Meditation Day 1: Apply A** to Chair

The first professor I ever had in law school told us that to be successful, we had to remember four words: "Apply A** to Chair."  (I'll give you a hint and tell you that the 2nd word is not "art.")  What he meant was that you can't accomplish anything until you sit down and put your mind to it.


So that's our first step: sit!  There is such thing as a walking meditation, but the practice that we'll be exploring over the next month is going to be a sitting meditation.  You can sit just about anywhere that gives you some time alone to quiet yourself.  But I don't recommend reclining because you might fall asleep!


Let's make this our first assignment.  Scour your home and locate a quiet corner that you can make your own.  Maybe you decide to shut your bedroom door and sit on a pillow in front of a candle.  Maybe everyone has left for the day and you decide to sit quietly at your dinner table.  Wherever the space is, make it somewhere that you will not be interrupted for five minutes.  (That means leave the television off!) Take a comfortable seat and set a timer for five minutes.  And just sit.  Close your eyes, lengthen your spine, let your breath enter and exit your body, and focus on that.  


During our time together, keep a journal with you and after your five minutes write down anything that comes up for you.  How does your body feel?  Do you want to sit somewhere different next time?  What time of day is it?  Maybe you want to try this at a different time of day to see if that feels any different to you.  How do you feel?  Calm, agitated, energized?  I hope you'll begin to look forward to these five minutes as much as I do.  

Wooo-sahh!

Friends, it is time for us to build a meditation practice.


I'm sorry, I know that was abrupt.  Just go with me here for a second.


Today I woke up at 6 a.m., which means that I overslept by an hour.  I went to the gym, ran a few morning errands, and got to work by 9 a.m.  I was there all day and then had yoga teacher training from 7 to almost 10 p.m.  And now I'm home.  And I'm completely wiped out.  And it is only Wednesday.  (Is this sounding familiar to anyone?  I thought so.)


But here's the thing--as much as I don't want to have another day like this tomorrow, my mind is taking me through all of the things I'll have to do, how many billable hours that includes, that it really is going to be that stressful, and that you might as well brace yourself now because it's all going to come raining down on you in the morning.  Like, really, Mind?  I need you to hush so I can enjoy the peace and quiet that I have left this evening!


And that, my dears, is what brings me to meditation.  (I hear you over there--yes, I will also try to get more sleep and wake up at a reasonable hour.  But we are still meditating, people.)  Over the next 31 days, I invite you to learn with me about how to calm our minds.  I'm not an expert on this, so don't expect a tutorial.  (But if you want an expert, as we go through this journey I will be reading Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, and invite you to read along with me.)  Just come with me on this journey, just for a month, and see what you see.  You'll like it, I promise.