Calming phrases before evening meditation or sleep
Through most of my life I've used my thoughts to try to calm myself down before going to sleep at night, and before evening meditations. I thought I'd share some of those phrases here today.
In my teens
When I was in my teens and had too much energy, I'd lay in bed at night, unable to fall asleep, so I'd follow this pattern of thoughts:
Why OBEs happen more easily for me
It's been several months since I last wrote anything here, mostly because I've had a lot going on, and I was also dealing with some health issues. I'm finally back in an apartment that's quiet at night, and my health is fine, so I'm looking forward to having some OBEs again.
If I haven't written about this before, I thought I'd make a few notes here about why I seem to have OBEs so much easier than the rest of the population. Not including genetics, which I can only guess at, there are five factors that I think make me more prone to having OBEs than most people.
Quotes from Autobiography of a Yogi
Before going to bed tonight, I thought I'd share some quotes from the book, Autobiography of a Yogi.
I've written many times in this blog about "vibrations", and here's one quote regarding thought vibrations:
"All thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos. By deep concentration, a master is able to detect the thoughts of any mind, living or dead."
I've also discussed my own ability to slow my breath. While I have a very long way to go in this regard, here is a quote about slowing the breath and consciousness:
Trying to stay on the path, and being tested
Sigh ... there are times I really feel like I'm being tested.
I finally got my head straightened out a little bit lately, practicing a little Yoga and meditating daily again, feeling like it's time to be a good little monk, and then this afternoon while I'm sitting in a coffee shop a pretty young woman kept looking over at me. I could be wrong, it may have been one of those, "He's got a booger in his nose" looks, but I'm pretty sure it was one of those, "It's okay if you come over here and talk to me" looks.
Practicing yoga while listening to Native American Indian music
I just finished a yoga session that I performed while listening to some Native American Indian music, specifically a CD named "Songs from the Fourth World". I turned off all the lights, closed the blinds, and set up the speakers around me, and listened to the songs while working the different poses.
I managed to aggravate my ailing stomach, but other than that, this was really a very peaceful and wonderful way to practice yoga, and close out the day.
"Yoga survivor" t-shirt
As I deactivate my Facebook account, the ironic thing is that I'm moving information I posted there privately out here in the public. One thing I wanted to post here is an idea I had for a t-shirt last summer. The phrase is very simple, "Yoga Survivor". The idea came to me based on (a) my own struggle with some Yoga poses, and (b) a drawing I saw of several Yoga students who had bandages for various injuries, broken bones, canes, walkers, etc.
You need to trust your environment while meditating
A thought occurred to me last night as I was meditating, and it's very simple: You have to be able to trust your environment when you're meditating, or you won't be able to get into a deep meditative state.
The female to male yoga student ratio
Just a fleeting observation here, but I wonder why the ratio of female to male yoga students in the classes I have attended is so high? My guess is that on average there are eight female students for every male student, but it may be a little lower, perhaps 5 to 1.
But even at that rate I wonder why so many more women are open to yoga than men? Is it just this area, or is there something about yoga that attracts more women than men?
Yoga, and staying aware
As I'm getting ready to move again soon, I found myself paying great attention to my yoga instructor's words during class last night. At one point she said something like this: "A part of yoga is about spreading your awareness throughout your body. So when you're in a pose, don't think about just the part we seem to be working on, but also go back and check your other body parts. Are your feet planted firmly on the floor? Is your weight balanced evenly? Are you maintaining length in your stretches? How is your breathing? Is your face relaxed?"
A nice yoga and meditation rhythm
After getting away from meditating in the mornings, I've finally gotten back into the habit/groove lately. It has taken a little while to get comfortable again, but this morning was the first morning where I had the old feeling that I didn't want to stop. Until today I've been thinking more about things like discomfort, pain, and that I should really get to work, but this morning I finally got back to the peace I'm used to.
