A meditation a day ..

Deep breathing is one of the most effective ways to start meditating and can be performed anywhere.

Step 1

Sit down in a chair or on the floor on a folded blanket or cushion. Keep your back straight but still comfortable from the base of your spine to your neck. This creates a straight path for energy to flow up your spine.

Step 2

Place your hands on your thighs with your palms face up or down. Rest your feet flat on the floor if you are sitting in a chair. Cross your ankles or legs if you are seated on the floor.

Step 3

Close your eyes.

Step 4

Breathe normally in and out through your nose for about one minute, observing your breath without judgment. Close your mouth and relax your facial muscles.

Step 5

Allow your breath to slowly deepen as you inhale and fully inflate your lungs, counting silently to four. Feel your ribcage expand forward and to the sides as you breathe in.

Step 6

Exhale to a slow count of four as you pull your navel point toward your spine. Make your in-breath and out-breath the same length. If thoughts or emotions arise, let them go and bring your attention back to your breath.

Step 7

Continue deep breathing meditation for three to five minutes or for as long as you can sit comfortably with a calm, steady breath.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3eRFNihoZo

Things are as they are - we suffer because we imagined different.


- Rachel Wolchin

Reflection

We often hear that we must learn to accept things; that otherwise we suffer. And in a way it is true - when we don’t accept a situation, we suffer it. But does that mean we can never change things, and should just passively accept all things as they are, because “all is cool"?
No. Acceptance is not passivity. It is not meekness. Acceptance simply means that your mind is larger than that situation - and this is actually a position of power and centeredness.
Acceptance means that in your heart you are able to hold the knowledge of what is happening without contracting. That is the key. That contraction is suffering - but acceptance invites you to relax in the knowledge of what is.

From that point onward, you have two choices:

(a) Do something to change it;
(b) Leave this situation to follow it’s own course.
Knowing what to choose, here, is a mater of wisdom. Acceptance doesn’t stop you from acting and transforming reality around you. It just stops you from suffering it. It stops the emotional upset.

Exercise
What is something that right now you are struggling to accept in your life? Observe how your body and mind feel when you think about that situation, person or idea.
Now consciously relax. Let go of the contraction in your heart. You may think you can’t do it - but if you just close your eyes and tell yourself “it’s ok, let go…”, you will see you can do it.
From this more composed space, see and understand how you can experience this situation again, without suffering. This option is always available there for you, anytime, anywhere.


Source : Giovanni Dienstmann www.liveanddare.com

MartaLina wrote: We often hear that we must learn to accept things; that otherwise we suffer. And in a way it is true - when we don’t accept a situation, we suffer it. But does that mean we can never change things, and should just passively accept all things as they are, because “all is cool"?
No. Acceptance is not passivity.

I completely agree - the idea of acceptance, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't pertain to situations where you are in control and can make a positive change. By all means: change what you can and what's worth changing. But accept what you can't change - beating yourself up about things that you can't influence leads to suffering.

Cyan Sarden wrote:

MartaLina wrote: We often hear that we must learn to accept things; that otherwise we suffer. And in a way it is true - when we don’t accept a situation, we suffer it. But does that mean we can never change things, and should just passively accept all things as they are, because “all is cool"?
No. Acceptance is not passivity.

I completely agree - the idea of acceptance, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't pertain to situations where you are in control and can make a positive change. By all means: change what you can and what's worth changing. But accept what you can't change - beating yourself up about things that you can't influence leads to suffering.

Accepting is a Verb

yes!

A completely different meditation , i love how the word meditation stands for thinking of nothing and overthining and musing lol

Descartes

http://selfpace.uconn.edu/class/percep/DescartesMeditations.pdf

Dropping the object and simply be and desolve the object , an emptyness meditation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_nU0iEDQhs

My meditation today is that awareness is like a patch of grass, each blade an iteration of self. The 'ocean of calamity calm' being the plane of the tips of each blade for each blade is either standing upright at some level of momentum and connection upwards, or leaning over into the middle in a rested low energy phase. As environment reflects onto the grass the more successful blades grow roots out which propagate throughout the physical body in preparation for action, until the resultant conduct manifests as a single flower... before it itself becoming the path for new grass to emerge, and repeat. I guess its just a visualization of the decision making process which might represent some basis for awareness, as we are all a bit opinionated even if we choose to keep it to ourselves

Adder wrote: My meditation today is that awareness is like a patch of grass, each blade an iteration of self. The 'ocean of calamity calm' being the plane of the tips of each blade for each blade is either standing upright at some level of momentum and connection upwards, or leaning over into the middle in a rested low energy phase. As environment reflects onto the grass the more successful blades grow roots out which propagate throughout the physical body in preparation for action, until the resultant conduct manifests as a single flower... before it itself becoming the path for new grass to emerge, and repeat. I guess its just a visualization of the decision making process which might represent some basis for awareness, as we are all a bit opinionated even if we choose to keep it to ourselves

That is awesome Adder

Here is a nice tune to go with that

https://soundcloud.com/nikita-romashko/2814-6

The sages regard as wise he who never has any anxiety for the fruits of his actions.
- The Bhagavad Gita


Reflection

We usually take action because we desire the fruits of it. The result. We are motivated by the goal, and what it will bring us.

What’s the problem with that? When we are fully focused on the goal, our actions are often ridden by ego. There is an underlying anxiety about the future. And a sense of restlessness and haste in the process. Our actions are feeding our desires; and if they are not met to the level of our expectations, there is suffering, frustration, disappointment.
Another way of acting is by fully focusing on the task itself. The process. Because if you are walking on the right direction, then there is reward and fulfilment in the path itself. You are not egotistical about the end goal, nor anxious about the result. You are simply doing your thing, like the calligraphy master in the picture above (from Hero). You are in the zone, in flow.

Letting go of our attachments to the fruit of our actions allow our attention to fall back into the present moment. Into the next step. And if we take care of each step, moment after moment, then we have already arrived.

Exercise

What are the areas in your life where you are too much focused on the end-result, and not on the process? If you can’t find enjoyment and meaning in the path itself, is it possible that this path is not for you?



Giovanni Dienstmann
http://liveanddare.com