Be

Today, during my first medication since before Christmas (more on this later), I decided to create my own Mantra. A single word; the word I chose was, “Be”.

As 2017 has made its introductions to the world, many people have picked New Year’s Resolutions in response. Often, these are noble steps toward healthier lives with new routines, or the ending of bad habits. I felt that the word “Be” would help me pick a New Year’s Resolution for myself. Who do I want to be, and to do so, what do I need to do?

Be… Smarter
Be… Happier
Be… Stronger (Physically and Emotionally)
Be… Well-rounded
Be… Healthier
Be… More Open-minded

These are many that have crossed my mind while breathing out the word “Be”

Be… Inspiring
Be… Friendlier
Be… Logical
Be… Grateful
Be… Real

As humans, many of us have similar hope for ourselves. Hopes that we can one day achieve most–if not all–of these traits and continue to improve them regularly. However, being the humans that we are, it’s challenging to improve even so much as one of these traits mindfully, and everyday. Without some sort of routine that we force ourselves to meet, it can be difficult to do anything. I feel–for me–I need incentives to work hard at something. Even when the incentives are said to be there but not yet visible (i.e. better health, happier living, better friendships). If I don’t see improvement right away, I am often turned away from my own efforts. Meditation and blogging are honest examples of this. I tried them for a month, didn’t feel much different, didn’t gain a larger audience of readers all at once, so I gave up. I took a break for the holidays. But it’s a new year, and that means I am going to BE PATIENT. Working hard at something often lasts a long time before the positive results are tangible. Giving up gets you no where, and throws your self-esteem into the gutters.

So… cheers to getting back up, brushing the dirt off our knees and continuing to climb our mountains of aspirations.

Thanks for sticking with me ❤

Timing

The first step to committing to daily meditation is telling yourself you will do it everyday, around the same time, only for two minutes. If you do more than that, great! But always start small. For the past week I told myself that I would gradually increase the amount of time spent meditating. The result was a constantly wandering mind during the last minute of each session. A person who meditates for 20 minutes is not necessarily a better meditator than one who meditates for two. Don’t worry about the timing, don’t worry about trying to progress by increasing time spent. Simply, meditate. As you get better you will find yourself naturally meditating for longer. Some people find having a timer or stopwatch to keep time to their meditation sessions useful, but I’ve found that going without a clock keeps me from being distracted by time, and instead, allows me to focus on my breath, mantra, or central point of focus. If after a few meditations you feel yourself getting antsy about when you can get on to the rest of your day, bring your session back down to around two minutes so that you don’t stress about spending too much time meditating. This will allow even those two minutes to be most productive. If you do not know how long two minutes feels, try finding a soothing sounds of nature or guided meditation audio track online to listen to. Then you can move onto meditating on your own if you like. Or, you can count your breaths, and once you reach 20 exhales, you’ve meditated for approximately a minute. Allow your natural breath to be your timer.

-Evelyn

 

6. The Third Eye Chakra

The Third Eye Chakra–also known as the Brow Chakra–is located in between the eyes just above the brow. With it’s Sanskrit name “Ajna” which means “beyond wisdom”, this chakra focuses on expanding intuition, imagination and spirituality. The Third Eye Chakra is associated with the color indigo, the musical note A, the element of light, and the Sacred sound “Aum”.

The pituitary and pineal glands located in the brain and just behind the forehead, between the eyes are linked to this chakra. The pituitary gland is considered the master gland because it sends messages to the rest of our glands and organs throughout the body. The pituitary also sends messages to the brain telling it to turn thoughts into actions. However that is when the pineal gland comes inhibiting the pituitary gland and communicating to the brain to wait a moment. Instead, the brain to told to ponder those thoughts before performing them. The pineal gland is what makes us truly human–it is the essence of consciousness which allows us to adventure into deep thought. The Third Eye harnesses this feature of the pineal gland and allows us to expand that consciousness.

When the Third Eye chakra is cleansed, one has an open and clear state of mind, external awareness, and reliable gut feelings. When cleared, the 3rd Eye chakra aids in developing the imagination, expanding consciousness, and heightening spiritual awareness. You can trust your senses when this chakra is clear which results in decreased levels of stress and worry.

If you feel that your thoughts are foggy, if you’re forgetful, or like your gut feelings are not helping dissociate fantasy from reality, then your Third Eye chakra may be out of balance.

To clear the Third Eye chakra one can use any of the following crystals (and of course can use many others, for the list is practically endless): Sodalite, Amethyst, and Azurite.

Sodalite encompasses all the healing powers that are needed for the third eye Chakra. It works to enhance cognitive ability, rational thought, truth and intuition, as well as clairvoyance.

Amethyst is a more spiritual stone which opens channels for higher consciousness and clairvoyance. This stone brings peace and happiness to the mind and is also said to bring lucid dreams, and protect one against physical or psychic harm.

Azurite, like sodalite, works to open up the mind for cognitive and intuitive thought. Meditating with sodalite in one palm and azurite in another will help you clear your mind and answer what it is you want from a specific aspect of your life. What do you want in your relationships or in a relationship to come. What do you want in the workplace, what do you want in your free time, etc. Azurite also helps open the mind to think outside the box, and keeps one detail-oriented.

Please return on Thursday to read about the final Standard Chakra: The Crown Chakra.

4. The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is in the center of the 7 Chakras and maintains the balance between the upper three and lower three. Also known as “Anahata”, this chakra is aligned to the color green, the musical note F, the planet Venus, the element Air, and the Sacred sound “Yam”. The Heart Chakra is located right on the heart and is attuned to the Cardiac Plexus.

I find it interesting that all our lives we already know about the Heart Chakra since many believe the heart is the location of love in the human body. Especially during the holidays, we “open our hearts” to give gifts to family, friends, and the less fortunate. So you really already know about the Heart Chakra. This chakra is associated with love and giving/receiving.

The chakra before the Heart, the Solar Chakra, focused on personal creativity. The Solar Chakra is thought of as the Chakra of power where creativity and compassion are born and nourished. And now with the Heart Chakra with it’s element is air–like a breeze picking up a seedling– works to disperse creativity and positive self-esteem throughout your life.

Your heart chakra may be out of balance if you cannot trust yourself or others, if you feel unloved or unworthy of love. If you are getting caught up in your feelings, or what others may think of you, it’s a sign that your heart chakra may need some attention. Additionally, jealousy and resistance to change arise when the heart chakra is out of balance. Physical signs that the heart chakra needs healing include wheezing, breathing trouble, ulcers, and chest infections.

Crystals used to heal the Heart Chakra include but are not limited to: Green Aventurine, Rose Quartz, and Rhodonite. Many green and pink stones will align with the Heart Chakra.

Green Aventurine helps your heart let go of old ways and habits allowing for growth and change. Aventurine is also ideal for fending social disputes and instead opens the heart to other’s perspectives and friendly communication. Placed on the heart chakra, Green Aventurine will align the heart to these ideas, or this stone can be worn or kept on the person to invite these things into your life.

Rose Quartz, like all quartz crystals, is an ideal purifier and will clear out any negativity, jealousy and anger from the heart and replace it with love and compassion.

Rhodonite helps open the heart to be more giving and respectful to mankind. This crystal will also defeat anxiety and bring grounding love into your life.

1. The Root Chakra

The first of the seven standard Chakras is located at the base of the spine. Known as the Root or Base Chakra, it’s Sanskrit name is “Muladhara”, musical note is B, color is red, and sacred sound is “Lam”. The Plexus’–or bundles of nerves or vessels in the body-that the root chakra aligns to are the Lumbar and Coccygeal Plexus’. Both are located at the bottom part of the spine.

Survival instincts and physical state are the main focus of the root chakra. With the right types of healing exercises, the root chakra works to keep issues related to these focuses at bay. Say you are having trouble accepting your body, you are feeling restless, or lacking physical energy. Maybe you are having financial problems and don’t know if or how you can pay next month’s rent. Perhaps you aren’t eating as well as you normally do, or you are having suicidal thoughts. Of course not all of these issues can be completely healed by meditation, or crystal healing, but it is likely that self-healing exercises can aid in the healing process. I’m not a doctor nor are many practicing chakra healers, so please don’t depend on me for medical advice. However, the root chakra is centered on these types of issues and when healed, can ground you in a healthier and safer state of mind.

Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs where physiological needs need to be attained before reaching self actualization, the Root chakra needs to be healed to create stability in the rest of the body and mind. Once this stability is obtained, one can move on to healing the next Chakra. It would be difficult to try and open your 3rd eye to become more spiritual if you were constantly worried about your weight or financial state. There is an order in which certain needs must be addressed. One must focus on physical needs before gaining the privilege of wondering how to improve creativity skills or harness a sense of accomplishment. That is why the Root chakra comes first, because it must be addressed before any of the other chakras for the best healing.

Crystal healing is often associated with the Chakras so with each Chakra that I share with you, I will list crystals which focus on healing the chakra at hand. To use crystals in chakra healing, place the crystal on the chakra area for 20 minutes while laying down in a quiet, undisturbed space.

Crystals aligned with the Root chakra include but are not limited to: Jet, Red Jasper, Smokey Quartz, Bloodstone, Fire Agate, Stichtite, Obsidian, and Red Calcite. As you can see, many of the stones are red, like the color of the Chakra. This will be a reoccurring theme as we move on to the other chakras.

To wrap up, let me tell you about the first three stones I’ve listed:

1. Jet is a very dark matte-black stone which aids in taking control of life and stabilizing financial situations. If you carry this stone in your wallet you may see an increase in money coming your way. 
2. Jasper is actually said to align with all the chakras and depending on the color, will align to a specific chakra. The root chakra is red, so Red Jasper aligns to it and helps calm emotions, decrease worries, and calm sexual aggressiveness. 
3. Smokey Quartz is one of the most efficient of the grounding and cleansing stones. It is used to detoxify the body, alleviate suicidal tendencies, and increases acceptance of the body.

 

Visit back tomorrow to read about Chakra #2: The Sacral Chakra

5 minutes of Meditation: A Lifetime of Mindfulness

My work is pretty awesome. Our CEO, along with other leaders of the organization, understand that employee satisfaction drives success within a business. They have worked together with scientists and wellness coaches to create a phone app specifically for our employee base to set personal health and wellness goals. The purpose of this app is to improve happiness in employees’ daily lives and workplace. I decided to give it a shot.

This app provides multiple wellness tracks to choose from and there was one based on meditation, so I thought it was perfect!

After using this app for a week I’ve completed more than 7 guided meditations, ranging from 5 to 10 minutes each, which have helped improve my mindfulness.
Below are my thoughts from the meditations for today.

1. The first meditation was called Counting The Breath. I have been doing a few simple breathing meditations on my own, but this meditation helped me catch my mind wandering. The meditation told me to focus on my breath by thinking, “IN” when breathing in, and then to assign a number to each exhale. I was to do this until I reached the number 10 and then begin again at 1. When I caught myself becoming distracted, I was told to be proud for catching myself and to simply start again at 1. During this meditation I began to force my breathing into a predictable rhythm, but the voice on the recording told me to let my breath do it’s own thing, and just, breathe. So I did.

2. The second meditation was about being kind to yourself. When I started to meditate a few weeks ago, I was constantly harsh on myself for being so distracted all the time. Sometimes still, I catch myself falling out of focus more than I would like and it’s frustrating. My internal voice speaks sharply, saying I need to stop f***ing falling out of focus and just meditate, goddammit! But really, I need to be kind. Kindness get’s you so much further in life.
I mean after all, it’s not like if I meditate “wrong” anything bad will happen. Plus, it’s supposed to take time to become a great meditator, therefore patience is warranted.
The great thing about this specific meditation is, there’s something to take away and reflect upon throughout my days to come-How does my internal voice sound when I’m at home versus at work? Am I hard on myself when I make mistakes at work and is that effecting my ability to be productive? Do I deserve the sharp words? Probably not. I’m going to be more mindful of my internal voice at work. If I adjust that voice to be softer and kinder, I bet I will become more productive and optimistic.

3. This final meditation for the day was about balance. Meditation is about finding a balance between relaxing and focusing energy. Like tuning a guitar by ear, it takes time to understand how to “listen” to your body and mind. How to not be above the pitch or below the pitch but to sail right on top of the perfect note. To ride that balance between focused energy, and relaxation. This meditation taught me how to physically notice when I am off-balance.
I had been avoiding sitting cross-legged because it was hurting my back. It didn’t make sense because sitting cross-legged never hurt my back unless I was meditating. This should have been a red flag right away, but what was happening was I was working too hard and straining my back more than straightening it. Once I realized I was exerting too much energy into my posture, I relaxed more, found a comfortable seated position and still sat up straight.
Other times, I have almost fallen asleep while meditating, which means that I wasn’t focusing enough energy into my meditation. From now on, When this happens I need to take a few deep breaths to draw my attention back to my breath, feel a change of pace, and perhaps open my eyes to become more awake. I need to allow a bit more energy to flow through me.

I will more mindful of my mind wandering, my internal voice, and finding that right balance between focus and relaxation while meditating.

Day 3: Meditation and The 2016 Presidential Election

I’m sitting on my couch in Arizona flip flopping between news channels, awaiting the final results of the 2016 presidential election. I feel stressed, worried, anxious, and even scared for what we have collectively decided for the direction of our country.

This is the first presidential election that I have voted in and I wasn’t expecting to ever be so stressed about politics.

I’m glad I’ve started meditating 🙂

**I had to turn off the TV at this point because I found it to be less stressful with open tabs on my computer to bounce through as I saw fit instead of inviting heated news banter into my living room.

I feel especially bogged down by the atmosphere that has been created around me. That’s not to say that it is all negative-although MOST of it is-it is all just so…heavy. Very important decisions are being made, and everyone is eager to know the results. Once this election is over I hope people take time to detoxify and rejuvenate from all the “bleh” that’s been splattered all over one another.

***Now at this point I was constantly refreshing the ABC website to see if updates were being made to the electoral vote counts for each nominee. Then I suddenly found myself trapped in Facebook feeding the powerful meme presence while drinking a double shot. Cuban Screwdriver (thats a screwdriver but with rum instead of tequila).

You didn’t think that I was a drinker did you?! Being that I’m starting this very cleansing meditation practice and all, you’d probably assume I’m into vegan foods, and organic living before alcoholism.
“Balance is key”.
Meditation (and at times drinking) helps when you want to be engaged in your country’s politics. Remember to take care of your mental and psychological state by letting your mind rest once in a while instead of constantly being overrun by the topics in the news. Get rest. It can be a practical type of rest, like having a nice bath and listening to relaxing sounds of nature, or getting a liberal…. I mean literal nap in during your day! Ahh, I love naps 🙂

And remember, no matter how uncertain you feel about the election and whoever wins, the one thing you are most in control of is yourself. Your mind and your body are the true home that your soul has, so treat them well. Allow your body to heal when needed, and rest when it tells you it needs rest. It’s the one home that is guaranteed to be yours forever.

Peace with you.