Props and Tools

Today is day 7 of the Chopra meditation challange. I am very lucky to have gleaned some small shiny pebbles of insight into my practice during the past week. I found that just as yoga props are so helpful, so too are "meditation props". When I meditate, there are two props that help heighten my experience: earplugs, and a fan. The earplugs are not to drown out noise. I use them because I found that when I do, it makes my breath so much louder in my head, making it much easier to stay focused on my breath while reaching for stillness. I can easily hear each breath resonnate inside my entire head. Its really great, its like listening to silence. And the fan, its not for temperature control. I use the fan on the lowest speed, just a breeze gently grazing my skin. This creates a nice technique for bringing myself back to the moment when I catch myself daydreaming. I focus on the feeling of the breeze on my skin, and it brings me right back to the moment. These two props, or tools, take me into my practice rather than me just going through the motions. Its deeply touching to experience an opening in meditation, just as with yoga. For me, I glimpse stillness between the breaths, and I can feel my mind lift like it was filled with helium. It gives me that feeling I had as a kid when I first rode my bike with no hands, and I think, "wow, I'm doing it!"

21 Days of Bliss!

I am very happy to say that yesterday I started the Chopra Center 21 day summer meditation challange! I tried the same challange in the spring, but a glitch with my computer prevented me from completeling that round, so I am very happy to give it another go. This time I have my trusty Nook to get me through so I'm not anticipating any problems. The challenge consists of an email sent to you everyday for 21 days that has a link to a wonderful guided meditation session. Each session is progressive, ands builds off the insights from the previuos day. It is a wonderful retreat for the mind. The summer challeng is timed purfectly with my renewed investment in my yoga practice. My blog titlr, Yoga Me! is a play off the "super size me!" experiment. The ironic thing is that although my yoga practice will not transform me to a glowing with health yoga master in 30 days, it has become very clear to me that the benefits of yoga are clearly sseen and felt in less than 30 days. Let me assure you, at no point can I wedge my feet behind my ears, or anything extreme, but what I do notice are little things, like reaching top shelves with ease, and incredibly new flexibility I've never had. For a woman of 50, who has been obese and out of shape since childhood, thats just as miraculous !