Daily Meditation Series



A few years ago I found a deck of meditation cards on sale and bought them.  I have never actually used them so I thought I will explore and share them on here so we can learn together :)  There are a few different types of meditations in this deck.

10 basics
9 daily meditations
30 visualizations


So for the next 30 days I will combine 1 visualization with a mix of 1 basic and daily meditation (these will repeat but I will random them to change it up)

Day 1

Basic Meditation

Meditation is a tool that has een used for centuries to promote inner peace and health.  Modern scientific sutdies have shown that regulare meditation can help reduce hypertension and stress.

1. Find a quite place.  Turn off the phone or move to silent.  Find and devote a comfortable place in your home for your meditation practice.  Pillows, boolsters, blankets, your mat, or nothing can be used.  This is your practice.  Come to a crosslegged seat with your back supported and spine long.  Allow for the legs and knees to become heavy.  Releasing tension you are holding in your body.  Take a deep breath in through the nose and out of the mouth with a sigh.  Allow the shoulders to draw down the back, neck long (repeat 2x)

2. Allow your eyes to gently close.  Notice your breathing.  As you focus on the inhaltions and exhaltions of your breathing you will notice it will start to even out.  Same count inhaling as exhauling.   If distracting thoughts come up, let go of them.  Acknowledge them and then shelf them for later.  Return your focus to your breathing to help keep the mind from wandering.  This isn't easy right off the bat.  Living in a fast paced world and asking our brains to slow down from that pace is hard.  Over time you will find your mind calms easier.

3. Too keep focus, set an intention.  Use of a mantra or mudra also help.  This also helps the further your meditation but incorporating these two.  Mantras can be spoken verally or mentally to oneself.

4.  Allow for enough time for yourself to meditate.  Meditation should not have a short time limit if a time limit at all.  The intention isn't to meditate and move on like we do with majority of things in our life.  Meditation is a time and practice set aside for you.  The opporutnity to turn inward and be present.

Daily Meditation

You can bring the concentrated energy of meditation into a simple act of nourishment.

After completing your meditation, pick out a large juicy fruit of your choice.  Feel its texture in both of your hands.  Close your eyes and roll it around your hands.  Inhale the fragrance.  Smell the sweetness of the fruit.  The ripeness.  Slowly peel or cut the fruit feeling the texture change.  Break off a peice of the fruit, smell it, then put the fuit in your mouth.  Allow the sense to full engage.  The smell of the fruit combining with the taste.  Roll your tounge over the fruit.  Chew it as slow as possible noticing each different taste.  Sweet?  Bitter? Tangy?  Imagine all of the nutrients deeply feeding your body.  Providing the building blocks of life.  Finish the rest of the fruit in this manner.  Remember, it isn't about eating the fruit as fast as possible.  But truely enjoying the fruit.  Slow down and enjoy the fruit for what it is and what it does.  It isn't just a peach or an orange.  It is the sustinance the body needs to survive as it should in nature.

Visualization

Your wise self is part of your that can help your find solutions to challenges you come across in this jouney.  Take the time to Meet Your Wise Self

After meditating, imagine you are going to a beautiful meadow at the top of a mountain, or a beautiful place you feel safe.  The beach.. the woods..

Sit comfortably in your place.  Imagine golden light coming toward you.  Feel its warmth start to grow as it grows brighter while moving closer.  As it grows bigger, allow it to fill your heart space.  Allow this to relax you and feel the positivity and light.  When the light is upon you, it can take any form that comes to you or stay as light.  Allow yourself to be and be present in that very moment.  Stay as long or as little as feels right. 

Write down any thoughts or feelings that may have come to you.  This can sometimes stir up or bring forth things we forget that maybe be painful.. but can also bring forward some of our most cherished forgotten memories.

Meditation is an ever evolving practice.  Each person's meditation and experience is unique and different from the next.  Take the time for yourself each day.

Namaste
Ash