Month: April 2020

Standing Meditation

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Mindfulness Meditations for YOU 
during Covid-19

“Standing Meditation”
 
A famous teacher once said:
 
“The bad news is we are falling…
The good news is there’s no ground.”
 
I don’t know about you, but this feels about right. There is a sense of groundlessness and uncertainty. Things keep changing. I feel it in my bones. 
 
Fortunately, this is precisely where our mindfulness practice can be a resource. 
 
So, find a standing posture. The feet are a hip width apart. The toes are pointing forward. You may rock back and forth on the feet to find your balance. Your hands are at your side. The jaw is relaxed. The ears are over the shoulders. Your knees are slightly bent.  Tucking in the hips—the sensation of squeezing your butt cheeks together as you were holding a quarter between them.
 
See if it is possible to relax your body in this standing posture. 
 
Can you relax the body just 5%?
 
If you are an overachiever 6%, but no more.
Continue to relax the body.
 
Implementation
 
Your mission today is to practice standing meditation 3x today. 
 
(And, don’t forget the moving of the corner of the lips upward!)
 
 

Our Daily Ritual

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Daily Meditation

At noon on most days, my son, wife and I drop whatever we are doing and meet in the kitchen. One of us heats up water in the teapot, the other sifts 1 teaspoon of Japanese Matcha into three bowls. When the teapot whistles, we pour about a cup of hot water into each of the bowls and froth the Matcha. We sit at the table and one of us offers a blessing for the day.

My son has been helping out in a senior care center that had an outbreak of Covid-19. Today, he offers a blessing for all of the residents. There is a moment of silence. We first drink in the blessing, then we sip the Matcha.

We spend the rest of the time talking about news, what needs to get done, writing out grocery lists as if we were writing out the first draft of the Constitution. There is laughter. Then, we clean up and return to our tasks.

As you reflect on your day, what ritual(s) do you find yourself doing? What ways might we bring our mindful awareness into those rituals, no matter how big or small?

Here’s to the blessing that is YOU!

Salut!