My favorite practices

Hi guys, can't believe that we're at week eight already. Looking at some of the practices and exercises that we've done in class, I can say that my two favorite are gratitude practices and visualization. The act of consciously stating what you are grateful for and then expanding on it, is a really powerful tool. And as many of us don't have a lot of free time, something simple like this can fit in everyone's schedule. Hands down though, my favorite is the visualization technique. Today is my day to work with clients at the food pantry and I wanted to discuss how to control your stress levels. One woman, Gladys, has hypertension and asked me how to work it it. We discussed salt restriction, weight control, and then we did Breathing in the Clouds. She really liked it and said she'll try it at home :)

Meeting Asciepius

This practice was a fairly interesting for me. I seem to do well with visualization techniques. I picked my friend Abraham whom I've not seen in many years. He was a pretty interesting person who really spoke few words but knew how to put a lot of meaning into them. I really do wish I could take some of his qualities especially unwavering patience.

Universal Loving Kindness

I tried to do this exercise really hard as suggested in the book but I found it really hard to read it out loud. The words may have a really great meaning but they don't exactly flow when read out loud. It is like reading a tongue twister. I tried it again reading it silently to myself and that gave me a lot more focus on the concepts of this meditation. After reading chapter 11, I believe that Dacher over-intellectualizes many of his concepts. If you think of his spiritual map with the 4 quadrants of experience which he then divides by three additional lines, you end up with a really complicated diagram of lines and curves.This does not seem to me to be a holistic approach to flourishing. I am far from an expert, but after reading this chapters I took a realistic look at myself. I thought about my strengths and especially about my weaknesses. There are some areas of development that I a really proud of and there are some that need a lot of work. I am accurately aware of both. And there are some areas that I know need to be addressed and some interpersonal relations that are absolutely toxic. However, I am only human with a finite amount of time limited to me and I am not sure that I will ever been able to resolve all of these issues. The truth is, I prefer to progress in a less disjointed manner and change what I can without worrying about quantifying or symbolically displaying my areas of development. I going to hobble on my disorganized journey to spiritual development and read Eat Pray Love.

The Subtle Mind & A Damaged CD

Today, I tried to do the Subtle Mind exercise but the pleasant sounds of waves was replaced with hissing & cracking. I tried to outlast the noise but the noise won. I did the exercise without the CD using the book as a guide. This exercise was much easy to do because you don't have to change your focal image mid-meditation. I tried to concentrate on a perfectly still ocean also. I did loose focus once or twice but tried to bring my intent back on my breathing. I can understand the premise behind this exercise; by clearing our mind of the trivial around us, we can allow it time to heal and de-stress. This will lead to a healthier body as by now we all know, elevated stress levels can affect our immune system, parts of our brain, and even blood pressure. My only additional comment, it would have probably worked better if the CD wasn't damaged. See everyone in class!

Wisdom

I'm afraid that everyone knows that I prefer Integral Health to Consciousness & Healing, but I really liked some of the concepts in C&H in this unit. Roger Walsh talked about the Cultivation of Wisdom which is a concept discussed in many of the world's major religions. What I'll take from this is " Knowledge informs us, but wisdom transforms us". A really profound concept as we learn concepts and ideas from books but do we really understand what we read? It is the ability to take that knowledge and see what it really means and how it impacts the world around us. This is one thing I know I will take from this class and try to use in the real world. I have to put it up there with "respond not react".