We’ll be together in all kinds of weather
erinm on 8:30 am February 2nd, 2011 / 5 Comments »
The rain this morning was a pleasant relief from the harsher snowy and icy weather we’ve experienced lately. Yet, as Emily reminded me last night, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil decides this morning, we’ll surely be complaining about the hot and humid weather six months from now, too.
Emotionally, we all have different types of weather. Happy, sad, angry, heart-broken, frustrated, or neutral — or everything in between — I’ve found that yoga and meditation helps me to weather this weather.
Have you tried to meditate? In its simplest form, meditation is awareness of your breath. Try this: sit in a chair (or on the floor with your legs in sukhasana), lift your chest and draw your shoulder blades down your back, aligning your spine and and feeling your collar bones spread across the front of your chest. Now close your eyes and inhale and exhale through your nose, paying attention to your breath. Breathe. Simple, right?
The beautiful thing about this practice is that the breath is always with us — come hail or high-water — and it doesn’t require any equipment or even that much time to align the spine, close your eyes, and breathe.
This Feb.U.Yoga, I’m working on integrating more meditation into my daily life, rain or shine. What do you think about meditation as emotional weatherproofing?
On February 2nd, 2011 at 1:02 pm John Said:
Ha! “…ail or high water…”
Can you do this in your chair at work? How would you align your body if you were doing this sort of discretely on an airplane or wherever?
On February 2nd, 2011 at 9:35 pm ErinDuncan Said:
Hi John, Thanks for your comment! Yes! That’s the great thing about focusing on just being aware of your breath — you can totally do this in your chair at work or on an airplane! Try sitting with both feet on the floor, hands on your thighs, lift the chest, close your eyes (or not, depending on the situation) and focus on your breath. (This can also keep you calm during lengthy de-icing delays on airplanes in particular!) Tell me how it goes for you.
On February 3rd, 2011 at 2:48 pm harry Said:
Hi Erin,
I have been thinking about “neutral” as an emotional state and I like it–its rare that I find myself emotionally neutral–I wonder what brings you there?
On February 4th, 2011 at 9:45 am kelly Said:
yeah and where does love factor in re: the emotional states. is it neutral?
On February 4th, 2011 at 2:41 pm Erin Said:
i think of neutral as being my “set point” and i think it’s different for everyone. i don’t know whether you can change that or whether it’s fundamental to your character/personality. kelly, i think that’s an interesting concept of “love” being neutral. certainly falling into love is NOT neutral (thank goodness), nor is falling out of love, but love or lovingkindness — i’ll have to think about that. certainly, i would imagine some really evolved beings’ “set points” to probably be lovingkindness. what do you guys think?