Meditation Experience

Meditation is something that I have explored at various points in my life with varying degrees of success. Right now I am working with a private practitioner (I didn't even know it was possible before I started) - she's an amazing woman trained in Ayurveda, yoga, Tibetan Buddhism and many other sciences, modalities and methods of thought. The experiences have been excellent so far - she does some hands on work to help flow energy through the channels in my body while I am focusing on my breathing - the sessions we have together tend to be far deeper and much more intense than when I practice at home.

One of my goals right now is to begin to do a yoga session (short is ok - mainly because throughout my life I have set up very 'BIG' ideas of exercise goals and within a few days fail to maintain it), followed by a 15-20 minute meditation session. My commitment for the yoga portion is to do at least 5 minutes of whatever feels right for the day.

So, today was very successful - I did a few postures (tree, warrior, downward facing dog and a few others) holding for a little longer than was 'easy', then laid down and set myself up for the meditation. I did about 15 minutes when my cellphone rang in the other room and basically completely distracted me (it was a wrong number too...go figure).

What I noticed in the meditation today was that very quickly my ears started to feel a bit tingly - which happens to me when I start to become relaxed and focused. It spread pretty quickly to my upper and lower lips, my arms, then legs. I felt very good staying there and noticing my breathing and how my body felt. At one point I realized my mind was wandering onto specific subjects and I found myself being a little hard on myself about not being able to 'suspend' thought or stop it - it was a few seconds before I remembered that, for the most part, meditation is not about stopping thought - it's about releasing thought. Our minds are built to think, it's what they do. Meditation is to help us become free of attachment to those thoughts - become the 'witness' as they say in many traditions.

A wonderful start to an amazing day!
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