Tai Chi - Moving Meditation

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I am also a student of tai chi and qigong. Tai chi is a form of moving meditation and qigong is slow, gentle movements which cleanse the body, balance the chi, or internal energy, increase longevity and aid self-healing.

I take a tai chi class three days a week. I try to find time to practice each day, which is hard to do, plus I like to do some qigong exercises daily also.

This becomes a time crunch. I meditate for 20-25 minutes a day, go to 3 yoga classes and 3 tai chi classes per week, and still I need more time to practice.

In yesterday's tai chi class, (the Thursday class is a beginner class, while the Tuesday and Sunday classes for for advanced) our instructor led us through a series of hand motions relating to each of the tai chi postures. Usually in tai chi, the feet and hands are moving in unison but the idea of this exercise was to teach us to use our waistline to move and to keep our feet firmly planted, knees pointing forward. In tai chi, the lower dan tien, or the area just below your belly button, is your energy center and all movement and power comes from here. This is why it's essential to perform all movements from this area, not simply waving arms around haphazardly.

In tai chi, you can never practice too much or go over basics too often. Each practice adds another brick to the wall of knowledge and as our instructor always says, "One brick at a time." I learn something new each time about myself and my practice.

Doing the tai chi hand motions alone is a very meditative exercise. You get into the flow of the movement, focusing deeply and you begin to experience that deep calm and peace which meditation brings.

This morning, instead of doing my usual seated meditation, I put Steven Halpren's Music for Healing on my ipod, put on my headphones and did cloud hands, brush over knee and stroking the horse's mane, using hands only with my feet planted. This was an extraordinary experience. For the first time, when I was very focused and deeply invested in doing these simple movements, I started actually moving from my waistline.

It's very strange but I'd always thought I WAS moving from my waistline but now I see, I wasn't truly. To do this, you have to let go of all arm and shoulder tension and exhibit absolutely no muscle strength there. It takes time to learn this and I'm certainly no expert, even after 2 years of study.

So, I've made a decision now to commit to a morning moving meditation practice for the next month and see where it takes me. I have to say, after this 25 minute session, I felt every bit as calm and centered as I did following seated meditation.

If you have difficulty meditating, you might want to get one or two of Lee Holden or Francesco Garripoli's Qigong DVD's. I own several of these and you can pick out various exercises and perform them repeatedly in meditation. there is also a lot of great information on chi and what each moving meditation exercise can do for your health and longevity.

Meditating with Distractions

Leo is saying "Come on, let's meditate!"

Everybody, especially beginners at meditation, have distractions pop up. It might be a deadline for work, getting your taxes done, or as in my case, having an 85 pound lab come and sit on you every time you sit on the floor!

For me, the main thing has been setting aside the time to meditate and not letting distractions get in the way. To-do lists, working on taxes or projects for work, can all wait 25 minutes while I meditate and I've found I approach these tasks in a calmer, more organized manner if I've taken the time to do my daily meditation.

One at least two days of the week, possibly more, my husband is home in the mornings. He doesn't meditate but having him here is a break in the schedule I've created for myself. We get up later usually or he's just making noise, listening to the radio, etc, which is distracting.

On the weekends, I've solved this meditation challenge by getting up 30 minutes early so I have peace and quiet in the house. Most of the time, if I go to bed ontime, I can set my internal alarm and wake up early. Getting up to meditate, I've found, is much more relaxing and easier than getting up to, say, work out or do aerobics for 30 minutes. Sometimes it's even easier to meditate first thing after getting out of bed than it is later in the morning because my mind is still a little foggy from sleep and the needs of the day haven't started darting through my mind yet.

On Wednesday, my husband worked at home so I put on my headphones and listened to Jeffery Thompson's Healing Mind System 2.0, which is soothing and beautiful. I keep this music on my ipod for doing tai chi and there was a 29 minute track which was perfect for my daily meditation.

As to the 85 pound lab, my dog Leo thinks that if anyone is sitting on the floor, she should be in their lap! This was pretty easy to solve, actually. Now before I begin meditation, I call her and say, "Come on Leo, it's time to meditate." Then I settle her down right beside me on the floor before I start, rather than letting her "discover" me sitting there, which means lap time and many licky kisses.

Now if I can keep my other dog, Molly, from barking at every passerby in the window while I'm meditating!

How to Meditate for Beginners

Since I'm a beginner with meditation myself, I'd like to share what I'm learning about how to meditate with other beginners. I've had the intention to begin a meditation practice for several years but after one or two minutes of sitting, I grew antsy and just gave up. Now I am on day 18 of my daily meditation practice and I look forward to this time of quiet and looking inward. What changed?

If you want to learn how to meditate and it's a struggle for you, then realize that it takes time to teach your monkey mind to settle down and let the thoughts go. I used to think I should be able to quiet my mind instantly and got discouraged when it didn't happen.  I now meditate for about 25 minutes and during the first part,I still have to work on quieting my mind.

I focus on my breath and let the thoughts jump around, trying to just let go of them and not get attached.. It's easy to get caught up by a thought like "What should I fix for dinner?" Then you chase the possibilities for a menu, then you end up making your shopping list for a stop at the store later. The trick is to catch your first thought and steer it back instead of chasing it down the path.

What I've found is that even though my mind is not automatically quiet from beginning to end of my meditation, at some point in my sitting, I can look forward to my mind being very quiet and thoughts receding to the background.

How I Meditate

This might not work for everyone but this is what I do. First I set aside 25 minutes each morning at about the same time of day. I set the timer on the kitchen stove which "beeps" before counting down the last 60 seconds. During that 60 seconds, I start moving around and stretching a bit to come back gradually. Knowing that the timer is taking care of how long I will be meditating, I can just relax and let the thoughts drift.

Before I attended the silent yoga retreat, I admit I was addicted to the computer. As soon as my husband left for work, my fingers were itching to go sign in to my email accounts (I have 3), look at all my blogging stats and earnings for the previous day, start my article writing, etc. I rationalized the unending hours on the computer by thinking that, after all, I am earning my living this way.

However, how much of my time was really spent productively and how much was wasted when I could have stepped back from it and done other things (like cleaning the house-lol) Spending hours and hours on the computer is a form of addiction and I couldn't seem to stop myself from sitting there and suddenly an hour or two had passed. And if I wasn't on the computer, I was thinking about it and I wanted to be on it.

When I went to the yoga retreat and spend 24 hours listening to my inner voice and realizing what was most important in my life, it was suddenly easier to allot to step away from the computer. Now I try and do my writing and whatever I need to do and then turn it off.

I think if you want to start a consistent meditation practice, you should consider what is stopping you. What else are you doing with the time? Is there a way you could be more productive in the time you spend on other tasks so you could take 20 minutes out of your day to meditate? Actually meditating regularly helps you get more done in less time and be more productive.

I'd like to hear from you about the challenges you face and how you've over come them-or if you have. I'm no expert on how to meditate but we can all learn together.

Silence Quotes to Ponder

Learning the value of silence can be a profound experience. One which can change your life. I'm collecting silence quotes which have helped me to consider the value of silence. If you have a favorite quote, feel free to post it in the comments.

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear. Lau Tsu

Be still and know that I am God. The Bible

You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind. Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Silence is more musical than any song. Christina Rossetti

The best answer to anger is silence. Author Unknown

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. Got is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence....We need silence to be able to touch souls.  Mother Teresa

When noise is gone, there is only God. Author Unknown

This is the end toward which we could strive - to be the still axis within the revolving wheel of relationships, obligations and activities. "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I'll be adding more silence quotes as I go along.

Meditation - Learning the Value of Silence

The group from the silent retreat. I am the 3rd from the right

Recently, I went to a silent retreat and it was a life-changing event for me. As you might see in my meditation blog, it's been well over a year since I began it. During that time, I've tried to meditate but never really succeeded in calming my mind enough or sitting for more than a few minutes. The silent retreat was just what I needed to help me begin a serious practice.

The retreat I went to was actually a yoga retreat and, although we did several sessions of yoga, the 24 hours of silence and the one hour meditation sessions changed the way I thought about meditation.

Listening to a talk after our 24 hours of silence

On Friday night, we did a short meditation and then commenced 24 hours of silence. My mind was jumping around during that time, a real "Monkey Mind." The retreat center is out in the Texas countryside and is very dark and very quiet when you're used to city noises. My mind was so busy, I had trouble falling asleep.

During the night, tho, a subtle change took place within me. I woke up early (breakfast wasn't until 730 and a bell would ring at 7 to wake everyone for the day). I took a shower and then practiced tai chi for about 45 minutes amid the silence. It felt wonderful.

Silent yoga is interesting!

After a silent breakfast, we had our first one hour meditation and during that session I found out why I'd never been successful with practicing meditation in the past. It took my mind at least 30 minutes to settle down to the calm and silence and let the thoughts just drift.

The second half of the session was when I really started experiencing the true value of meditation.

During the 24 hours of the silent retreat, we could do whatever we wanted to. There were sessions of yoga and meditation scheduled, as well as an art class. We were free to journal or get any of the massage treatments offered at the center.

There is something freeing in silence.When we are in a group of people, especially people we don't know well, how much of our time is spent talking because we think we "should" be making conversation? It's nice to be interested in others but how often do we get the chance to have all that social pressure lifted and our only obligation is to listen to our own inner wisdom.

For the past few years, I've had many questions. I felt like I was asking the same questions over and over, but getting no answers. At the silent retreat, at one point, we walked the labyrinth out in the backyard. Before entering, our teacher held up a sign that said "Walk the labyrinth with the intention of letting go of........." and we were to fill in that blank. What popped into my mind is to ask to let go of asking. Just let it go and stop driving myself crazy with frustration over the lack of answers.

About half way through the labyrinth, I heard a voice in my head that said "This IS the answer." I knew somehow that it meant silence and letting go of the need to know was the answer I was seeking.

I felt that I'd been asking and asking for answers but I never shut up long enough to listen to my own inner wisdom. I needed to turn off the constant mind chatter and turn inward.

In the course of learning this value of silence, I returned home after the weekend and began my own daily meditation practice. I am no longer impatient with this intention to sit for 25 minutes a day, I look forward to it.

If you would like to begin a serious meditation practice, but you're having trouble doing it on your own, you might seek out a silent retreat or someone who teaches meditation to get you centered and calm in your mind. It gets much easier as time goes on.....

My Meditation Challenge

"If I focus on one thing, what could I be like in a year? What could my whole life look like?"

 

Recently I received an email newsletter that may just change my life. The question above was about finding your life's purpose and I realized that my lack of success in finding my own purpose is that I don't really know what I want to focus on in first place.

Do you know what you want out of life? Have you discovered your life's purpose and passion?If you have, then you are probably a very happy person. If you don't know your life's purpose but you are searching for it, then maybe you're like me, trying different programs, reading books and blogs, looking for advice to help you discover your life's purpose.

 

If you're familiar with the Law of Attraction, you know that the key steps to attracting what you want in life is are:

1.  Decide what you want- state your intention to have it.

2.  Focus on what you want as if you already have it in your life.

3.  Let go, taking inspired action and watch what you want manifest in your life.

Of course there are many other steps you can add, such as being grateful for what you already have, acting on the "inspired action" part of the equation and remaining joyful throughout the process because joy attracts more joy. While doing these things, you don't ask how this will come about, you only know it will.

When I read that question, "If I focus on one thing, what could I be like in a year? What could my whole life look like?" I realized that my issue was that I didn't know what I could focus on that would make a big difference in my life.

 

As I asked myself that question, I got an inspiration. Rather than work on making more money or losing weight (who hasn't had those goals off and on most of their lives), I would focus on making a change in the person I want to be inside. Meditation was the answer.

So I am challenging myself to meditate every day for the next year, beginning with 15 minutes a day. I am entering this challenge with no expectations, and I'll try to be open to whatever happens and wherever this journey takes me.

I'd love to have some company on my journey. Would you like to take the challenge to meditate every day for a year? Perhaps you'd like to focus on something different. The life-changing idea is just to take the challenge at all. If you have any hopes, dreams, ideas, successes or failures, share your thoughts here.