Meeting Aesclepius

Meeting Aesclepius has by far been the most fulfilling, beneficial mindfulness exercise thus far. This exercise met me where my heart dwells; wanting to be more like CHRIST every day and developing an AGAPE love for all, no matter the situation or circumstance. Meditation comes easily for me as I have been practicing it for quite some time. As I battled the flu and found it hard to sleep, meditation helped to change my focus from the pain to the easy sleep that I so desired. I was soon able to easily drift into the deep, restful sleep I needed. It took some work but I now know that calm abiding and unity consciousness are attainable if only for a few moments at a time. I am more developed than I was at the beginning of the course and with frequent practice I will be able to reside in these states of consciousness  for longer periods of time.

Meditation has helped me improve my physical fitness as well. It has been easier to do another set of weight lifting reps, do more crunches, walk another lap around the track, making better food choices, etc. When I visualize the choices and then intentionally follow through on those choices in reality, I am utilizing the witnessing mind. I can continue to use meditation and visualization to help my body regulate my blood pressure while I continue to lose weight. I can further enhance my body’s homeostasis using meditation to help me deal with and ward of stress.

The saying “one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means that it is impossible to teach someone anything that you don’t know or haven’t experienced. Sincerity speaks for itself and knowledge affirms it. The first example that came to mind when I read this saying was the common practice and mistake many of us make when trying to comfort someone or deescalate a situation by saying ‘I know how you feel or I understand’. This came to me because my best friend’s mother died in January and for the first time in 15 years of friendship I had no words to comfort my friend because I had no frame of reference from which to draw. I felt so helpless but I was not. I did have sources to draw from; my parents, who love her dearly. My father attended the service with me and he was able to comfort us both.

As a health & wellness professional I must be able to relate to my patients/clients on an intimate, transparent level so they are able to trust what I am teaching them is real and that it works. As a health educator my patients/clients need to see a healthy, well adapted individual who can practice what she preaches. Continuing to develop my psychological, physical, and spiritual health will be invaluable to my patients/clients. The ability to block out everything and focus all of my undivided attention on what they need and want is key but to do so from a calm abiding mindset is essential to uncovering sources of distress that need to be addresses and developing an individualized plan for each patient/client. Integral psychological and spiritual growth will continue in my life as I create and alter my integral plan based on what area needs the most attention throughout the remainder of my life. Being attentive to one’s own needs is critical to staying on the road to integral health and experiencing human flourishing on all levels and helping others attain the same.

The Subtle Mind... The Expanse and Loving Kindness in Review

Although I did not post a blog for the loving kindness exercise, I did complete it. I found it very easy to relax as I do these exercises just before I go to bed. This exercise was very easy for me to follow. I have a friend who is in the hospital; she fell on wet tile in the bathroom and tore her ACL, meniscus, broke her tibia and fibula both in two place and was told that her injury was worse than what athletes suffer and that she would lose her leg just below the or above the knee. I sent her as much loving kindness as I could muster during the exercise. I know that I am not the only one praying for her recovery but when I was done with the exercise my phone said “you’ve got mail”. She had just posted on Facebook that she would not lose her leg and that she was scheduled to have the 2^nd of about 5 surgeries on March 1^st. This exercise couldn’t have come a better time in my life. All of the worry that I had instantly dissipated and I went right to sleep after reading that post and sleep more soundly than I have in quite some time. Her surgery went well and she is on the road to a long recovery but I will continue to practice this loving kindness exercise throughout her recovery. She can never have too much.   

Out of character for me, I completed the subtle mind exercise around 6:00 pm today, after a day of treating the flu, housework that took forever because I’m weak and reading and assignments for this class and another. It almost felt like I had been work all day. It took me longer to get to a witnessing mind because the mental chatter was so loud and I developed a headache and a pain in my neck during the exercise. I found that I was able to ease the pain by really concentrating on my breathing while incorporating some neck rolls. As the pain subsided so did the mental chatter and the sound of the waves became really loud. When this occurred, the first mental image that popped into my head was a scene from the movie The Life of Pi. I saw the expanse and crisp blue of the water and I became one with it. When thoughts, feelings and images came to my mind, I was able to observe them rather than grasp at them because I was so focused on the expanse of the water. I felt like I was Pi sitting in that boat in what appeared to be the middle of the ocean/sea with nothing else in sight and I enjoyed the peace and stillness as those thought, images, and feels came and then dissipated into the peaceful stillness.

I realized at one point that I was holding something because I dropped it but I heard no sound when it fell. I went in and out of the peaceful stillness as the world around me tried to invade my thoughts. Turning my attention back to my breathing was extremely ease to do because I wanted to go back to that peaceful still and dwell there. It seemed as though I were there for a very long time when it was only for a few minutes. It was surreal and definitely an exercise I will incorporate into my daily activities and one I will share with my children as well. I’m hoping it’s an exercise that we can do together and on our own but one that we can talk about and share as a family. I love to hear the things that my children experience because it gives us an open line of communication and it keeps us connected as a family unit. I know that a family that prays together stays together. May a family that meditates together and explore the mind together. I’m anxious to find out.

I would say that the loving kindness exercise was easier to do because I wasn’t focused on myself and I had properly set the atmosphere before attempting the exercise. The subtle mind exercise was more challenging because the focus was me and I had not taken the time to set the atmosphere or relax before I attempted the exercise. Each exercise was beneficial and brought the aspects of the lessons “to life”. The exercises made the concepts make sense and gave me a clearer understanding of how the mind actually works and how it can be trained to do what we want and need for it to do; help us flourish and embrace all that we are or care to be. As I type this I am hearing the introduction t star track in my head….where in the world did that come from….The mind is truly a terrible thing to waste when it has the potential to change the world as we know it……