Recently in Meditation Category

My latest home class has been courtesy of the Element Beginners Yoga DVD, led by Elena Brower. I normally resist these 'keep moving at all times' dynamic style classes because I've found it hard to keep connected to the breath and body while switching from pose to pose to pose. This one is different. Yes, it raises energy but in a careful manner, and enough small pauses and quietening poses to balance it out.

The instructor is like some kind of Italian goddess, looking tall, strong, elegant. I love the way she reminds me to smile often throughout the 50 minutes routine. I'm not sure of the style of yoga, what it's called or the lineage, nor do I care, as long as it feels good. I've been really loving the 'return to the land of the living' this practice brings.

So you are thinking, or,  there is thought, doing its ahead and behind thing, going over the past, planning ahead. Then you realise this and there's a resistance, as if thought is bad somehow. The tendency then is to stay in that slightly guilty feeling for a while, thought having been stepped upon by the 'no, you shouldn't be thinking.' So the 'shouldn't be thinking' feeling is the master for a while, but thought will come back somehow. That's the tendency.

How about continuing to think despite the feeling that you shouldn't be thinking? Then you get a much more interesting situation, a game, a play between the two thoughts, more equal. The original thought cannot exactly do what it would do without the 'shouldn't be thinking', and the 'shouldn't be thinking' doesn't get it's victorious (if slightly guilty and violent) residential.

Then something new can happen because the thought won't 'come up' as it's already up and the no won't 'no' because it's already 'no-ing', and the game will naturally cease after a time, allowing a fresh energy and understanding, awareness.

Thought does not 'come up'. More like 'drives in', but the concept of feeling of it 'entering something' needs to be questioned. Just because it's a common experience doesn't make it true.