Don't Just Do Something...Sit There.

Meditation.  Mindfulness.  Being Present.  Quieting the Mind.

But I have to get the kids ready for school.  I have 10 minutes to send out some emails before I leave for work.  I have to get to the gym. I have to walk the dog.  I need my coffee! I'm hungry.  Maybe  I can fit in a load of laundry before I have to leave.   It won't work for me .  I  am too A.D.D.

Maybe it just seems too intimidating.  You just really don't want to do it. That's okay.  It's always there when you want to try it.  And there are so many different techniques.  There is walking meditation, mindfulness practice, chanting a mantra, using a mala,  gong meditation,  yoga nidra,  sitting meditation, singing kirtan.

The Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hanh has a meditation for everything;  even washing the dishes and going to the bathroom (don't get them mixed up) ha. He is a teacher of mindfulness.  This word is used so much but I wonder how many of us really practice it.  Are you fully present and mindful when you are washing a dish?  Do you stop and feel the warm water?  the texture of the plate?  Or are you thinking of the next chore on your list?

"Mindfulness is an energy that helps bring your mind back to your body so you can live your life more deeply. When you drink tea in mindfulness, you are truly there.  In touch with the tea.  In the here and the now.  If your mind is possessed by worry, with the past or the future then the tea is not really there."
Thich Nhat Hanh from Shambala Sun.

Think how many times we are not really present with a person in front of us.  We are busy thinking of what we are going to say next or where we are going after we talk to them.  "I  am in a hurry, how can I make my get away."

Thay, as his students call him, teaches the Mindfulness Trainings.    They are beautiful and you should google them.  Post them on your wall and try to live by them as much as possible.  I will go into them another time.
Last bit about Thay;. he has a lovely monastery in Escondido that I frequent.  It is hidden in the hills and there are mindfulness days open to the public. Go!  It is a full day of walking, sitting, singing, eating meditation and you will feel revived!  There are retreats you can take there and sometimes Thay comes to visit.  A truly special place.

I invite you to read any book by the Buddhist nun Pema Chodron.  In her book "Taking  The Leap"  she has a whole chapter on learning to stay. She talks about what a difficult time she had first learning to meditate. Just sit down, get comfortable and bring light awareness to your breath. Easy, right?  When the session was over she realized she had been lost in thought the whole time and not present for one single moment..

Another book I suggest is "End your Story, Begin your Life"  by Jim Dreaver. "The essence of mediation is to sit and be very aware of everything going on within and around you.  You can become the master of your mind rather than letting those thoughts (the same ones you have had for years and years and years) and those stories you've been telling about yourself, control you."

There is so much to share with you, but hopefully this is a start and maybe you will find the information you need to find something that works for you.  If you live in Los Angeles I invite you to come to a kirtan at Bhakti yoga Shala any weekend night.  It is a joyful singing meditation of call and response chanting.  It gets crazy sometimes as we get carried away and start to dance:)  But you will leave feeling lighter, your mind less cluttered and a perma-grin on your face.

If you go to a yoga class, just realize that all those poses you do during class are getting you ready for the most important posture of all:  corpse pose or sivasana. You have worked out all the excess energy in  your body and brought in breath or prana so you can then rest the mind.

I leave you with a sitting meditation to just get you started:

Either sit on the floor or on a chair.  Rest in easy pose, cross legged, maybe sitting on a cushion so your hips
are a little higher than your knees.  you could sit on your heels if that is more comfy.  If you are in a chair rest the soles of your feet on the ground.  Find something you can hold still for 5 minutes.  Either rest your hands on your knees or in your lap.  Think of sitting up tall, however relax your shoulders.  Don;t tense anything, but try to sit up tall so you have room to breathe in your lower belly.  Close your eyes. Take a really deep breath through the nose and release it through the mouth in an audible sigh.  Now close the mouth and continue slow deep breath in and out through the nose.  Maybe count the lengths of your breaths.  In for 1-2-3-4  and out for 1-2-3-4. Continue that until you start to relax.
Then become aware of sounds around you, starting with sounds furthest away and eventually to sounds inside your room. Notice if you have any discomfort or tension or sadness or anger.  whatever it is just let it be.  Don;t try to make any thoughts or feelings go away, just come back to your breath.  These thoughts, where do they come from?  Out of nowhere.  Are they solid?  Where do they go?  Back into nowhere. Notice the story you may be telling yourself..  See if you can let it go.
Who is thinking these thoughts?  Who is telling this story?  You are also that awareness.  Take a deep breath and exhale.  All the feelings and thoughts you have are constantly changing, constantly morphing, moving.  You, the awareness that is you, the one thinking the thoughts is still here.  The thought come and go, but you are right here. Keep connecting with your breath.  Breathing in.  Breathing out.
When you are ready gently open your eyes.  Enjoy a glass of water.  Really enjoy it.

Namaste