|
Thoughts on Meditation and the Principles and on finding my wayI've been meditating almost all my life, but I still run into all the standard obstacles. First and foremost, there is finding the self discipline to actually sit down and get to it. But there are also the others, wandering mind, critical mind, lack of faith that it's worth the effort, etc. Since I began to practice yoga with the five principles, I use those principles as a template to help me understand and remedy the various struggles I come upon in my life, and these obstacles to meditation are no different. I ask myself, what am I missing here? Where is my action out of balance? With my meditation practice, it's often the second principle I look to, the principle of drawing in. This applies both to the discipline required to sit down and do the practice, and also the ability to focus once I've gotten there. Maybe one is hugging the mid line, and the other is the focal point. I think it changes, pulses. Other times it is faith I am struggling with. The courage to stop trying so hard, or planning so much. To let go of expecting things to be a certain way, like they were the last time I meditated, and just be with what is. This, I think, is opening to grace. Even meditation is a pulsation between things that contract and things that expand. In fact, a treasured aspect of my meditation experience is the clear and deep awareness of that pulsation. Perhaps the specific technique we use to meditate is what constitutes the third and fourth principles. Or maybe they are simply what they are in the pose practice, physical actions of the body that we use to create good alignment in our meditation posture. The fifth principle would be taking the bounty of the practice out into my daily life. Just as it is on the yoga mat, this is the hardest part in meditation. To learn more about the Universal Principles of Alignment™ of Anusara Yoga®, take a class with a local teacher who has studied and committed to the method. take a class with me,
or
find another teacher in Portland, Oregon
back to meditation techniques
|
