys the potential behind being present/meditation:
'"Be aware of your breathing as often as you are able, whenever you remember. Do that for one year, and it will be more powerfully transformative than attending all of these courses. And it's free."' ~ Eckhart Tolle
To make meditation a daily habit (now doing three to five times per week), I'm exploring various ways to instill the practice into my life. This morning I watched Yee's "Yoga for Meditation" and am a bit disappointed it doesn't allow to skip through the various yoga and seated practices Yee includes to get to the specific parts you want. However, if you are just beginning meditation and want to try different seated positions and are looking for a very easy-going yoga practice prior to the meditation, it's a good start.
After practicing the first segment "Mountain" and viewing a few of Yee's seated postures, I ended the practice with "Wind" and "Sky." At the very end, he said the quote above, and it really struck me because the last few days I've begun FREAKING out that I'm not prepared for our upcoming arrival in late spring. Up until a few days ago, I think (maybe that's the operative word) I was doing relatively well staying present and stress free about the whole thing. Yet now it's two months away (or less!), and I'm starting to feel very worried about finding daycare, finding a new car so I won't wrench my back from putting the baby in its car seat within my two-door vehicle, etc.
But what's worry going to do? Both Yee and Tolle reminded me there's nothing to fear, even childbirth, if I remain present ... life will continue to be. Not that I should neglect finding a new car (hopefully not a minivan!) or a daycare or whatever need there is. However, I need to return back to the now with the aid of my breath and focus on what can be done now versus focusing on what I didn't do in the past or about what possibly can't be done in the future. That will get me nowhere but into a negative space.
So take a deep inhale with me in this present moment - "All is well." ~ Louise L. Hay
Below is a brief video (not the same as the dvd mentioned above) with Yee on meditation.
As I posted the other day, I'm reading "A New Earth: Awakening to your life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle. I'm about halfway through the book - every time I open it, I am more impressed and in awe of what I'm learning. Thank you so much Oprah for opening the world's eyes to this powerful novel.
On page 159 in chapter five, I found this statement:
"Spiritual practices that involve the physical body, such as t'ai chi, qigong, and yoga are also increasingly being embraced in the Western world. These practices do not create a separation between body and spirit and are helpful in weakening the pain-body. They will play an important role in the global awakening."
Not that I need validation in writing for myself because I've experienced the power of yoga firsthand: it helped me out of depression, out of chronic pain and back into living. However, it feels so wonderful to see this statement in such a widely read book - over 700,000 people world wide participated in Oprah's first online class on March 3 to discuss the book with Oprah and its author. If you haven't heard about this huge opportunity, go to www.oprah.com to learn more.
When people ask me why I practice, I say this: "Practicing yoga is my daily prescription for living my best life."
If you have a full medicine cabinet or just need a new direction in your life, I highly suggest trying yoga. It may not resonate the first time you do it or even the tenth, and you don't have to invest a whole hour or 90 minutes. Just try five or 10 minutes. It's more about quantity versus quality; the more frequently you do it, the more you will feel and see its affects on you mentally, spiritually and physically. Trust me, I wasn't a believer myself when I first tried it out, but when I truly needed it, it was and is my salvation.
Along with the rest of the world, I'm reading "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" to take Oprah's online course with author Eckhart Tolle exploring its meaning. The hubby and I tried to watch the first live webcast this Monday, but due to so many viewers (over 500,000!), our Internet connection kept stalling. It didn't surprise me since I work closely with the webcast group in my corporate day job and know the technology can get overloaded with far fewer numbers. I still give credit to Oprah for being a pioneer and for being smart by offering a web and audio replay (I still need to watch the rest of Monday's!).
A few friends at work are also reading the book; one of them said it wasn't clicking with her. A few years ago, I tried to read Tolle's first book "The Power of Now," but it didn't resonate with me and I quit it after a few chapters. At the time, I was practicing the physical postures of yoga but wasn't really into the spiritual side of it yet. Now my practice has deepened where I've begun to study Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and other spiritual yogic texts. After only reading the first two chapters of "A New Earth," I already see a lot of similarities between the novel and yoga. In fact, I just read a blog post expressing the same parallel on The Everything Yoga Blog.
Take advantage of the opportunity to read "A New Earth" while benefiting from the input of the author and Oprah for 10 weeks. Tell me if you're reading it too and how it's going for you.
