Of the practices we experienced in this course, I like the visualizations especially "Meeting Aesclepius" and the "Loving Kindness" meditation. I have been working on doing a shorter, 10 minute meditation in the early morning to start my day feeling grounded and in control of my thoughts and choices. I like ending my evening with "Meeting Aesclepius" or another meditation that puts me in a relaxed state before I go to sleep. My plan is to continue with this schedule, which has not been perfect yet, until it becomes a natural daily process. My goal is to get to a point where I can do this without a guide and visualize or meditate on my own with the music in the background.
Hi Lynne,
ReplyDeleteSince I teach meditation, I figured I would give you a good way to start doing self-guided meditation with visualization.
Use your meditation spot and put on your peaceful music...but put a photo in front of you of something simple and nice...like a flower. Focus on a detail of the flower, then close your eyes and see that in your mind's eye. See the details and the beauty. pen your eyes slowly and see another detail...close your eyes and see the detail again in your mind's eye. Repeat this process and do the whole visualization for about 5 minutes. After time, you will need to open your eyes less times. After more time, no photo is needed.
As you progress in the future, you can use a photo of scenery or a location and start adding experiences into your visualization!
Hope this helps!
Liam
Hi Liam,
DeleteThank you so much for the advice! I have found I do better with the scenery when I have the appropriate music in the background, like visualizing the beach with the sounds of the waves, or woods with the sounds of birds. I like the flower idea as it will help me focus more on one thing and hopefully keep my mind from wondering... Thanks again for your help.
Lynne
Hey Ann,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog about your goal. I start my day with loving kindness meditation as well but I just do it for five minutes. I have been having a back issues because of stress and standing all day during surgery so I started doing yoga before I go to bed for ten minutes and Its helping me. I don't have to wake up middle of the night because of pain. I hate taking medications so meditation is the best solution for my health so far. lol
good luck:)
stuti
Hi Lynne,
ReplyDeleteI had enjoyed those 2 meditations the most, too. I think it's a great goal to be able to practice these exercises from memory. I am trying to work out a good routine for these in my days, as well. As you mentioned, these help you get in touch with your inner self. My main goal is to eliminate stress, and to improve my reactions to stressful situations. Meditating helps me to cope better, which improves our well-being on all levels.
- Laurie
Hi Laurie,
DeleteI'm glad you've been finding the mediation helpful in coping too. It is amazing how it helps to keep a calmer outlook when faced with different situations, big or small... Have a great week.
Lynne
Hi Lynn
ReplyDeleteI really could not wrap my head around the Meeting Aesclepius meditation, however the loving kindness exercise was especially moving for me i also liked the mindfulness practice. i think that it is really great that you were able to take so much from these exercises as some of us were not so fortunate an needed to work a lot harder to find the meaning behind them great job thanks as always for the insight and good luck on your journey in the future thanks Jess
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteIt may have come a little easier to me because I started doing guided meditation a little more regularly a few months ago, but still have a long way to go with it. Hopefully you can keep at it and find one or two exercises that work well for you. I like the visualizations from our "Stress Management" class last term.
I actually started learning with Deepak Chopra's 21-Day free meditation series close to a year ago. He is great at explaining it and they are short meditations. Good for learning if you decide you want to explore it further and try something else. All the best with your finals this week.
Lynne
I really enjoyed your post I have really gained success from using the mediation practices it has allowed me to become much more alert and focused. great post
ReplyDelete