YOGASPIRITUS
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Healing Reiki
    • Yoga Practices
    • FAQs
    • Private Sessions >
      • Yoga as Therapy
      • Private Yoga Classes
      • Restorative Yoga
      • Meditation
    • Group Classes >
      • Schedule
      • Gentle Hatha Yoga
      • Gentle Chair Yoga
      • Slow Down to Move Well
    • Free Guided Meditations >
      • Body Scan for Chronic Stress and Pain
      • Entering into Stillness - Pause Between Breaths Meditation
      • Calm the Body, Calm the Mind - Body Awareness and Alternate Nostril Breathing Visualizataion
      • Meditation for Self-Compassion - Metta Bhavana (Loving-Kindness)
      • Increase Happiness - Gratitude Meditation
  • Pricing
    • Pricing - Private Sessions and Classes
  • Meditation Courses
  • Blog & Resources
    • e-Books
    • Recommended Yoga Books
    • Simple Yoga Practices
    • Resources >
      • Podcasts
      • Videos >
        • Chronic Pain
        • Spondylitis
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Healing Reiki
    • Yoga Practices
    • FAQs
    • Private Sessions >
      • Yoga as Therapy
      • Private Yoga Classes
      • Restorative Yoga
      • Meditation
    • Group Classes >
      • Schedule
      • Gentle Hatha Yoga
      • Gentle Chair Yoga
      • Slow Down to Move Well
    • Free Guided Meditations >
      • Body Scan for Chronic Stress and Pain
      • Entering into Stillness - Pause Between Breaths Meditation
      • Calm the Body, Calm the Mind - Body Awareness and Alternate Nostril Breathing Visualizataion
      • Meditation for Self-Compassion - Metta Bhavana (Loving-Kindness)
      • Increase Happiness - Gratitude Meditation
  • Pricing
    • Pricing - Private Sessions and Classes
  • Meditation Courses
  • Blog & Resources
    • e-Books
    • Recommended Yoga Books
    • Simple Yoga Practices
    • Resources >
      • Podcasts
      • Videos >
        • Chronic Pain
        • Spondylitis
  • Testimonials
  • Contact




 

Sitting with Change

9/5/2015

0 Comments

 

Slowing Down for Mindfulness


If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading ~ Lao Tzu


I love the changing seasons.  And I particularly love the fall.  The still-warm sun, the crisp nights, and no mosquitoes.  Change is something we can't avoid, yet all too often the big void that is the unknown tends to scare the living daylights out of us.  Changing jobs, careers, partners, houses, cities ... there is so much change in modern life, and our bodies and minds are simply not designed to deal well with rapid change on a constant basis.

Even a regular routine day involves a lot of change.  Waking up, looking after kids or pets or parents, fighting traffic on the way to work, working with people you may or may not like, trying to meet deadlines, fighting traffic on the way home, looking after kids or pets or parents, making dinner, zonking out on the couch.  Every change excites your nervous system and revs it up, like a car idling in park when you put your foot on the gas.  And if you don't get enough really good, deep sleep, you stay revved up.  And so you may wake up revved up, instead of well rested.

The antidote to being revved up all the time, with the havoc that this state wreaks on your body and mind, is simple, yet it can be hard to practise.   Slow down.  Slo-o-w down.  Breathe.  Notice what it feels like to breathe.  Notice the jumble that is your mind when you stop and notice all the thoughts, feelings and emotions that cram their way into your head all day long.  Every thought or emotion sends another signal to your nervous system.  "High alert!  Time to rev up!"  Your body and mind get used to being in high gear, and thus slowing down can be so difficult!
Because slowing down is so difficult, the practice that I'm going to share with you is vital to helping to you do just that. 

Sitting Daily

Sitting daily to practise meditation is a vital practice to help us to slow down.  When we meditate, we give ourselves permission to slow down and notice.  Everything.  Thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Simply to sit with it and watch what is happening in our bodies and minds.   As the Zen proverb goes:  "You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day - unless you're too busy. Then you should sit for an hour."
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get Wellness Tips

    Blog

    Author

    Donna offers a holistic perspective on the relationship and healing of physical and emotional pain.

    Categories

    All
    A Strong Core And Healthy Gut
    Balancing Steadiness And Ease
    Breath By Breath
    Core Stability
    Creating A Sustainable Home Practice
    Enjoying Gratitude
    Evolving Through The Chakras
    Finding Your Inner Voice
    Gaining Clarity
    Getting Grounded For Health
    Healing Persistent Pain
    Healing The Heart
    How To Have More Energy
    How Yoga Can Help You
    Keys To A Therapeutic Yoga Practice
    Less Is More
    Mindfulness
    Motion Is Lotion
    Physical And Emotional Pain
    Practise What You Want To Strengthen
    Reflections On Healing - The Placebo Effect
    Resolution Or Intention
    Rest Relax Restore
    The Relaxation Response
    The Value Of Resilience
    Training Your Willpower
    Where There's A Will There's A Way
    Yoga Is For Everybody

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2015