Category Archives: Meditation

A Meditation To Deal With Difficult People

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We all have people who challenge us in some way, often those closest to us. The yoga teachings say that no matter how much we’d like to, we can never change  someone else.  All we can change is how we react to them.

Fortunately, that’s usually enough.  I learned the wonderful meditation below when I took yoga therapist training many years ago.  Give it a try. You might be surprised at the results!

Pratipaska Bhavanam Meditation: Replacing with the Opposites,

  1. Sit comfortably, with your spine erect and the crown of your head floating up to the ceiling.  Sitting either in a chair or on the floor is fine, as long as you are physically comfortable and your spine is in “neutral.” 
  2. Allow your eyes to close and your focus to go internal.
  3. Notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it.  Feel the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.  Allow your mind to focus on and pay attention to this feeling of the breath.  This will be your anchor and where you will invite your attention whenever your mind wanders.
  4. Bring to mind an interaction that was stressful or contentious in some way in a relationship that’s important to you.  Something that challenged you and in which you reacted with anger, fear, stress or frustration.
  5. Try to really feel and “re-live” that interaction.
    • What did you feel in your muscles?
    • How did your breath change?
    • What sensations did you feel in your jaw and face?
    • Were you hot or cold?
    • What sensations did you feel internally in your throat, your stomach, your chest?
    • Were your hands, toes, or teeth clenched?
    • What facial expression do you imagine you wore?
    • What was your “inner dialogue” like?  Did you attribute intentions or motives to the person with whom you were interacting?
    • What message did your energy send to that other person?
  6. Now, imagine what it would have felt like—been like—had you instead reacted to the other person with the energy of love, light, and understanding.  
    • What do you feel in your muscles?
    • What is the rhythm of your breath?
    • What sensations do you feel in your jaw and face?
    • Are your hands, toes, and jaw relaxed?
    • What sensations do you feel internally in your throat, your stomach, your chest?
    • What facial expression do you imagine you are wearing?
    • What is your “inner dialogue” like?  Do you attribute intentions or motives to the person you are interacting with?
    • What message does your energy send to the person with whom you are interacting?
  7. If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then return to your peaceful place and begin again.
  8. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and check out my author page for information about the Downward Dog Mysteries series.  MURDER STRIKES A POSE is available for preorder now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Whole Life Yoga, and other retailers!

Safe Place Meditation for Relaxation

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One of my favorite meditations allows me to transport myself to a place I love. Sometimes I imagine sitting in front of a roaring fire. Sometimes I walk along the the ocean. Sometimes I feel the rough surface of a dock I used to frequent over 20 years ago. Our bodies respond similarly whether we actually visit our favorite locations or simply imagine ourselves there.

The next time you need a vacation, there’s no need to wait save up money or accumulate vacation hours. Try this simple visualization meditation instead. The more senses you involve, the more deeply you will immerse yourself in the experience.

Safe Place Visualization Meditation

  1. Sit comfortably, with your spine erect and the crown of your head floating up to the ceiling. Sitting either in a chair or on the floor is fine, as long as you are physically comfortable and your spine is in “neutral.”
  2. Allow your eyes to close and your focus to go internal.
  3. Notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it. Feel the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils. Allow your mind to focus on and pay attention to this feeling of the breath. The breath will be your anchor.
  4. Bring to mind a place in which you feel calm and at peace, whether real or imaginary. Any place will work as long as it feels serene and safe to you.
    • A cabin next to a crackling fire
    • Your grandmother’s kitchen
    • A beach, lake, or other body of water
    • Cuddling in your living room with your dog, cat, or favorite human.
  5. Imagine yourself in your peaceful place using all of your senses.
    • What do you see? Be as specific as you can, down to the details of colors, textures and individual blades of grass.
    • What do you smell? Freshly mown grass? The brackish smell of the ocean? Vanilla candles? The delicious aroma of baked cookies?
    • What do you hear? The crackle of a fire? Purring of kittens? The breath-like sound of the ocean? Birds singing or chirping?
    • What sensations can you feel?  What textures can you feel under your fingertips? Is your skin warm or cool? Are your muscles tight or relaxed?
    • What do you taste? Is your tongue bitter, sweet, salty?
    • What do you feel internally? Are you hungry? Satisfied? Do you feel happy, relaxed, or peaceful?
  6. If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose. Then return to your peaceful place and begin again.
  7. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

No matter where you are, you take this safe place with you. Visit it any time you need to feel safe.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and check out my author page for information about the Downward Dog Mysteries series.  MURDER STRIKES A POSE is available for preorder now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Whole Life Yoga, and other retailers!

Meditation for Better Grades

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Want to improve your GPA? Try meditation!

A recent study published in the April, 2013 edition of Mindfulness Journal showed that practicing simple meditations before college lectures can help students improve focus, retain information, and increase test scores.  Meditation practice (or lack thereof) even predicted which students passed and which ones failed post lecture quizzes.

In the study—performed by professor Robert Youmans of George Mason University and doctoral student Jared Ramsburg of the University of Illinois—students were randomized into two groups. One group followed basic meditation exercises before lecture, the other did not. The meditation group had significantly higher post lecture quiz scores than the control group. This meditation effect seemed to be the most significant in classes with a high proportion of freshmen students, likely because freshmen students often have more difficulty focusing than their more senior classmates.

Most astounding to me was the minimal time and effort required to get significantly improved test scores. I’ve long told my students that ten-minute meditation practices done consistently can change your life.  This study shows that you might not even need to spend that much time. Students in these studies were only asked to meditate for six minutes before class.

Give it a try!  This simple meditation practice is a great way to get started.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and check out my author page for information about the Downward Dog Mysteries series.  MURDER STRIKES A POSE is available for preorder now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Whole Life Yoga, and other retailers!

The Meditation Myth

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Today’s blog article was written by  guest author Ashley Josephine Herzberger and was inspired by her new book The Unconventional Beginner’s Guide to Yoga, an e-book introduction to yoga practice for those who are wary of stepping on the mat. Ashley also guides an online community for busy women looking to relax, release stress, stretch and connect at http://ashleyjosephine.com.

Ashley Josephine HerzbergerThese days, the benefits of meditation grace the pages of scientific news journals, national newspapers, thoroughly researched magazine articles and entire books. Meditation is indeed becoming mainstream as more and more doctors start to prescribe the practice as a remedy for anxiety and its host of symptoms. But with the mainstream, comes the propagation of a myth that meditation must be done the  “right” way for it to be as effective as the medical journals say it can be.

The Downfall of Meditation

As any curious yoga student, I had been hearing enough about meditation to believe that I could benefit from its wide array of soothing solutions. A few years back, I decided I should probably start a meditation practice. I didn’t know much about it, but the several silent moments I’d spend in yoga classes every day quieting the mind seemed to me as good an introduction as any.

The hardest part was finding the time to do it. Once I decided I would spend 10 minutes before bed every night quietly contemplating nothing, I was ready to start practicing.

Except I kept looking at the timer, convinced that I had forgotten to set it or that it had somehow malfunctioned and I’d actually been sitting for hours instead of minutes. I couldn’t slow down my mind and my thoughts wouldn’t disappear, no matter how much I willed them to go away.

And then there were some nights I was just so tired…so my meditation practice fell by the wayside.

A month or so later, I’d try again, but the same things kept happening. I got frustrated and decided meditation wasn’t working.

Then I met a teacher. He gave me a personalized meditation practice but that still wasn’t enough.

What I came to learn through personal experience and through teaching beginning students is that meditation can be a formal practice but it doesn’t have to be.

The myth of meditation is that it must be done a certain way. The name confers a practice, when in fact we engage in contemplation every single day in our own unique way.

How To Find Your Own Meditation Practice

To find your own meditation practice, you need not look for special teachers or particular practices.

To start building your own meditation practice, look around in your life and see what it is you already do to reflect. Consider the following activities and ask yourself if you can perform these with more intention, awareness and focus.

  • Praying
  • Writing in a journal
  • Drinking coffee or tea
  • Preparing meals
  • Taking a walk
  • Working out
  • Going to yoga class
  • Listening to music
  • Gardening
  • Reading a book
  • Swimming
  • Running
  • Working on a project you love
  • Playing with your kids

Notice how the activity changes and how you feel when bringing more focus to it. Notice the relaxation qualities and the struggles to maintain focus.

Let go of the need to practice something formal all the time. Be compassionate with yourself if you skip a sitting session for whatever reason.

Now that you know meditation isn’t so scary, formal and pretentious after all, email this post to a friend or two who has complained they don’t have time to start something new.

Ashley

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join Tracy Weber’s author mailing list for updates on MURDER STRIKES A POSE, available early 2014 from Midnight Ink!

A Meditation Proven to Invoke the Relaxation Response

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In last week’s blog, I shared some of the benefits of a consistent mediation practice and briefly discussed Herbert Benson’s early research.  This week, I’d like to prove how simple an effective meditation technique can be.

The meditation below was used in Benson’s research.  I’ve stolen it from his book The Relaxation Response.

  1. Pick a focus word, short phrase, or prayer rooted in your belief system.
  2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
  3. Close your eyes.
  4. Relax your muscles.
  5. Breathe slowly. Say the focus word as you exhale.
  6. Assume a passive attitude. When other thoughts intrude, just say “Oh well” and return to your repetition.
  7. Continue for 10-20 minutes.
  8. Open your eyes and sit for another minute.
  9. Practice once or twice daily.

If it seems like I’ve been writing about meditation a lot lately, I have.  But only because I strongly believe meditation has the power to transform your life and the lives of those around you.

Enjoy, and practice!

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join my author mailing list for updates on MURDER STRIKES A POSE, available early 2014 from Midnight Ink!

The Relaxation Response

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What if there was an exercise that you could do for as little as ten minutes a day, three times a week that was proven to:

  • Decrease blood pressure
  • Reduce or prevent migraines
  • Combat heart disease
  • Reduce cholesterol
  • Decrease premenstrual symptoms
  • Decrease alcohol consumption
  • Decrease pain
  • Boost immune system functioning
  • Improve sleep
  • Decrease adrenaline production, thereby lowering the “fight or flight” response
  • Decrease anxiety and stress
  • Boost creativity
  • Improve relationships
  • Provide an overall feeling of health and well being
  • Increase your ability to recover from sudden stressors
  • And much, much more

Would you do it?

Better yet, what if you could do this exercise virtually anywhere—at home, riding the bus, even sitting at your desk at work?  And what if you never even had to break a sweat?

That exercise not only exists, it’s been used for thousands of years.

I’m talking, of course, about meditation.

Meditation has been studied extensively in the West, much more so than yoga’s other tools.  Herbert Benson, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, was one of meditation’s research pioneers in the 1970s.

Studying something as New Age as meditation wasn’t exactly kosher forty years ago, so Dr. Benson worked under the cover of darkness. He snuck experienced meditators into his research facility late at night, measured physiological markers, and mapped brain wave patterns.  The results were impressive. Meditators showed measurable changes in brain wave activity that allowed them to manage the stresses of life much more effectively than non-meditators.  Benson called meditation’s health and emotional benefits “The Relaxation Response.”

Many other researchers—including Joan Borysenko, Jon Kabat Zinn, and Dean Ornish—have replicated and expanded on these results. Their work has shown that a variety of meditation methods are equally powerful, and that effective meditation doesn’t require hours of time, a Zen-like yoga space or Tibetan master teacher.  To meditate, you simply have to sit quietly for ten minutes a day, three times a week and focus on a word, phrase, idea, or image.

Start with this simple breath focused meditation or go online and Google the word “meditation.” You’ll find literally thousands of sites with hundreds of techniques, one of which is bound to appeal to you.  Of course we also offer a Meditation 101 class at Whole Life Yoga, and my Yoga for Anxiety class teaches meditation techniques that have been proven to reduce anxiety.

Give it a try.  I think you’ll be surprised at the results!

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join my author mailing list for updates on MURDER STRIKES A POSE, available early 2014 from Midnight Ink!

Nine Tips for a Successful Home Yoga Practice

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Let’s face it. We all live busy lives. Most of us can barely carve out one hour once a week for yoga class, let alone several. Unfortunately, yoga practiced that infrequently is unlikely to yield long-term benefits. The solution? Supplement your studio practice with yoga at home. Below are some hints to get you started.

Guidelines for a Successful Home Yoga Practice

  • Short and simple beats long and complex every time. Why wait until you have a spare hour? Three twenty-minute practices each week will yield significantly better results than a single sixty minute one.
  • Yoga is more than asana. Only have five minutes?  Try a simple breath or meditation session. The mental and emotional benefits from ten minutes of deep breathing can be profound.
  • Make your practice place special. Most people don’t have a yoga room in their home, but you can turn any room into a sacred practice space. Dim the lights; light a few candles; ring a pair of Tibetan chimes. Create a ritual that signals the transition from daily life to practice.
  • Celebrate success. Give yourself a mental high-five each time you practice, whether it’s for sixty seconds or sixty minutes. If you chastise yourself for not practicing, you never will. Instead, celebrate each and every time your feet land on your mat.
  • Integrate or distract kids and pets. Pets love interrupting yoga practice, so give them something else to do instead. Feed Fluffy some tuna; give Fido a chew toy; pop a Looney Tunes DVD in the player for the kids. And if you can’t distract them, have them join you. Yoga with the kids might become your favorite part of the day.
  • The best time to practice is when you’ll actually do it. Be honest with yourself. If you’re more likely to win Lotto than get up fifteen minutes early, don’t plan to practice at 5:00 AM.  Morning, lunch time, evening, before bed….Any time is yoga time.
  • When you get discouraged—keep going!   There will be days that you don’t want to practice. Days that you don’t have time to practice. Practice anyway. Remind yourself what you love about yoga. If that doesn’t work, take the advice of dog trainers everywhere and treat yourself for practicing. I understand chocolate is particularly effective. 😉
  • Schedule practice time on your calendar—in ink! If you practice whenever you can squeeze it in, you’ll never unroll your mat. Choose a consistent time, write it down, and set up a reminder system.  Make your practice a priority.
  • Above all else, enjoy yourself!  Yoga is truly a gift.  Treasure it!

What has worked for you? Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join my author mailing list for updates on MURDER STRIKES A POSE, available January 8, 2014 from Midnight Ink!

A Meditation to Create Tranquility and Joy

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This meditation practice is one of my favorites for clearing out emotional “gunk” and creating a state of inner peace, tranquility, joy and healing. Even better, it can be done anytime, anywhere. I hope you like it!

  1. Sit comfortably, with your spine in neutral and the crown of your head floating up to the ceiling.  Sitting either in a chair or on the floor is fine, as long as you are physically comfortable.
  2. Begin focusing your mind by paying attention to the sensation of the breath just inside your nostrils.
  3. When you feel ready, think of a quality you’d like to increase in your life.  Imagine that quality is a bright white light entering your body through your heart center and spreading throughout your entire body—from the top of your head to the tips of your fingers and toes.  This light can represent any positive quality you wish it to—love, joy, health, healing, or anything else. Imagine every cell of your body illuminated by this light, and feel the quality it carries flow into every cell.
  4. Imagine that this quality is replacing everything that clutters your life—anger, impatience, stress, desire, greed. As the light grows brighter in your mind, visualize its pure radiance washing all negative qualities away.
  5. If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then begin to focus on the white, healing light once again.
  6. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

Let me know how it goes!

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join my author mailing list for updates on MURDER STRIKES A POSE, available early 2014 from Midnight Ink!

A Meditation of Warmth and Light

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Woman Meditating

Sometimes the most powerful meditation practices are also the most simple.  This meditation practice is one of my favorites, and it works especially well for individuals whose most dominant sense is sight.  The changing nature of a candle flame makes it alive—almost vibrant—so it’s an interesting point of focus.  Its only downsides are that you have to do this meditation seated, and since candles involve fire risk, it’s not appropriate in all situations.  One of my students, however, found an iphone candle flame app, so with advances in technology, perhaps even that isn’t an issue!

  • Choose a candle you feel drawn to. Preferably choose one with a calming color (blue, purple, green, beige, white). Place it on a low table or on the ground about 3-6 feet in front of you.  Light the flame and relax your body.
  • Sit comfortably, with your spine erect and the crown of your head floating up to the ceiling.  Sitting either in a chair or on the floor is fine, as long as you are physically comfortable.
  • Keep your eyes open, gazing quietly at the candle in front of you.
  • Notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it.  First notice the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.  Notice the movement of your rib cage and belly.  How does your spine move with each breath?  What other sensations can you feel?
  • When you feel ready, focus your mind by gazing steadily at the candle flame as it burns.  Your eyes can be partially closed (at “half mast”) and it is fine to blink.  Notice the colors, the changing patterns and shapes of the flame.  Become aware of the scent of the burning wax, the warmth of the flame.   The flame continually changes with every passing moment.
  • If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then begin to focus on the changing nature of the candle flame again.
  • Continue this meditation for 10 – 15 minutes

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join my Tracy Weber author mailing list for updates on my hopefully soon-to-be-published yoga mystery!

Meditation: Work or Play?

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This week’s blog entry was written by guest author Roy Holman. Roy is a graduate of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. He can be contacted at ho**********@***il.com and at http://holmanhealthconnections.com.

People come to my meditation classes hoping to find peace and calm. Sometimes the first thing they notice is how not peaceful and calm they are! Perhaps even long ignored or buried emotions like fear and anger surface, and they run from their meditation practice shouting, “I thought this would be fun!”

So what is meditation?  Is it blissful sitting and finding our center? Or is it hard work, using effort to struggle through our patterns? Perhaps both. Effortless Effort.

It takes courage and effort to break patterns, see our stuff, face our feelings. It takes some practice and techniques and teachings to learn how to prepare the body, sit still, and calm the mind to some degree. This is the yang or masculine side of the practice. One cannot do yoga without getting on the mat.  One cannot meditate without sitting down and finding a way to move beyond thinking and doing.

We can use whatever “techniques” or effort we can to do this.  Conscious regulation of the breath (called pranayama in yoga terms) is one of my favorite ways to still the mind. We can simply follow the breath or deepen the breath, and the breath often leads us deeper into our meditation.

Some of us like to use a mantra, such as “I am love.” This is an excellent way to still the mind and move out of the thinking and planning. We can also feel our feelings.  Bring our attention down from our thinking mind and down into the body and just feel what is going on.

Ultimately though, our meditation practice is more being than doing, more allowing than controlling, observing than changing. Our world has had the masculine do-orientation turned up for eons, and it is time to move more into the feminine effortlessness of being. This is more about heart than head, feeling rather than thinking. This is where we need to focus not only on our meditation cushion and yoga mat, but in our world.

Again, use whatever technique to get there, but know you are already always “there.”  Truth is here, now. We are not trying to get anywhere. We follow the Tao (truth), the divine flow, moving with rather than against the currents. We don’t change but observe thoughts.  We don’t control or plan where we are going. We don’t fight against life but let it teach us–and it always will.

Meditation is more about being, essence, and presence.  We are coming out of such a painful time on planet earth.  We are afraid, our energy systems are on high alert, we see enemies everywhere, and our self esteem is so low we feel we need to earn a date with the Divine. But the Divine, or Truth, or God, or Joy, or the Sacred–choose your word–is always closer than close.  And grace is always pouring in, if we can only learn to let go and receive it.

I use the words, “drop in,” when I finish my breath, prayer, and gratitude parts of my meditation. This reminds me that the “effort” part of the meditation is over.  It does not mean that I try to change or eliminate thoughts, but I watch and let go of control. Then I sometimes drop in to a sacred space, a rare moment in my day when my mind is still. This provides a baseline, a reminder that we do not have to live in the maniacal mind and the false, egotistical self, which always want to get somewhere or achieve something. As Neale Donald Walsch says, “You have to be out of your mind to find God.”

When we find ourselves in that place of stillness, the breath becomes automatic, the impermanent aspects of ourselves like personality, titles, names, and concepts fall away, leaving the energetic essence of being.  As Rumi says, “Give up your drop and become part of the ocean.” We let go of that delusion of separation, we trust, and at long last, we feel the effortless joy of our divine self, connected to all that is.

This is where we come from.  This is where we return to.  It is inevitable. Meditation is hard work.  And it is simple.  Do not think too much about it.  Let effortless effort guide the way, knowing there is nowhere to go, nothing to do.

Roy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!