Monday, March 12, 2012

Meditation challenge

Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care. – Buddha
 
I've spent the past few days thinking about what it means to be balanced. Do you ever have those days when you just feel off? Perhaps everything makes you cranky, you have no patience with people, and the smallest things reduce you to tears? Let's say these moments have nothing to do with PMS. You feel unmotivated and in a brain-fog. So what's the problem?

Balance. As I'm convinced that the body is intensely connected with the mind, when one element goes haywire, the rest of you struggles to keep up. When you indulge in one area of your life, another area may become depleted. It's up to us to recognize the distress signals and help ourselves out before burn out, drama, or illness. So, here I am.

I recently read this article: Do we really need to detox? . The most interesting section (for me) reads: The entire body can regenerate in two years. Ninety-eight percent of the body will regenerate in less than a year. Red blood cells rebuild in four months, the liver in six weeks, the stomach in one month and the intestinal lining in five days.

I think the body's ability to regenerate is absolutely amazing. For all of you considering juicing: think about what an amazing gift you're offering your body - a new start for so many healthy, happy cells! Now that I'm well into juicing though (2 month anniversary is this week!), it's time for me to focus on other areas which need detox as well. Cleansing is a gift which we can offer ourselves at any time, and mental cleansing is just as important as the physical. Our minds play a huge role in what we can accomplish physically, and how we choose to approach relationships with others.

This week I've felt irritable and burnt out. I've had trouble engaging with people and have found myself feeling defensive and sleepy. Granted, I have indulged a few times with food, and I do truly believe that eating well plays a part in emotional wellness. Either way, it's clearly time for a little emotional detoxing.

I tried meditation during the 21 day cleanse, but for a variety of reasons, the practice didn't stick afterwards. I'm choosing to use the next week to try again with a self-imposed Meditation Challenge! I want to be realistic with it - 20 minutes to begin, spread throughout the day: 5 minutes when I get to work, 5 minutes at lunch, 5 minutes when I get home from work, and 5 minutes before bed. I believe meditation helps us to calm down and figure out the root of any given problem so that we can deal with it calmly and rationally. We'll see how I feel at the end of the week.

Until then, peace to you my friends!

4 comments:

  1. I just finished reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh; I would highly recommend it, especially when beginning a meditation/mindfulness practice!

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  2. Ohh I should look up that book. Thanks :)

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  3. If you ever want to take a class a woman named Deborah Cooper came to speak to my yoga class about mindfulness meditation and she was awesome. She said that she designs her classes to be much less expensive than other programs. I believe she teaches somewhere in Mt. Airy or maybe Chestnut Hill. I'll look into it for you! Also, on weekday mornings from 6:15-7:00 at a place called the Springboard studio in mt airy (accross from the coop) they have open community meditations. I was thinking of going before work one day if you ever want to join! It's free and anyone is welcome :)

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  4. Adrienne - I bought the book! :) and Jana - open meditation sounds so nice.. I wish I lived a little bit closer! I'd love to go to a class (with Deborah Cooper) sometime - thanks for the tip!

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