60 Day Meditation~ Week 3

60 Day Meditation Challenge

Week 3

I hope everyone has been enjoying their meditations!  Hopefully you’ve been able to carve out some time at least a few times per week for your meditation sessions!  Remember, you can join us at Asana Yoga + Dance in Middletown, NJ for 30 minute meditation on Mondays at 6:45.

Principle of Mediation #3: Relax Your Body

                Meditating is more than just relaxing the muscles and bones.  You’re allowing a whole process to happen in the nervous system and emotional body.  This week, before meditating, we will do a part by part scan of the body to help relax, and identify and areas that are holding onto tension.  Sit quietly with the eyes closed, and take a moment to notice the body as it is.  Notice if you feel tension anywhere in the body.  Now, starting with the head and the face, we’ll work through each area of the body, bringing our attention and breath to each in turn.  It might help to envision each body part melting away before moving on to the next.  From the head and face, move your awareness to the shoulders and arms, then to the upper back.  Continue this way until you reach the feet.  Then bring your awareness beneath the skin, envisioning the muscles relaxing to the bones.  Now move on to the breathing technique.

Breathing

“Always first draw fresh breath after outbursts of vanity and complacency.”

Franz Kafka

                This week we will practice “The Complete Breath”.  It is simply fully expanding and filling the lungs as you inhale and completely emptying them when you exhale.  This technique relaxes the mind and body and prepares the mind for mediation.

-Begin by sitting tall, taking a few deep breaths and relaxing.

-Slowly inhale through the nostrils allowing oxygen into the three chambers of the lungs.  Expand the belly.  Expand the ribcage. Expand the upper chest and shoulders.

-Slowly exhale, completely emptying the lungs.

-Continue breathing like this for 2-3 minutes.

Meditation

“One realizes through meditation that one is a necessary, intimate and important part of the universe.  One starts to relate deeply to everything that exists.  There are no longer separate entities.  You are THAT.  This is a mystical state of meditation.” 

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

                This week we will continue to meditate once per day for ten minutes, or twice per day for 5 minutes.  For this week’s meditation, you will choose a visualization of something or someone that supports you, or helps you to feel grounded and balanced.  It can be anything!  A favorite place, cherished friend or family member, an object with sentimental value.  Prior to mediation, gaze at a picture, or other representation of your visualization.  To begin meditating, bring your awareness to the third eye, or the space behind the forehead. (Your eyes are closed for this)  Breathe naturally and begin visualizing the image you’ve chosen.  Continue this for 5-10 minutes.