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As it is in Heaven...

6/23/2015

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My mother left her physical body behind on Saturday.  Is it ironic that my last blog post was about shavasana, that is, corpse pose?  Corpse pose invites us to die to the old and open up to the new.  In meditation, each breath issues the same invitation.  Each out-breath is an end, each in-breath is a beginning. 

Her breath did not come easy in the last years.  My mother had COPD and was oxygen-dependent.  Yet, thankfully, hers was a peaceful departure.  Just as I had hoped for her, Mom, took her last earthly in- and out-breath during sleep.  

I am not one to dwell on the concepts of heaven and hell, however, my mother was a believer.  So, I got to wondering, when one ascends to heaven, assumes the heavenly body, is there still breath? Does one go on having in-breath and out-breath?  Does one take in the air of the heavenly atmosphere or does the Universe offer something else that sustains?  Do people who struggled to breathe here on Earth, breathe easily in Heaven? If one believes in Heaven, it must certainly represent a new beginning, right?  I can only hope so. 

Of course, I don’t have an answer to these questions.  I guess that is just part of the big mystery. 

May you be happy in heaven
May you be healthy in heaven
May you be safe in heaven
May you live in peace in heaven

I miss you, Mom. 


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Dying on the mat...in savasana, that is.

3/18/2015

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  Another post related to my yoga quest here in Boston,
   inspired by the overwhelming feeling of
   simply melting  into the mat, peeling away the
   layers of the physical body, until only pure
   awareness remained - during savasana yesterday.

   Yes, yes, yes!

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means “to join” or “to unite.”  Yoga is physical practice that recruits the breath to unite the body/mind/spirit.  Some refer to yoga as moving meditation.

A yoga class typically consists of an opening segment where the teacher calls upon the individuals to transition from the activities of the day-to-day outer world, by inviting each person to drop into a state of inner awareness.  Not unlike what we do when we come together for our Monday meditation group, right? Then, the teacher will take the class through the actual practice of the postures, also known as poses or asanas. 

Finally, during any respectable yoga class, you will have an opportunity to practice a posture known as savasana or corpse pose.  During savasana, you lie comfortable and still on your mat.  You want to remain completely alert and awake, but totally relaxed, hovering in that place somewhere between sleep and effort.   Similar to meditation, right? 

On one hand, savasana is considered the most important part of yoga practice.  This is because during this posture the body/mind most deeply and fully integrates the benefits of the practice.  On the other hand, savasana is considered to be one of the most difficult postures.  I think you can see why – relaxed yet alert – sounds simple, not at all easy. 

Why corpse pose?  I was taught that savasana (corpse pose) is an opportunity to “die” to our old ways of living,, you know - distracted (ignorant), avoidant, attached.  During savasana we can completely let go, and therefore be “born” into the experience of the present moment.  We are all dying a little all day, every day.  Each breath is a new beginning – a rebirth, so to speak. 

So whether it’s yoga or meditation or both, as Jon Kabat-Zinn has said – “practice like your life depends on it, because it does.” 



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Who doesn't like a cool card?

3/13/2015

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Some you may know that just about a year ago, after a breathtakingly brief illness, my bestie, Jan transitioned to the otherwordly side. 

She has two exceptional daughters, Stacey and Cary.  Stacey and Cary call their mom - Clare.  Why? that is a whole different story!

These three talented and creative women made cards together, including the paper!   Over the years, I have been the fortunate and grateful recipient of many of these beautiful works of art. 

Recently, Stacey and Cary, launched a their unique company called "claregoods."   I suspect that cards are just the beginning for these two! 

Please take a moment to learn more about their vision.
Visit their website:  www.claregoods.com

Please view more cards and perhaps consider a purchase on Etsy. 
Here is the link: 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/claregoods

  • 5.5 x 8.5, 100% recycled 80 lb card stock, wood free, acid-free handmade paper - BIG enough to look great in a frame!
  • Your purchase will support charities working to keep art and music in schools.

    

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Going to the Edge

3/7/2015

2 Comments

 
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   In Boston, there is a yoga studio, the Blissful Monkey, only  
   two blocks from Allyson’s house.  Since I can get a $25
  one-time pass for unlimited classes, it seems like a
  good opportunity to go to yoga while I am waiting for the
  baby to arrive.  I have gone three days in a row. 

  Boy, have I lucked out! 

Each day has been a different teacher, each of them excellent.   What I have especially appreciated are the adjustments.  For all you non-yogis, an “adjustment” means that, during the class, the teacher comes around and uses his or her hands/body to encourage the student’s body to go to the “edge.”  This means to experience the pose as deeply as possible in that moment.   The student can assist and enhance the adjustment by using his or her breath.  A deep inhalation creates space, a deep exhalation allows the body to release and relax so as to move in the desired way during the adjustment.   

There is art and science to adjustment, both equally important.  The science is the knowledge of human anatomy.   The application of that knowledge or lack thereof, is the art of adjustment. 

This is where the whole thing gets a little trickier... 

Now, you should know that not all teachers offer adjustments and not all students want adjustments.  Sadly, some teachers don’t have the necessary knowledge or skill to safely apply adjustments and others can be aggressive; students can get injured.  Therefore while I consider adjustments an added bonus, they are welcomed with caution until I get a feel for the teacher’s abilities.

 I can happily say this:  oh man, have I been to the edge!

The adjustments have been amazing.  With each adjustment, I have experienced these incredible moments - I have felt my body unfold, open up, become more spacious and yet, more relaxed, while holding, what for me was, a really difficult posture.  Of course, I can’t help myself from reflecting on things through the lens of mindfulness and meditation practice.  These glimpses of what the body can do with a skilled adjustment, with gentle guidance, makes me think about those same types of glimpses of enlightenment that are possible during meditation.  If only I had a skilled teacher to gently bend my mind!

However, during meditation, we are called upon to operate as both teacher and student, both witness and participant. 

 We are the teacher by witnessing, being aware of, when we appear to be at the “edge.”  We use that awareness to make the adjustment - gently bringing the breath to bear on the present moment.  As the student, we participate by using the breath to relax the grip, to create space, to help us unfold into the moment even while holding a difficult physical sensation, a difficult emotion, a difficult thought.  

Yoga and meditation takes us to our edge and help us to not be afraid to stay there and take a look around.   We get a glimpse that enlightenment, being fully present and awake, is truly possible.   



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2 Comments

Spring Clean Your Mind.

4/24/2014

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My son is getting married soon.  I think it is something like 40 days from now.  The wedding will be at his house, in his beautiful, oasis of a backyard. 

Spring-cleaning is in full swing to prepare.  Accordingly, I just spent a couple of days transplanting hostas from our yard to his and happily cleaning out his garage.  Spring is naturally a time of renewal.  It felt good.  

There was the usual accumulation of debris that collects over the winter.  I guess it is easy to toss stuff into the garage, especially during the winter, when one isn’t as likely to be spending any time out there.  The clutter starts to pile up, some items are important and some others, well…not so much.    

For example, maybe a hungry mouse or two (or three) chews a hole into the side of the sunflower seed bag leaving the evidence in all the nooks and crannies.   Perhaps the cardboard boxes from Christmas and beyond have taken over a whole corner.  They are stacked but need to be broken down and stuffed into the recycling bin.  Wait!  Do I spy a workbench counter under that can(s) of paint, miscellaneous tools, a bunch of plastic bags, a glass bottle that exploded in the cold, a solo cotton work glove, an extension cord, some tangled up green string and of course, the obligatory assortment of rolls of duct tape?  Maybe you have clutter too?    

Sweeping out the garage, I was reminded that mindfulness meditation is a way of spring-cleaning the mind.  We find the lingering debris that fills the nooks and crannies.  Sweep it up, and let it go. We sit with the stack of thoughts and feelings that have taken over a whole corner of the mind.  Break 'em down, stuff 'em in the recycling bin, and let 'em go. We can shift through the miscellany collecting on the “workbench of the mind” - storing the important items.  Anything else, let it go.  In every moment, mindfulness is a way of letting go of all that threatens to clutter the mind.

I read a column recently that recommended one start the day by sweeping the front steps.  Sweeping, first thing in the morning, represents the intention to create a fresh beginning.   In mindfulness meditation every breath is a fresh beginning - contained in every in-out breath is your whole life.  

Allow your morning practice to set your intention, sweep the front steps of your mind.   Allow mindfulness, during the day, to help you to choose what to “bring home.”   Do you really need to put that negative thought, lousy feeling, or mean word someone said to you in today's shopping cart?  Allow your evening practice to sort through everything you laid on the “workbench” of your mind for the day.   It feels good. 

Now, where did my broom go? 

Happy Spring!   


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There is SPINNING and then there is SPINNING.

1/5/2014

2 Comments

 
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My friend, Carol, invited me to her spin class.  I tried it once and was hooked.  Thus, since October, my husband and I have been getting up at 5 am on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to leave the house by 5:30 am, to go to class.  Crazy?  Yes, but it feels so damn good!     

SPINNING, for me, is so hard physically that I can literally think of nothing else while I am doing it.  For those 45 minutes, the physical effort of spinning takes every ounce of  mental focus  I have, yet I leave the class feeling great. 

This has got to be what Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, calls a  "flow experience."   Dr. C (shall we say) is known for his work on flow, characterized by performing an activity with complete focus, full attention, full awareness, full immersion, that is, being totally absorbed.   In this case, we could say, SPINNING is a good thing, right? 

Yet,  why do I meditate?  You got it, that's right, to help my mind to - STOP SPINNING!  

How does that strike you?  I had to laugh! 

When I practice meditation, I am working on developing these same skills - to be able to completely focus, to pay full attention, to have full awareness, to be fully immersed in every moment of my life.  To go with the flow?  yes, indeed. 

Oh, the irony,  sometimes...just gotta go with it. 

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Walking to the beat of a different drum.

12/8/2013

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My daughter lives in Boston and I visit Boston. 

Last time I planned a trip, after the airline ticket was purchased, she got called to jury duty.  I went anyway. 

She had to work after jury duty everyday to make her desserts.  She is the pastry chef at Tres Gatos  in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood.  Let me brag:  from a recent Yelp review, "Chocolate flan - omg. To quote my Brasilian friend, "The best flan I've had in the states." The contrast of textures, flavors (well balanced sweetness), and just damn good. Great base of sherry and chocolate, creamy flan, awesome local chocolate Taza tuile (the crisp texture), nice freshness with acid of the huckleberries."

I needed to fill some time, even I can only eat so much dessert.  I found a local yoga joint that was offering  a FREE meditation session, one morning a week.  I am all about the free stuff, so I toodled on down Centre Street to check it out. 

Did I say that this particular meditation meeting  was at 6:30 am?  Did I say that overall I am not a morning person?  I am okay in the morning, I just don't talk much for about 30 minutes so SILENT meditation, in a group, could actually work out. 

Back to the story.....I arrived to find the meditation leader was trained in MBSR; nice guy, very welcoming, laid-back.  He asked me some questions (not too many so I didn't need to talk too much - bonus).  There were 6 people there including myself and the leader.  We sat in a circle.  No cushions but the studio had yoga mats and blankets - make do, no problem.  All was going well.

After about 30 minutes of sitting the leader said, "ok, now let's walk for awhile."  I'm up and at 'em, I enjoy walking meditation.  He went on, "Let's make a circle, try not to cause a traffic jam." 

Screeech! 
What!  My mind flew into high gear...."Huh?  A TRAFFIC  jam?  I could cause a TRAFFIC jam?  OMG!  I probably will cause a TRAFFIC jam."   You get the picture, right? 

I started out walking in the circle.  It was a small circle.  There was a lot of room in the studio but we made a small circle.  My mind, "What's up with that - people, SPREAD out.  I am feeling CROWDED here."  I was so distracted by the chatter going on in my mind that I actually stumbled.  Literally, I could not walk at an even pace.  My mind, "Of course, you will cause a traffic jam, a TRAFFIC pile up is more like it."  What to do?  Exit stage left...I got right out of that "dumb" circle and started walking  "the right way" -  in my "normal" way - back and forth, in a straight line - single file - one lane of TRAFFIC.  Notice any clinging there?  Notice any aversion, any judgment?  Did I?  NO, not moi.

You would think taking this action would have solved the problem of the racing mind --- NOT!  Now, my mind was racing in another direction, "What do the others think of me now?  They probably think I am a weirdo.  They are probably thinking I am an outsider and can stay that way.  Maybe they think, I think I am too good to walk in their little circle.  I can't go back to the circle now that I 've left." 

Then, as I was standing still, facing the wall - I realized what my mind was doing, taking me out of the moment.  Here I was on this nice morning, in this nice studio, with this nice welcoming group, having an absolutely "jammed up" practice,  I slowly let it go.  I turned, I walked.

The leader called us back to the circle.  Of course, I shared what had happened, I couldn't help myself.  We all had a good laugh about it.  So interesting what one can learn when in TRAFFIC.    

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Hmmm...An appointment with REAL HAPPINESS...really?

9/8/2013

3 Comments

 
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Our group is starting a 4-week course this Monday  based on Sharon Salzberg’s bestselling book - Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation (A 28-day program).  To note the course, I went to the calendar to create a series of appointments which I labeled “Real Happiness”     As soon as I typed in the words Real Happiness  I was struck by the underlying significance of what I was doing.  I don't know about you but I am pretty sure I have never made an appointment with happiness.  Of course, this prompted me to think more deeply about it, which invariably prompts more questions than answers.

To BE happy, in this busy world of DOing, are such appointments necessary, advised, just one more thing to DO?  What would such appointments consist of, that is, what is the substance of happiness that we would expect to encounter at such an appointment?  Who and/or what does happiness look like? Would we know happiness when it presented itself or do we ask happiness to be wearing a white sport coat and a pink carnation in order to recognize it?   What if happiness is wearing something other than the pink carnation we were expecting?  Would we delete happiness from our contact list?  Would a series of short appointments with happiness turn into something greater or will one long appointment be about enough?   Is it too much to want and/or expect hook up with happiness?  What happens if happiness fails to show up for our appointment?  Would we reschedule? 


3 Comments

Go ahead and sweat! 

8/28/2013

3 Comments

 
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Did I mention that the Midwest is having a heat wave, temperatures in the 90's and of course good old humidity to match, ah!   Is that why it is named Ah-gust? Well, I don't know the last time you tried to meditate while sweating but I have a few observations to share. 

We have a stationary bike downstairs where it stays pretty cool most of the time.  I was there this morning to ride the bike, got in some good cardio and then went upstairs to meditate.  I was running late so I didn't bother to exactly cool down but I said to myself, "oh, just go ahead and sweat for a minute."  It's no big deal, right? 

At first, as the sweat was running down the sides of my face, I wanted to jump up dash over and get a towel - after all I had just set the timer - that wasn't really cheating.  I mean really, I wanted to wipe down like any reasonable person would have done to begin with.  But, no, I decided to just wait a minute longer to see if I would stop sweating.

Then, I got curious about the sweat.  I started to just pay attention to the beads of sweat, one at a time.  Where was it popping out?  Where did it go and at what speed?  What was the path of the bead of sweat?  At first, I noticed I had many running down the sides of my face at the same time.  I noticed a particular bead that announced itself right at my hairline, smack in the middle of  the top of my forehead.  It started to travel rather quickly towards my left eye.  I thought it was going to run right into my eye.  It occurred to me that I might want to actually wipe this one away.  But, I patiently watched as it quickly - and gracefully I might add - curved around my eye and made a bee-line right down the side of my nose, then made another quick jog around the corner of my mouth - unbelievable!  I felt one bead ever-so-slowly making it's way down the back of my neck.  And, so on and so on. 

As the beads of sweat ran down my face, each one traveled over the angle of my jaw, tucking ever so gently under my chin, and while slowly creeping towards my collarbone on either side.  Then a funny thing happened, they kind of disappeared.  Wait!  Where did they go?  I wondering if I would feel maybe something running down my chest, but no!  Did they evaporate?  No clue!   This went on for many minutes.  Me sweating, me observing, me sweating some more. 

Then it dawned on me that these beads of perspiration were just like my thoughts in meditation.  At first maybe I just want to wipe them away, be rid of them.  Then, I notice that they pop out of unexpected places; travel at different speeds and take different routes in and out of my mind.  If I just wait, the thoughts, like the beads of sweat,  dissipate on their own!  Voila!  A speck of insight today, I love then that happens. 

So, go ahead and sweat - I think I just invented HOT MEDITATION!  oh brother....

3 Comments

blog 5

3/10/2013

2 Comments

 

                  What is life?   

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                                  Units of Experience
                                    uh, okay, then...


            What makes a unit of experience? 

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                                    A unit of experience equals
                                     Attention + Interpretation
   how we perceive what we are paying attention to...so try this:


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Pay mindful attention.


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Delay judgment. 

Have an open mind. 


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       "Choose to be optimistic, it feels better."
                                                Dalai Lama XIV


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    Author

    Rebecca R. West, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC  is a certified family nurse practitioner and former clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.  Dr. West is interested in the positive health outcomes associated with contemplative practices such as meditation and yoga. 

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