Meditation anyone? 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks... you in?

I would love to take that journey with you Lavie. How about you Sun? You mentioned you were going to memorize the chakras so you could work with them offline. I remember finding a diagram online that I printed off to reference. I will try to find it again.

Maybe we can build on this intro to go deeper together. If you guys are game I would like to try coming together once a week instead of every two weeks. Like Sun I really felt the energy of the three of us doing it together. I think that is why the peace came so quickly given the state I came into it with. I am still feeling the peace given the increased angst et al we have each been experiencing lately. I think this was very timely for us. I know it was for me. I feel inspired to learn more too.

That is awesome Lavie. What a cool discovery! Good on you for coming up with the idea. Counting backwards by 7 would certainly challenge my brain. lol. What a treat to have even a few minutes of real silence. I am going to try that especially when the noises become intense.

Lavie.... once you find your way west I guarantee you will never want to leave. No one needs a winter coat over here.

Wishing everyone peaceful sleeps and sweet dreams. Be well.

Just had an idea you guys.... Lavie and I can design original products and Sun can market them for us. I just watched a news clip about how social media is changing the fashion industry. Canadian designers have always been forced to leave the country to locate in major fashion centres outside of Canada. Social media is changing that. Location is no longer an issue. Designers are now tweeting and using facebook to promote their products. Posting live video feeds of their shows at international fashion weeks. It is a whole new environment.

I'm in! I'd love to take this journey with you guys too!! The chakras are fascinating and I'm totally up for learning more about them and doing more chakra meditations.

I'm soooooooooooo happy you found a way to give yourself a break from the music! Yay!!! That's wonderful news!!!!! What an absolutely brilliant idea of yours to experiment with working a different part of your brain. I'm thrilled it worked so well!!!

Hi (((((((ss)))))))))) I'd love to come together once a week too. I'm just not particularly keen about doing it in my office since it's not a very serene environment!!! I would prefer to meditate outside in nature somewhere if possible, so switching it back to the 2.00 PST date might work better for me as I could then do it on my afternoon hike. Of course that would mean I wouldn't be near a computer, but I'm not especially keen about meditating at my computer anyway. Although it's certainly possible. Anyhow, I'm sure we'll work something out!

I'm so very glad you felt such a great benefit from the session today and that you extended yours and are still feeling the positive effects (((((((ss)))))))

I can usually work my schedule around any time that works for you guys. I am sure we can figure out a way to have the option of meditating away from the computer. As the weather gets better I would prefer being outside too.

I am still high off the session and would love to stay up for a few more hours. It was a rough day and now that I am calm and relaxed I just don't want it to end. I have another busy day tomorrow so I will have to do what is best for me and work my way to bed. boo hoo.

That's one reason I often stay up late too (((((ss))))) I tend to feel my best late at night and it seems such a waste to go to bed! But then I really pay for it the next day if I do stay up too late.

On that note, I'm going to drag myself away from my laptop and call it a day!!! Good night (((((((((((((ss))))))))))))))))) I hope you sleep well and that the positive feelings are with you tomorrow when you wake up

I slept well last night with no fuss or bother. I hope you slept well too Sun. I remain thankful. I am heading our for a walk in a little bit. The river is calling my name.

Be well my friends.

Cool idea!!!!!

Hi ((((((ss)))))) So glad you slept well. I didn't have an especially good night. I'm still dealing with some residual triggers/obsessive anger issues and it was the first thing I thought about when I got up this morning. Trying to distract myself. I know the obsession will run it's course in time. I definitely have some very conflicting feelings right now. On the one hand I want to be compassionate, on the other hand, when certain things trigger and/or annoy me, compassion towards that trigger is usually the furthest thing from my mind. It's so hard to make that shift! Trying though!!!

Have a wonderful walk. The weather is gorgeous here. Temps are getting up into the 90s today - which is actually a little warmer than I like! And quite unsual, since are typical summer temps are in the high 70s/low 80s. Then again, it's not even summer yet!!

Love to all

I'm up for more chakra meditation! Visualization can be effective for me at times, being a visual person, and I'd like to do more. Sundog, a temp in the nineties. I just heard that up to 6 inches of snow is predicted for my area. That's it! I've had it! Sherman and I are boarding a plane tonight for the Sunshine State. Sundog, you don't mind if we camp in your back yard for a while, do ya? His agent's booked a screen test over at Disney Studios. My boy looks great in a pair of Ray-Bans and a Hawaiian shirt. SS, in our new fashion line, what do you think of mother and dog matching jackets? I can see it in L.A.

Love to you both.

You are brilliant Lavie!! Matching mum and doggy jackets. The celebs will eat it up. Two lines.... one with lots of bling and the other from sustainable fabrics for the tofu crowd. Rainjackets for my area in southern BC down into Washington. Brilliant!!

I am in!!

(((sun)))) sorry to hear you didn't have a good night's sleep. I can relate to the risidual anger issues and waking up with it front and centre in your thoughts. I hope it runs it's course quickly. Try to be kind to yourself in the process. Metta phrases come to mind too. Peace to you my friend.

Wow!! what a blast of summer! I am with you. I am not so fond of high temps anymore. When I was younger, the hotter the better but not so much anymore. If it gets too hot I can only garden early mornings and evenings and my garden wilts under the heat not to mention the burnt grass. I am concerned we are going to have extreme temps this summer given the extreme temps this past or passing winter.

My walk was wonderful. I volunteered to canvas door to door in my neighbourhood for the Kidney Foundation. I have volunteered for Cancer and Heart and Stroke in the past but never made the rounds before the month was out. Today was the last day and I didn't want this year to be like the others so I headed out with my book. I had a wonderful time visiting with my neigbours. One older couple have been denied driver's license renewals and were feeling stranded without use of their car. I am going to drive her into town tomorrow to get a hair cut and to take them both in once a week so they could still meet up with some friends at McDonalds.

A few doors down I met a sweet woman who told me a sad story of having been robbed 3 weeks ago by her housesitter when she was on vactation in Mexico. She was still having a lot of anxiety about it. I was able to offer some suggestions for working through it. She recognized me from seeing me in my garden and told me she was going to try to plant a little garden of her own. I offered to help her when the weather warmed up. We hugged before I went on my way again.

Every person who answered the door were so friendly and generous it was such a wonderful blessing. Only one person that was home didn't give a donation.

What an awesome gift to be able to do that without a hint of anxiety. Yahoo!!

So what is our game plan ladies? Are we going to up the sessions to weekly? Are you game Sun to take the lead this time on what we will do?

Haha!!!!!!!!! You are welcome here any time!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy you had a wonderful walk ((((((((ss))))))) It's wonderful that you do that volunteer work

I'd love to meditate with you guys again next week. Are we doing more chakra meditation? If so, I'm probably not the best person to take the lead since my first introduction to it was yesterday! I could choose a mindfulness meditation though.

But I'm more than happy to do another chakra meditation of your choosing as well!

I hear you Sun and I am leaning towards doing more chakra too. Perhaps since Lavie has already formulated some ideas of how to move forward with some of the chakra teachings she might be willing to take us the next step on that journey with her. Or perhaps some visualizations which might work well for us to detach from the computer to meditate in our favourite place.

We can pick up on your mindfullness meditation further down the road. Would that work for you.

My evening has been restful. I am tired enough to head to bed early. Will do a quiet meditation before putting my head on the pillow. I hope some of your discomforting feelings are subsiding and you are able to sleep soundly and peacefully tonight. I pray you awake with a spirit of joy free of all anger and stress.

Blessings.

That would be just fine (((((((((ss)))))))))) and (((((((((lavie))))))))))

I'm so glad you had a restful evening ((((((ss))))). I hope today has been a good one!

I'm doing a little better with my trigger. I'm listening repeatedly to Pema Chodron and today I put in disc 2 of the two disc set "Unconditional Confidence". Disc 2 is so relevant for me right now. It's an interview with Pema Chodron and the interview asks the question that I've been grappling with lately: namely, what do you do when none of the techniques work? In other words, when you're in a state of mind - be it anxiety or anger or rage or grief - where nothing works.

I really appreciated that the interviewer asked that question. Of course there isn't a magic answer........The answer Pema Chodron gave is that you need to let go of the storyline and just sit with the feeling. For however long it takes. And then when it overwhelms you again, you sit with it again. And, gradually, the insights will come........And Pema Chodron talks about a time when she was so triggered and so enraged that none of the techniques or teachings worked for her so she sat in the meditation hall at the abbey all night. Until she realized that, underneath the rage was this ancient sense of unworthiness that she'd been carrying around with her since she was a small child. And she said when she realized that, it was much easier to shift her focus away from the person she was angry with, and also away from the anger itself, and instead start to be more gentle with herself.

She said it never sounds as profound as it is actually is when you experience something like this. And I haven't explained it very well either. But I'm sure you get the gist of it. And I really needed to hear this today. And to keep on hearing it! I sure hope I can internalize it!!!!!!

Lots of love to you both ((((((((((ss)))))))))))) and ((((((((((((lavie)))))))))))))

I've heard Pema tell that story on that or another CD I borrowed from the library. I've also actually heard some Vipassana teachers suggest distracting oneself from the emotion if it's really destabilizing and too overwhelming. I was surprised at that. I'm sure there are varying views.

Re chakra meditation, Wednesday was my only experience so far. I haven't done any exploration yet through reading or videos to learn how to work with the issues that plague me, i.e. which issues go with which chakras. So, I'm probably not the candidate for leading a chakra meditation. How about if Sundog just chooses any technique for the next time? So that we can rotate facilitating? OR we could each do whatever type we want, just all at the same time.

SS, I went to a mtg. last evening about how to build community. You were actually out there building community! That was so wonderful to read. What an angel you are, and a gift to your neighbors. It would be good for me to be more generous that way. Sundog, I hope that those intense emotions lift soon, and that you can have serenity instead.

What is the day and time for the next group sit?

(((((((((lavie))))))))) I can certainly choose something mindfulness-related if you like, though I would also like to study the chakra meditations more at some point. I do have something in mind, but I'll have to figure out how you guys could access it (since it's on a CD I own). Or, if it's too complicated, I could just choose something else.

I think ss wanted us to stick with Wednesdays and, if it suits everyone, I'd prefer to go back to the 2.00 PST/5.00 Eastern time slot (I think I got that the right way round this time!! )

I think you explained it very well Sun. Pema's commitment to finding her way to insight about her feelings. Her steadfastness is impressive. The contrast to the Vipassana teachings is interesting. I think I can see value to both of them even though I have limited to no knowledge of their teachings. I am keen to learn more.

My first response to what you have both shared is to consider that currently I use distractions to stabilize and come down from feeling anxious and overwhelmed. I would include mindfulness as a distraction technique. Leaving the trigger behind me as I walk to the river or identify images etc. But it doesn't prevent the feelings from coming back equally as destabilizing. Perhaps in that context what Pema teaches could take away the need for distracting oneself from the overwhelming emotion. Interesting either way. Thanks for sharing.

I like the idea of rotating facilitating the cyber-sits. I like the idea of doing the same thing so if you are up for it Sun I look forward to your lead this go around. Perhaps when it is my turn again I can have something chakra related to offer.

I am still keen to come together weekly. If so then our next get together will be this Wednesday, April 6th, 6pm PST - 9pm EST. Sun taking the lead.

Interesting you should mention community building Lavie. That was actually one of my strengths when I worked at the college. Community among the students as well as by building partnerships to strengthen the capacity of community organizations to better serve or students and other interest groups in the community. Until you put it in that context I never really thought about the similarities with my own neightbourhood community.

I am not sure if I mentioned this in my previous post but as I canvassed the neighbourhood other then my immediate neighours (who like me are avid gardeners so we interact a lot especially during gardening season), for the most part I had seen the others from the neighbourhood passing by my house now and then. Whenever I was working in the garden on the street sides we would exchange at least a smile or stop and talk for awhile about the weather or the garden.

Depending on the season I would sometimes invite people to pick some cherries or apples, offer plants I was breaking up or thinning fro the garden or seeds from spent blossoms. In the fall I would give apples to the kids walking to school and distribute bags of apples to my immediate neighbours. Anytime I can share is always as much a gift to me as it is to anyone else.

There was a time when my symptoms prevented me from doing any of that. If I saw someone coming I would immediately move to a section of the garden further away so I didn't have to acknowledge them.

If people couldn't place me right aways as soon as I told them where I lived their first response was to comment on the garden. It was pretty cool and a huge boast to sense of comfort. I came home smiling because I had talked to so many people and no anxiety during or after. That is huge for me.

I guess I was still writing while you posted this sun.

How about you go ahead and take the lead with something mindfulness related for this coming Wednesday and if I can get something together for the following week and if Lavie is okay with it I could bump the line and offer something chakra related the following week.

Geesh Sun!! Make up your mind! I am good with either time. You are just trying to confuse us again aren't you. hehehe hehehe

LOL!!! I guess you haven't seen the indecisive side of me until now!!! I'm very indecisive!!!!!!!! I will definitely make a firm decision about the time very soon though!!!

I'd like to use a guided meditation that I have on a CD. I was hoping there was a "share" option on itunes so I could share it with you that way, but I only saw a share option for families, or computers in the same household. Another option would be to email you guys an mp3 file??? Or there are also some online file-sharing sites we could look into?

Or I could just make it simpler and find something that is on youtube!!!!!!! Let me keep looking to see if there is a simple way to share this particular guided meditation with you!!

I've got the baby hummers on another screen as I type this. I'm so addicted to Phoebe and her offspring. Those colors! So there will be a final word about time of day for Wednesday? SS, you wrote that there was a time when your symptoms prevented you from engaging with neighbors and sharing your garden bounty with them. How did you heal that? I suffer so much from feeling a shyness, a pulling back from others. I wish that I could heal that social anxiety. It became very acute during a party I attended last night, even though the emphasis was on playing music. I felt inept and it was obvious. I couldn't find the starting note to sing, when they began playing the tune. I couldn't play my instrument. Total brain freeze. It's stressful that they're all very accomplished musicians, and have strong friendships and a lot of history together. Anyway, I was interested to know what caused the shift for you.

It's dawning on me that I've got to learn to accept the problems and conditions of my life and personality, that after so much trying to change, it's just not improving, and is possibly getting worse.

I await your decision Sun. lol. Just let it come to you and roll with it.

Hope you have a fine day today. Rain rain and more rain up here. I managed a couple of hours in the garden on Sunday but it was raining again by the time I took a truck load of scraps to the town compost heap. It was like the rain gods were making sure I didn't strain my back again. lol.... while they "washed away my worries".