Blog - 5 Boroughs Tai Chi

Eating Meditation

4/8/2014

A regular sitting meditation practise is wonderful, but we don't always have time, despite our best intentions. Practising meditation while you eat is a great way to incorporate meditation into your every day life, and it can positively effect the way you eat, digest, and enjoy food.

For this particular meditation, start off something small, such a date, raisin, or a grape. Once you've learnt the pattern, you can apply it to a full meal. Try just one meal a day, or even a week, where you eat mindfully. No tv, no screens, no newspapers. You could light a candle to make it extra spesh!

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Cheers, and here's to eating mindfully!

Grounding Meditation

3/31/2014

Feeling stressed? Overwhelmed? Guided visualization meditations are a useful way of coming back to your breath, and finding a sense of calm and inner peace. This is a ten minute guided visualization that will help you feel more grounded. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Breath Meditation

3/25/2014

Quite a few friends have recently asked where to find videos and guides for meditation, so I've created a short guided meditation on breath. Nice and easy! Take a seat and start meditating today!

Selling Meditation

2/21/2014

The truth is, the point of mindfulness is not peace, nor is it bliss or transcendence. It does not make you permanently calm or inure you to pain...

Rather, it shows you where your heart is hard. It reminds you of your dreams. It shows you where you are afraid.

It unlocks all the tears you have been holding back and in so doing breaks your heart to the preciousness of your life, the uniqueness of your genius, the unending grief of your losses, and your immeasurable capacity to love."
Susan Piver

The above quote is from an excellent article on the use of "success" and "sex" to sell meditation by Susan Piver. You can read the full article here.

Seeking the Silver Bullet

1/26/2014

Labyrinth

We want

A solution

An answer

A pill

A medicine

A magical being

To make suffering end

In order

To be

Skinnier

Healthier

More wealthy

Successful

Lovable

Make life easier

If only we could wave a magic wand

Or stick to the diet

Or do the affirmations

Or follow the right guru

Or read the right books

Or do the exercises

Or make the bad people go away

We desire

Quick fixes

Instant solutions

We wanted to be better yesterday

Last year

Ten years ago

And still we’re waiting.

Meditation

Doesn’t make you better

It doesn’t provide

The silver bullet

To curing life’s ills

It is not the be all and end all

To achieving happiness

But it does take the edge off

Allows for moments of clarity

Moments of peace

Moments of stillness

It is free

You don’t need any special skills

You don’t need to be any kind of person

You don’t need to believe in anything or anyone

Just pay attention

Without judgement

And repeat.

Show Up (Just Do It)

12/11/2013

The view from my run this week

I'm not an athlete. I don't win medals, and I have weeks where my run total is exactly didn't-even-put-my-shoes-on. However, running has helped me develop a more regular meditation practise. The great thing about running for me is that it's addictive. Every time I go through a period of time without a run, I get to a point where I need to run. And come rain, snow, or shine, I just gotta put on the running shoes and get out there.

Moving from Australia to the northern hemisphere two and a half years ago meant encountering cold weather. Real cold weather. I had never really experienced anything below zero degrees (32F), and my first English Christmas was a horrible shock to the system. I had a slightly bizzare, self imposed, rule that if the temperature was below 8C (46F), it was too cold for a run. The thermometer continued to drop. My runs became less frequent. The temperature hit zero... And my addiction kicked in. I headed out for a jog dressed in two pairs of socks, thermal tights, beannie, gloves, and a windbreaker.

It was cold. Within a few minutes I couldn't feel my face. I kept going. My run time was decent, mainly because I was trying to get through the kilometers and back inside! But it did teach me a valuable lesson. Just show up. It could be bad. It could be good. It doesn't matter. You showed up to the practise. This week saw me heading out for my run with the temperature reading a balmy -11C (12F). I never imagined I could run when it was that cold. And yet, I could.

Some practitioners will tell you that when you least feel like meditating, that is the best time to meditate. It's so easy to make excuses. I'll do it later, I'm too busy, I don't feel like it, it's too cold...

Whatever your practise is, as the slogan goes, JUST DO IT. Just show up, and the rest will follow.

The Black Dog

12/9/2013

I highly recommend this excellent video about depression, what it is, and how we can learn to live with it.

The illustrator, Matthew Johnstone, is creative director at The Black Dog Institute in Sydney. Learning mindfulness at The Black Dog Institute literally saved my life. I am immensely grateful for their work.

The Silly Season

12/3/2013

Pointy head

We cannot deny the festive season is upon us. The fairy lights are up, every store is reminding us that Christmas is drawing ever closer, and the present buying and baking has begun.

In Fort Collins, we’re in the middle of a delicious snow storm. It is seriouslycold outside. It wasn’t until I moved to London two years ago that I was able to appreciate the magic of snow. And it really is magical. The way the world turns into sparkling white, the way air smells crisp and fresh. You come across snow-people built into the footpath. Grown-ups are outplaying. It’s awesome.

In London, snow brings an element of inconvenience too. The lack of regularly falling frozen precipitation means the infrastructure can’t really cope. Public transport becomes a nightmare as train lines are closed, and buses become overcrowded and slow. If you’re lucky, a snow day will be called, and you can skip school for the day or “work” from home.

There is something to be said for a season that simultaneously demands stillness and quiet, and play and frivolity. After all, ‘tis the season...! These kind of opposites are the heart of meditation. In meditation we’re actively doing nothing. It’s a fascinating contradiction. Yet the practise comes in finding the space in the contradiction.

May you be able to find some stillness in the hectic pace leading up to the festive season. Hopefully, at least for most of my northern hemisphere readers, you'll have some snow to help you find it.

Sunrise/Sunset

12/2/2013

Tonight's sunset in Fort Collins

When I first started blogging about moments of lovely a few years ago, over at Breathe Just Breathe, I promised myself I would never write about something as cliched as a sunrise or sunset. Puhleeese!

Living in London for the past two years has meant I haven't seen all too many sunrises or sunsets, as the sky is usually covered in grey clouds. When I did happen to catch a sunset, it almost always blew me away. The colors in the sky, the glow of the city skyline, the fleeting nature of being able to witness those moments between light, twilight, and dark.

Something my sister posted on facebook yesterday caught my eye and attention. She had posted a gorgeous picture of a Sydney sunset, captioned it with "sunset report," and tagged a few of her friends. The idea of checking in with a lovely sunset, observing the end of daylight hours, and reveling in the loveliness of something as everyday as a sunset is a pretty profound meditation. And without getting too existential, meditating on the fact that we are on a life-supporting rock rotating around a giant ball of gas is fairly phenomenal.

What moments of magic can we find in the everyday? How can we use the everyday to support a regular meditation practise?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Mandala Meditation

11/30/2013

A mandala is a circular shape, containing various shapes and patterns, that is said to represent the universe. Mandalas can be intricate or simple, and, have a rich history as a focus point in meditation practise.

Coloring-in a mandala for half an hour is a delicious way to meditate. You can print out a ready-made mandala from the internet, or draw your own using a compass and a ruler, or even a glass from the kitchen cupboard.

I’m no visual artist by any stretch of the imagination, and it doesn’t matter one bit. In fact, I’ve found NOT being an artist helps me to enjoy the simple task of filling a mandala with color. It’s not about what the mandala looks like at the end, or how long it takes. It’s about letting go, allowing your grown-up self to color in, draw, and be focused on something silly and fun.

Why not mix up your meditation practise with something a little different and give it a go?