Sukha and Gratitude ... The Gifts You Never Tire Of..

Hello. I would like to take a moment to send another shout-out to Yoga On The Park. My appreciation for yoga is certainly growing and I believe it's the portal to meditating. As I mentioned in a previous post, this past week I was asked to invite the practice of Sukha, happiness, into my daily experience, and I did. Sharing this in class I mentioned this Gratitude blog - and I am writing here just to clarify that the original blog ran for the year 2010. I am excited about sharing it anew... and working at picking it up again - because truly, it changed my life.

Thank you for the opportunity to share.

Uh .. oh ya .. Meditation...

Just for the record, I did in fact complete the 21 Day Meditation Challenge. Well, 19 Day Meditation Challenge. .... and while totally not appropriate - I deem myself a meditation failure. Ya, ya.. I know... but just for now. I promise that I am not giving up. Something has clicked in my head and I deeply believe that its a necessity to incorporate meditation into my life. I'll get there.

In this weeks yoga class - I volunteered to be the person doing the homework - the home work being incorporating a daily practice of Happiness - sukha - into my life. Well.. I know how to do that I thought! How different from incorporating a daily practice of gratitude could it be? Not much different at all.

So for my Happiness Project today - I noticed a beautiful red breasted bird singing away merrily while I was out on the morning walk/run. It is beautiful and not cold today, sunny ... and generally happy making.

Yesterday's sukha was about the yoga practice itself. I felt joyful about my abilities, about how being still in a pose felt so damn rewarding!

So yay me.... lot's of sukha today.  What about you? Just for today, just for right now - what's your sukha about?

Namaste to you!

21 Day Meditation: Day 2 ... Already???

Today's mediation was interesting. The mantra was "yum" .. which apparently is a word that opens the heart chakra. One thing I found really helpful, as opposed to other attempts at learning how to meditate, is the voice and music that accompanies this 21 day practice. As a matter of fact, today in particular, the music was so rhythmic as to help me breath in a deep and regular way. That accompanied by the mantra really did work to have the ticker tape parade in my head quiet down ... significantly. So, I have to consider this a success. I realize by stating this I am defeating the purpose of  "noticing and letting be". It's not just the internal chatter we ought notice and let go of - but as I understand it any self praise, self deprecation, anything... just notice and let go.

Tuesdays happen also to be the day I take a yoga class. Interestingly enough - today's mediation in yoga revolved around focusing on the sounds around us. The sounds outside - the traffic, the melting snow dripping, the sounds of the daycare next door; and inside - our teacher was ringing different bells, hitting different bowls to achieve melodic dings and tones and rings.... noticing and letting go is not as easy as it sounds...

I realize I am posting this 21 Day Meditation on my Gratitude blog. So I would like to take advantage to do some gratituding..  walking to yoga today, I smelled the smells of Spring, of rain, of the sodden earth coming to life. The maple trees are already dropping the first of their buds or whatever it is they drop in the Spring. There are tufts of grass peeking through. I am sure birds are around in the winter - but for some reason I hear them now. I hear the snow melting. I feel the warm air on my face and heave a sigh of thank goodness .. its almost done.

Calming Down...

I have been taking a yoga class since the beginning of the year, at Yoga On The Park on Sherbrooke. I love it there. It's peaceful. My teacher Joanne is patient and gentle and kind. I come away from the class relaxed, exhausted (because who knew Yoga could be such a workout??) and happy.

I have noticed a shift in myself. It used to be that I would fidget, bounce around, ham it up as it were - yes, even in a yoga class. I remember I once took an African dance class, meant as an exercise. I felt so self-conscious (jiggling around in front of a full length mirror) I actually asked the teacher if he wanted to pair it up with a self-esteem class (physician heal thyself I always say) ... my self-consciousness manifesting in my refusal to calm down and follow instructions, better to be noticed for the clown I can be than the uncomfortable student, ashamed of her body, or lack of dancing finesse .. or who knows what.

Well I'm really happy to report that on this side of 50 all that seems to have disappeared, not that I'm running to the next African dance class - but I am so much more centred and at peace and accepting of myself.  It isn't about what others see or are doing any more. I dont even need to be noticed by the teacher anymore - even though her gentle touch makes me feel special and cared for.  It's about my investment in me. It's about my relationship with my self, my body, my sense of who I am, the space I take up.

A lot of folk complain about aging... but I gotta tell you, the experience of no longer being tethered to a need for approval, or a need to be noticed is incredibly freeing. I'm grateful to be able to experience it. I'm grateful to be conscious enough to notice it.