This week we moved to a universal “loving kindness”
meditation exercise which I found very similar to part of my personal spiritual
practice. This came very naturally for me as many of my prayers have included people on “universal” level to end suffering and to find peace and
feel love in their hearts. I’ve always found it’s a wonderful feeling when you
can shift the focus from yourself and the people in your life to people you
have yet to meet. Here is the meditation...
"May all individuals gain freedom from suffering"
"May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness"
"May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering"
"May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness"
Our next exercise was the “Integral Assessment” process
which brought back awareness of my need for changes to my “biological” area of
growth and development. I chose this area because after having to modify my
daily exercise over the past 1+ years, I recently compounded my injury
restricting me from any of my favorite outdoor daily activities. It’s been
difficult going from 1.5 hrs/day of exercise (walking/cycling) to none so it
has affected not only my physical health but also my psychospiritual
well-being. I have started today with doing low impact exercises with strength
training and will alternate with another, preferably yoga as I find something I can do
at home.
For the spiritual aspect, after my injury a week ago my meditation practice diminished and I really discovered how much I do need this! I have started again with daily meditations of "loving-kindness" along with Deepak Chopra's 21-Day Mediation challenge that started this week. The theme is "Miraculous Esteem" and it truly is a wonderful way to start the day. These exercises have brought me back to what helps the most.
In health & happiness,
Lynne
Lynne,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your injury. I am glad you found peace and strength in your daily meditation routine. I have been doing quite a bit more meditation and actually found the guided meditation quite refreshing. Meditation can have such a great impact on an individual's psyche. It can give you the positive coping mechanisms necessary for healing and health.
You have definitely found the way to improve your ares of focus. Good luck.
Browny.
Browny, it is inspiring that you've found meditation to be refreshing and helpful too. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your continued journey with this too!
ReplyDeleteHi Lynne,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about your experiences with this week's exercises. I'm sorry about your injury, too. It is hard when you have to change things that you've been doing so well for a long time (the physical exercise). You have made a good choice to do some other type of activity, like yoga. You can still benefit a lot from this. I don't know the nature of your injury, but you may be able to use stretch(y) bands. This would help with strengthening your muscles and also help you to get a full stretch in some areas where you are building flexibility again. I hope everything goes well for you in your recovery.
Laurie
i also find it very appealing to be able to shift my focus from myself to other hand have found that being a p aren't is somewhat thr ideal practice for understanding how rewarding it is to focus your energy on another human being or beings
ReplyDelete