The subtle mind exercise is a great exercise if you have a lot of 'chatter' going on in the mind, but it seems a little too long for me. If I had the time to sit and meditate more than I do now, then it would be great, but like I said it is a little too long for me. It is a great experience to encounter, but for me, who has been using meditation for awhile, I rather do a 5 minute breathing exercise to relax myself before I go to bed or I go to work. Focusing on the way you breath is the key to meditation, and it is the key to these exercises. Loving-kindness exercise is also a great exercise for learning to breath from within and trying to focus. For this unit, we have been focusing on the subtle mind and higher consciousness and I believe both exercises focus clearly on both. It takes a lot of practice to learn your mind and learn how to breath during meditation, but these exercises are great for that. Yes, some of them are a little long, but if you are looking for the quality of meditation, then starting with these exercises is great. Loving-kindness actually did make me feel better about myself, and allow my heart to open up a little more. I did not think this exercise was going to affect me, because I have used meditation frequently, but I guess I was wrong.
Mental and physical wellness is connected to our spiritual wellness. We all seek that perfection within our lives, but you need to break down each part to meet wholeness or that oneness; I might say. You cannot have one without the other. It is like saying that you cannot have pizza without something on top of the doe. Each one is connected one way or another. To seek spiritual wellness, you need to be able to have positive thought process and hopefully, and healthy body. Sometimes people focus on the body, before focusing on the mind and that is why they cannot seek a spiritual wellness. If you want to create a semi-perfect body or a healthy body, you need to focus on the mind. You need to tell the mind that my body will become healthy and my body will heal itself through my thoughts, feelings, and the way I treat the whole being.
I can talk a good talk, but what it comes down to is that I have not been healthy in the mind or in the body. I have been stressing myself out over the littlest stuff, which in turn has made my body ache. I have noticed this for awhile, but I have not done anything about it; until recently. I realize that I cannot help others until I help myself, and I need to focus on reality. My reality is that in order for my body to heal from stress, then I need to exercise my mind. It took awhile for me to realize it. I think I just finally woke up and realized how I have been treating my mind and my body.
~Nancy Lasprugato
I am right there with you Nancy, when you said you can talk the talk but not walk the walk! I have been so stressed and disconnected lately that I've been having major problems sleeping at night. I loved your statment, "You need to tell the mind that my body will become healthy and my body will heal itself through my thoughts, feelings, and the way I treat the whole being." Because that says it all and it is so true. Good luck to both us on our path to healing!
ReplyDeleteAshley
Hi Nancy, as we all know stress can be deadly. Stressing over little stuff can actually be a waste of time and energy. I learned a very helpful question in stress management class that I now use when I feel myself stressing and it is "is it real or imagined". This is where learning to calm the mind comes into play. A lot of stressors is our mind tripping and unfortunately, this is learned as we grow from our parents, teachers, media and society as a whole. But, through learning to calm our minds we can change our beliefs to healthier and happier ones.
ReplyDeleteWe can all achieve this with practice and finding techniques that work for each individual. For instance, I use a dry erase marker and write positive statements or notes to myself on my bathroom mirror because I start and end my day there. I don't have to always read it because by just looking at it seeps into my subconscious mind. This has helped me through many stressful situations to re-frame them into positive thoughts.
Finally, I agree focusing on healing ourselves first but I have come to learn by helping others, I help myself.
Stay strong on your path as I told my children "we can do whatever we put our minds to".
Deb
Hello Nancy,
DeleteWhat a great post you did here. I am right there with you. I feel as though there are days when my head feels like it is going to spin until it falls off. I have so muxh on my mind that I seem not to be able to clear my head long enough to focus on just one thing. I have been where you are, I have so much stress to where my head, neck, shoulders just hurt so bad because I have a tendency to hold everything in. Which is not good for my RA.
Great Post!!
it had been a long sometimes, furstrating journey to be able to calm the mind. Especially when things happening around you that gets you upset.I started before I signed up for this class. I spend several little sessions throughout the day trying to calm my mind. It has finally begun to show.I have notices a difference in my attitude towards handle my children and other family stress. I hope to be able to teach my children earlier about these benefits of ceasing menatl chatter so they don't have to go through all the turmoil before realizing the true path to happiness.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I am not the only one that feels so disconnected and off the path! I have been so frustrated this term and I don't know why, but nothing and I mean nothing seems to be falling into place. I know that I need to step back and observe my life and make some changes, but I cannot even find the time to take a step back. Hopefully soon, I can smooth out the ruffles and make things easier and truly find happiness.
ReplyDelete