Meditation Journey Week Nine

I'm Back and I am even more determined. Now I know to meditate before work. And like a stroke of luck the week began with a stress card around meditation. Believe in the universe.

Monday

The card of the day is 'meditate on the loo'. It says that in our short but relatively frequent toilet breaks we can create a safe place in our cubicle. Take a few deep breaths and 'leave your problems and thoughts at the door to come to when back in work or whatever you are doing'. If a thought comes you have the time to push it away for a few minutes. Extend this to washing and drying our hands with warmth, care and love. This is a small act of self love and self care but can really help to relax us.

Meditation doesn't always have to be in big chunks and this is what I need to keep reminding myself. I only blog my 'chunks' with goals and not the small bits I do everyday. RULE OF THUMB: YOU ALMOST CERTAINLY DO MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU DO.

Tuesday- Wednesday

i didnt do anymore than reflect on my own stress cards and do yoga. Yoga is still a form of meditation if you give yourself a focus point; like breath, balance and so on.

I note this as I have still meditated in the day, but in a way that is most norm to be. A way I have been doing for years without truly realising. The point of this blog thread is to learn a new way to meditate to allow my brain to stretch and evolve in new ways and so for the purpose of this thread I do not go into detail. I shall however write a post about yoga and meditation if you guys want- let me know.

Thursday

I tried something new today. Instead of my normal methodical planning I am going with the flow. Something I want to do more of in my day-day life so why not now?

IF YOU HAVE SEEN MY IGTV POST THEN YOU WILL HAVE AN IDEA WHAT I AM ON ABOUT- AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WATCH IT. if not the link is @dance_therapy_tammie.

I lay out my yoga mat, all intentions to do a yoga flow. And I thought meditation and pranyama (breathing) is often done at the start of a class (havent been at my gym yoga session) so I could try and encorpoate it here. I sat in a half lotus position (which is very sore for my hips) and began to just breath in and out. I then began chanting 'om' and feeling how it sat in my body. The first few rounds I felt distratced, imagining what I would weite here and when my feet and hips would tire from rthe position. Almost miraciously, as i continued the position became comfortable like it had never before. I was moving my arms in a circle around me as I breath and then even bringing the prayer hands to my head (for wisdom) and my heart (for th union of two entitiies, body/mind).

Trying to remember the chant for each chakra- I only remmebreed two (Ram, Yam) and had no idea which one they were for, I could feel where there was a blocakage. I had no trouble moving from one syllable to the other except for Yam.

• “LAM”- chakra 1 (root)

• “VAM”- chakra 2 (sacral/navel)

• “RAM”- chakra 3 (solar plexus)

• “YAM”- chakra 4 (heart)

• “HAM”- chakra 5 (throat)

• “OM”- chakra 6 (third eye/brow)

• “OM”- chakra 7 (crown)

My heart had a block. I moved through it and then went into a few asanas. Knowing I had to stretch the other side, I decided on the moment to do an imagery as part of my meditation. My upright posture (which is not natural for me) reminded me of a tree and an imagery just came. My roots- which were right now my legs in this half lotus position- was my past. Evertone I have met, known, everything. I felt aaround me and it came to me. I will ALWAYS have these connections, its grounded and made me who I am and they are something that cannot be changed. I felt relieve for feelihngs that come back up from the past knowing it was just that root collecting more nutients for me, more knowledge to learn from that scenario.

My now was my branches. They became my worries placed into categories. Money, University, Friendships, Relationships. On each branch were leaves and these were without their category. How many follows you have, if i will have a successful business, if people care what I say. I realised that these will never be around forever. Just as in autumn the leaves fall off, one days these will too. My worries will not always exist and if I really dont like one I can learn how to pluck a leaf off. Next season new things will come and those leaves will become part of my past. I will learn and get stronger from this now. I felt all my issues dissolve a little as I realise how small they are in the scale of my life.

Coming out I began a spontaneous yoga flow. The best part of all of this today was that there was no time. With my app I normal set a 10/15 min slot and follow a voice. Here i had no other sounds on, no timer and no idea how long it lasted. I just listened to what my body needed and why do i really need to track that after all?

Friday

With a new bout of energy I decided to do a new thing today too. Meditation is all about clearing the mind of thoughts by allowing them to pass so you can observe and sort everything out from a distance from feelings, emotions and sensations. Today the stimulus was to listen. I have just began listening to audio books, after re-wanting this idea listening to On Purpose podcast.

So here I am. Laying on my mat. Listening to a book ' Above Life’s Turmoil- James Allen'.

I start thinking but that passes. And I enjoy listening to the 15 minute of the first chapter. Then I realise it all links to my dissertation. I re listen this time inscribing everything down in notes.

It is still a meditation as the first round was only purely listening. This is what I believe gave me the theoretical links and then even an idea for an extra layer on top of one component. Knowledge came to me without me stressing and I began writing some note sup for my viva without stress or going 'I haven't got my research for this yet'.

I may have found my new study tool.

Saturday

Today I decided to focus on smaller batches of meditation. A few days ago my 'stress less' card was meditate when on the loo. Meaning any small moment you get, remove any worries and just take a few deep breathes, allowing this space to become your safe space.

IN addition to this, I decided to allow thoughts to stay in my mind as long as they needed, instead of forcing them away. As I went for a nap, I never ended up sleeping but allowed a memory to come, if and when it did, and to note how I felt and then look at it from the outside (objectively). This has really helped me get my head around personal 'issues' by learning to not dwell to much in the past and look at how the situation is now- I am less emotionally connected and creating positive patterns of behavior.

I would recommend doing this every once in a while, but ONLY when you are more at peace with a situation. If something is new or still an open wound, allowing to purge into it will still spark and emotional and reckless reaction. Instead, notice when you feel more calm when the topic is brought up and set boundaries- so allowing only 10/15 minutes to purge if this memory/situation appears to avoid re-scaring or trauma.

I have found this made me more vulnerable and open up, as I felt a wave of emotion before bed- reflecting and physically talking out loud to myself, going through and talking situations that have happened in my past. I found myself more objective yet still emotional, which allowed to see my strength and how much I have grown, and what i can still learn from it.

Sunday

Even though I have already done yoga today, I will revisit meditation on my yoga mat working with the mantras and looking at each mantra for the chakras.