So I was at a gathering at church this morning, for our choir. A "Centering Prayer" gathering. As we got to know each other (there were other choirs who'd joined us), we got to chatting about prayer, silence and finding quiet in our current situation where we're surrounded 24/7 - or so it seems - with stimuli both good and bad.
I'm actually borrowing this idea from one of the participants, and I'm altering it to fit the Yoga world. As we know, Yoga is NOT a religion. Yoga has spiritual roots, but it is not a religion. If prayer isn't your thing, that's cool.
That being said, we need to have stillness. Our power went out today; I left Hubby in the quiet and he said, "This is going to drive me nuts." I thought it was glorious...
Anyway, here's the thing: we need to find quiet. But how? Where? What do we do so that it doesn't feel like "one more thing to add to my list" - which will cause us to feel horrible if we fail.
You drive, right? Or you're carpooling or taking public transportation, if you're lucky enough to have a good system in place. We don't - so I drive.
There are traffic lights, right? So. Here's the thing:
Turn the radio off. When you're at a red light, breathe. Don't think about where you're going, or how long the light is. Or how that miserable *^&% in back of you is on his cell phone or putting on her make-up and not paying attention!!
Sit, for those 2 minutes or so. And breathe. Fill your mind with the thought of a person or a word that's special to you - that brings you peace or reminds you of calm. And repeat the word. And breathe.
This is a great meditation technique for several reasons:
- We all have to deal with traffic, so we may as well get something out of it that's relaxing rather than frustrating.
- We need to not fall asleep meditating! You can't fall asleep at a red light...and if you do, you need to drive home immediately.
- It's a start - you're sitting there. You've "always" wanted to meditate, but find the thought of sitting still for a period of time to be intimidating. Well - 2 minutes isn't intimidating if you're already stuck there, right?
Start with traffic. Certainly a place where we need "a peace of calm" - and where you can start to learn to work with your breath, to notice what's around you and to take a few minutes of silence.
By all means, turn the radio back on when the light turns green. Go back to your journey.
But take those two minutes at every traffic light to just breathe, to sit in silence, and to begin a new journey: the journey toward a consistent meditation practice.