Meditations, Affirmations, and Walks in the Woods
ankareeda_rm always takes one class at PSU every term so that she can keep her library privileges. When the Math classes got to be too much of an energy drain, she started taking 1-credit courses in Women's Studies. These are offered over a weekend, with one session Friday night and another Saturday. I go with her to take notes and otherwise support her (all the instructors have been fine with this; ADA aside, Women's Studies profs are usually aware of disability issues).
This past weekend was a class entitled "Women, Care and Self-Love", and it was amazing. It was taught by the same fabulous instructor we had last term (a bit about that can be found here). We talked about the nature of love and self-esteem, and what it means to love yourself. There were a number of writing exercises, including more timed writing.
The core of the class was learning 2 self-care practices: Meditation and Affirmations. Both of these are things ankareeda_rm does on a daily basis; for me they're things I've known about and tried, but never been able to make work.
With meditation, I've always had trouble with keeping my mind from focusing on how uncomfortable it was for me to sit upright. I generally prefer sitting cross-legged over sitting in a chair, so that's what I always tried. I could kind of do it lying down, but even so really getting my mind to let go of the racing thoughts was difficult. I never felt like I was getting anywhere with it.
The first time we did meditation in the class, I discovered something that amazed me: I can do it much more easily if I'm sitting in a chair with my feet on the floor, at a table on which I can rest my arms, hands open and facing down. I automatically shifted into an upright posture away from the chair back, and when time was called I was surprised that it was over so quickly. It got better as we did it several times over the 2 days.
This afternoon I went for a walk in the woods; at one point I went to sit on a fallen log, set my phone to vibrate in 20 minutes, and went into meditation. There were birds and and one point a lawn mower, but I was able to let them be outside me and just stay with my breath. It was really cool. I ended up stopping after 5 minutes because I felt that I didn't want to take a longer break than that from my exercise, but it was still a success.
Affirmations are similarly something that I've tried with no real success before. I think a lot of the problem came from the way they were phrased. They were always things that I knew weren't true, and I couldn't suspend disbelief in order to make them true.
In the class, we wrote our own affirmations, and I was able to phrase them in ways that worked for me. It's suggested that we pick one or two to focus on each week; for my first I chose "I am attuned with my purpose in life."
I can already feel the effect that it's having. I chanted it while walking through the woods, and made up a song with it while folding laundry. I feel more balanced than I have in quite a while, and much more connected with the energy around me. We'll see where it takes me...
This past weekend was a class entitled "Women, Care and Self-Love", and it was amazing. It was taught by the same fabulous instructor we had last term (a bit about that can be found here). We talked about the nature of love and self-esteem, and what it means to love yourself. There were a number of writing exercises, including more timed writing.
The core of the class was learning 2 self-care practices: Meditation and Affirmations. Both of these are things ankareeda_rm does on a daily basis; for me they're things I've known about and tried, but never been able to make work.
With meditation, I've always had trouble with keeping my mind from focusing on how uncomfortable it was for me to sit upright. I generally prefer sitting cross-legged over sitting in a chair, so that's what I always tried. I could kind of do it lying down, but even so really getting my mind to let go of the racing thoughts was difficult. I never felt like I was getting anywhere with it.
The first time we did meditation in the class, I discovered something that amazed me: I can do it much more easily if I'm sitting in a chair with my feet on the floor, at a table on which I can rest my arms, hands open and facing down. I automatically shifted into an upright posture away from the chair back, and when time was called I was surprised that it was over so quickly. It got better as we did it several times over the 2 days.
This afternoon I went for a walk in the woods; at one point I went to sit on a fallen log, set my phone to vibrate in 20 minutes, and went into meditation. There were birds and and one point a lawn mower, but I was able to let them be outside me and just stay with my breath. It was really cool. I ended up stopping after 5 minutes because I felt that I didn't want to take a longer break than that from my exercise, but it was still a success.
Affirmations are similarly something that I've tried with no real success before. I think a lot of the problem came from the way they were phrased. They were always things that I knew weren't true, and I couldn't suspend disbelief in order to make them true.
In the class, we wrote our own affirmations, and I was able to phrase them in ways that worked for me. It's suggested that we pick one or two to focus on each week; for my first I chose "I am attuned with my purpose in life."
I can already feel the effect that it's having. I chanted it while walking through the woods, and made up a song with it while folding laundry. I feel more balanced than I have in quite a while, and much more connected with the energy around me. We'll see where it takes me...