Archive for the ‘Meditation’ Category
Wait, So You Just Sit?
Tuesday, November 7th, 2017
For the first few years of my meditation practice, I sat in formal lotus posture cross-legged with my back straight and often unsupported. Now for the past two years I sit very differently. My sitting practice teaches me to listen. It’s my way of becoming present. It’s my way of being completely relaxed and comfortable on a chair, or a cushion, or even on a seat in the subway. I have chosen to be comfortable during my practice. This comfort has taught me about how my body rests. My sitting practices has taught me how to more deeply listen to my body and mind. My legs can be crossed or not. My legs can be flat on the floor or not. I just sit upright, comfortably, relaxed and natural. I give myself complete permission to just sit without judging my sitting or anything that arises during my practice.
I place my hands either resting on the arms of the chair, my lap or my palms facing upwards on my lap, whichever is more comfortable. My palms are in the cosmic or also known as the universal mudra, left palm on top of my right, thumb-tips touching. I expand my shoulders so I can feel my heart-center open. I am in receive mode. I either close my eyes or leave them partially open looking down.
I begin sitting with four very slow, deep breaths, expelling all the air through my mouth. Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I continue to count these slow deep breaths for a few moments. Then I begin breathing naturally with mouth closed, through the nostrils only, dropping the counting and just sitting without judgments. I allow my mind to wander until it fades. I see the thoughts as floating and passing – this way there is no grasping at one particular thought. Sitting in a non-judging mind takes time – a daily or lifetime practice.
Sitting in this way I can completely relax, and make adjustments if I feel any pain anywhere in my body. I sit for fifteen minutes to one hour. It has become a daily ritual that allows me to start my day with ease and grace. Sitting daily teaches me how to be present. I don’t need to get caught up in chaos. Sitting has taught me to slow down.
There is real joy and pleasure in serving and being present for others. There is a very deep appreciation for being who we are, and not needing to change or fix anyone. Allowing you to be you and me to just be me. Sitting gives me permission to let go, drop into a deeper place within, and live from that place. It is not always easy. When I am stuck, I go back to the breath. When I feel overwhelmed I go back to the cushion. In the stillness within, I experience peace again and again and again. If I am willing to sit, just sit, I discover what remains – pure joy.
Wait, so you just sit? Yes.
I Sat with an Egret
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017
I sat with an egret for a moment – just a few moments. 
I watched as it sat still letting the breeze blow its feathers.
Slowly the egret reached down into the water and snatched a fish.
I watched as the egret sauntered lifting each black foot up and out of the water without a sound.
Its slow steady movement was meditation in action.
Each step reminded me to be present.
I sat with an egret and was reminded to be still.
I watched an egret for a moment and realized that’s all we ever have – this moment.
Meditation on Peace (County Cork, Ireland)
Monday, June 19th, 2017
Enjoy a five minute meditation on peace recorded in Ireland. Spend a few minutes enjoying meditating on peace. Notice what happens when you take time to really breathe in and breathe out peace. Spend a few moments breathing peace, being peace, and extending peace to others. From a place of peace, life becomes filled with ease and joy. Remember – we are only one breath away from peace. Enjoy this meditation with Mary Anne Flanagan, Toning the OM. This was filmed in County Cork, Ireland.
This meditation is dedicated to my beloved Godfather, Uncle Billy.
Quiet Places Within
Friday, May 26th, 2017
I notice the sky. I see fully the sunlight that bounces off the brick buildings.
I notice the clouds. I take in the shapes that fill the limitless view above me.
I notice the birds. I feel the expansive wings that encircle my very beingness.
I notice the trees. I feel the arms of the universe surround me.
I notice that beauty encircles me, light fills me, and nature supports me.
I live in a world of sounds that teach me to be alive and present.
Bridging Our Inhale and Exhale
Tuesday, March 21st, 2017
Breathe gently in and out.
Allow the exhale to be a little longer than the inhale.
Release any tension, worry, or anxiety with each out breath.
Allow light in any form to arrive with each in breath.
Notice how your body feels while breathing the full inhalation and exhalation.
Just notice. Be aware. Be the inner note-taker.
Welcome all the thoughts. Know the exhale will take them.
Greet the critic and the judge. Embrace them.
Breathe in and out slower and deeper.
Relax into the fullness of the inhale and exhale.
Breathe all the way down to your feet. This breath will anchor you.
Breathe all the way up to the top of your head (your crown chakra). This breath will open you to your divine connection.
Take a fuller breath. Tune into the wisdom of your heart-center.
With each breath, bridge your heart and mind.
Be the observer, the anchor, the wisdom, and the breath.
Your breath takes you where you need to be ─ right here in this moment.
Welcome home.
Beam with Compassion
Monday, August 29th, 2016
Sitting with compassion for others and myself led me to write this meditation:
Fill yourself up with compassion with each breath. 
What do you look like when you are living with compassion?
Show yourself some compassion right now.
Allow yourself to breathe compassion into your whole body.
Notice your body and breathe even more compassion.
Let compassion move your hands to your heart.
How are you transmitting compassion to yourself?
What is your message of compassion today?
Listen to compassion.
Take a deeper breath in and out.
Breathe compassion. Again. And again.
When you see the world with compassion, what’s possible?
And take a nice big breath.
Be compassionate to youself, always.
Beam compassion with every interaction.
And so it is.
As Pema Chödrön writes, “Just as nurturing our ability to love is a way of awakening bodhichitta, so also is nurturing our ability to feel compassion. Compassion, however, is more emotionally challenging than loving-kindness because it involves the willingness to feel pain. It definitely requires the training of a warrior.
When we practice generating compassion, we can expect to experience our fear of pain. Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allow ourselves to move gently toward what scares us. The trick to doing this is to stay with emotional distress without tightening into aversion, to let fear soften us rather than harden into resistance.”
Stay with your breath. Stay with yourself. Stay with compassion.
Uncertainty as a Path Towards Freedom
Thursday, July 14th, 2016
 Life is about living in uncertainty.
Life happens in the in-between moments. Life asks us to make a journey with ourself. Life happens in the ordinary moments – washing the dishes, sitting with our loved ones, driving in traffic, taking a walk, watching the sunset. When we live with uncertainty, there is room to explore everything. Maybe the map we really need to follow is one that makes us lost. In that space we find our way. By being lost, we can find our life moment by moment. Perhaps that’s the real meaning of lost and found. By being lost, and abiding there, we are truly found. |
Meditation of the Heart
Wednesday, April 9th, 2014
Let’s take a few moments to sit in and meditate on the heart center. Place one hand on your heart. Soft gaze or close your eyes. Breathe in gently and exhale slowly. Feel your palm melt in your heart and your heart melt into your hand. Feel whatever feelings arise. As you breathe, feel your heart.
This is a direct way to meditate on your heart. You can feel and just allow the feelings to show you your heart. You can be in your heart center. Relate your mind and heart. Notice your rhythm and thoughts. Feel your mind and body connection. This is your refuge. Your heart center is where peace resides. Go for refuge in the peace that is always available.
When you are ready, take another breath and ease into your day ─ with a peaceful mind.
Tranquility of the Mind
Wednesday, March 19th, 2014
Meditation is the space deep in the ocean. When we meditate, we can experience the beauty of the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface there may be a strong current or many large waves, but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is profound silence. When we start meditating, we try to reach our own the inner silence by staying on top of the water with our thoughts as a lifeline. However, if we can drop in a little deeper (into our heart center), we will notice that when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the turmoil will just wash away, because inside us is absolute peace. Thoughts cannot trouble us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, and all oneness. Like fish in the sea, our thoughts jump and swim and go with the current of the water. So when we meditate, we can feel like the sea ─ going beneath the surface of agitation and into the place of tranquility. We are that tranquility. Our mind is the top layer of the water and our heart is the infinite sea. Take a deep dive into the ocean of your mind.
Hang Out With Peace
Friday, March 14th, 2014
My Buddhist teacher often says, “If we can feel a little bit of peace, then we can feel a lot of peace.” He invites us to hang out with peace. “When you feel a little bit of peace, hang out there.” Peace arises naturally in our own mind. When we are quiet and pause, peace arises.
It is finding the still point within. The still point resides within and is always available. The question I have come ask myself daily is, “Am I listening to peace or am I listening to agitation?”
Ask yourself, are you hanging out with peace or agitation?
Take a moment and notice ─ at the still point, there is peace.