Bursting at the seams...

I am often asked by students and clients how to meditate. I teach meditation and as group it is much easier to focus. But what about a personal meditation practice. What does that look like? Today, as you read, there was ease, I will continue to share other experiences so you can see they don't always come so spontaneously and easy even after 15 years of practice. It is all part of the practice. The subtle shifts of awakening in the mind and body often happen during the other parts of our daily routine, not so often during the actual meditation.

Here is my meditation experience from this morning...I hope it inspires you to stop, breathe, and notice.

Many many years ago I was still asleep in many ways as I am sure I still am as I write this yet I feel much more awakened.

Many years ago I began to awaken to different aspects of myself. My voice got louder but was extinguished because I let it be.

Today I feel like I am coming out of hibernation in some ways, beyond awakened in other ways.

My heart feels like it is bursting at the seams and I'm not even sure why. I guess there doesn't need to be a reason. I actually took time to connect with nature. I woke up early and had the opportunity to do so. I should create this opportunity more often. The opportunity to just go outside and look, listen, feel, and be. That feels like the most indulgent, sacred prayer of all. When I have this feeling I don't know what to do with it. I am going to take this moment to drink it in and be silent. Will you wait for me?

Thank you for waiting...I closed my eyes and sat with my thoughts and in my minds eye I saw all the prominent teachers in my life passing from right to left. It was more than a slide show it was a picture of each person surrounded by sand and as the picture passed by the sand blew away. There was no clinging to the stories of each person and what they taught me. Then there was nothing, it was very brief but there was nothing. My posture wasn't anything to brag about, I was sitting at my dining room table with my feet resting on the bottom rung, I even had my elbows on the table with interlocked fingers resting my forehead on my hands. No formal seated practice this time.

I feel as if sitting with that feeling instead of acting on that feeling allowed my heart, that felt as if it was bursting at the seams, to diffuse and absorb into my body, my mind, and my soul. Although it feels as if it this feeling originated in the soul and settled at my heart, maybe to see if I would listen, I am now basking in contentment and some kind of pure gratitude for a lack of better words.
When my thoughts paused for those brief few moments, there was so much space. So much ease, so much peace. When my thoughts came back I returned to the simplicity of following one breath at a time. Much like putting one foot in front of the other. Once breath at a time. One breath is all there is. Everything happens in one breath.

Many of you know my favorite meditation...and this feels like the perfect time to share it again. "Breathing in I calm my body, breathing out I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know it is a wonderful moment." -Thich Nhat Hanh