Daily Meditation (11 minutes) - Guided "Future Self" Meditation (Tara Brach, PhD)
Admittedly, I'm on a major Tara Brach kick right now. Brach asked participants to first settle into deep breathing, fully into their lungs and through their bodies. Whenever I begin this way I like to envision the breath as sunlight reaching into the dark places of a forest. Breaking through the trees, filling the caves, pushing light and warmth through so that things can grow. There's a children's book called The Curious Garden that I used to read with my son, and often did storytimes with. A little boy lives in a desolate, grey city where nothing apparently is growing (must be somewhere in the rustbelt). One day, he sees a little shoot of green in the sidewalk, and follows it as it grows and cascades vines and flowers all over the grey city. It's a lovely book and I still like to pull it off the shelf and look at it, even though my son is sixteen and driving and I am no longer a storytime lady at the library.
Tara then asked the participants to envision their future, older self. What do they look like? What are they dressed like? What does the room in the house look like that they're in? What do they say to you, right now, as you are? Another powerful place to visit.
Daily Yoga (30 minutes) - practice w/ "baby" pose and traditional sun salutation
Today I took my entire practice time to run through the first four postures of the traditional sun salutation, and dig deeply into my "baby pose," which is head to knee (janu sirsasana). I talked out loud during both, and visualized our class in front of me. I incorporated some of the techniques I've learned from both my training and from teachers I admire. Settling and breathing into mountain, finding those bandhas, leading with variations, and gentle guidance when poses feel intense.
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