Greetings!
We have reached Day 2. I'm sure by this time (it's a little after 5 p.m. as I write this), many of you have already completed your practice for the day. Some of you are probably like me: I prefer to wait until my work for the day is done, and then sit. It provides a break for my busy mind. Whichever time of day works for you is fine. There is no one right time.
I didn't get around to sitting until nearly midnight last night, and when I finished, the first thing I realized was how tired I was. It didn't take long for that feeling to pass, though, and I felt invigorated. Today I have more mental energy than I've had in a long time. I don't always react that way to meditating, and of course the goal of meditation is not really to emerge as a more productive person. (Though "studies show" that can happen, but we think of it as more of a beneficial side effect). What is the goal? Is there one? Probably not...the aim is, I think, simply to be with ourselves, to slow down and sit awhile. What do you think?
By the way, today or tomorrow I hope to have a Yahoo group set up, whereby those of you who wish can exchange ideas and spur each other on.
Today's inspiration consists of two interlocking ideas from the world of Yoga. Yoga as we think of it, the physical practices, are really just one arm of an eight-limbed philosophy for life. The original purpose of Hatha Yoga (the physical poses) was to prepare the body for sitting meditation.
First, from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which collect the guiding thoughts of Yoga:
We have reached Day 2. I'm sure by this time (it's a little after 5 p.m. as I write this), many of you have already completed your practice for the day. Some of you are probably like me: I prefer to wait until my work for the day is done, and then sit. It provides a break for my busy mind. Whichever time of day works for you is fine. There is no one right time.
I didn't get around to sitting until nearly midnight last night, and when I finished, the first thing I realized was how tired I was. It didn't take long for that feeling to pass, though, and I felt invigorated. Today I have more mental energy than I've had in a long time. I don't always react that way to meditating, and of course the goal of meditation is not really to emerge as a more productive person. (Though "studies show" that can happen, but we think of it as more of a beneficial side effect). What is the goal? Is there one? Probably not...the aim is, I think, simply to be with ourselves, to slow down and sit awhile. What do you think?
By the way, today or tomorrow I hope to have a Yahoo group set up, whereby those of you who wish can exchange ideas and spur each other on.
Today's inspiration consists of two interlocking ideas from the world of Yoga. Yoga as we think of it, the physical practices, are really just one arm of an eight-limbed philosophy for life. The original purpose of Hatha Yoga (the physical poses) was to prepare the body for sitting meditation.
First, from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which collect the guiding thoughts of Yoga:
Sutra 2.46: Sthira-sukham asanam.
The connection to the earth should be steady and joyful.
Second, from modern Yoga instructor Rodney Yee:
Sit and feel your connectedness to the earth--
your posture rising from the fluidity of your spine--
the ease with which you can balance over your connectedness--
the small finger of your individual existence on the huge body of the planet
Can you let your mind broaden into a much larger consciousness, supported by your contact with the ground?
--from Yoga: the Poetry of the Body, Rodney Yee with Nina Zolotow, 2002
Sit, and be. Rest in the moment. See you tomorrow!
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