Finding it and checking in.
- What do you understand about Dhyana?
- Please take a few minutes to offer yourself a self-guided practice.
- Name your noticing and thoughts about your experience.
Dhyana I am less familiar with than meditation. I will be honest and say I have not had a great practice with meditation in general. Brief moments during a challenging asana practice for a long time was as far as my understanding went.
I have always had a busy mind. I am typically thinking about what I am doing after the thing I am doing. Pratyahara funny enough has come easier because it involves tuning into SOMEthing other than the engine of my brain.
” These techniques (Dhyana),are commonly called meditation practices, but in essence are part of Dharana, or increasing mental focus. Examples of simple Dharanas include focusing on the breath, visualization, or repeating mantras.”
A spot to check in.
More so this year and last, part of my year’s resolutions was to be more and tune with my body. It is still a work in progress but I am getting there little by little. Reading The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living by Hillary L. McBride, has helped a-lot with this practice and gaining more perspective of how our social training disconnects us from ourselves (our bodies). Her highlighting that the concept of the mind being separate from the body is a very western lens and a product of our colonial groundwater in a sense. This way of looking at my brain as being part of the whole, not just driving it, gave me a sense of ease that I did not expect. Aside from the whole ” mind gut connection” thing in alot of wellness promotion, it was not something I think I often considered really. In high anxiety moments, my spiraling mind has left what felt like miles away from my body. I have had better luck grounding physically through physical feeling/senses which were ‘outside of ‘myself, then trying to untangle internally with focus. Pratyahara unknowingly ( or maybe knowingly!)bridged the gap.
Knowing now these things are connected, not separate, meditation has been me ‘checking in’. And a practice of calm ( thank you Dr. Jupiter). I have been adding more Dhyana recently through guided meditation. Once of which recently, I joined a virtual class with Sheba and she lead us on. Allowing the thoughts to come and simply say ” thinking”. When my mind drifts off from the moment I am in, I find myself now saying this. When intrusive or anxious thoughts caused by unchecked rumination creep in. I am now not trying to quiet my mind, but bring it back to mySelf. I now acknowledge my Self and body as not separate and separate as the Sutras would say. I have NObody and I am my Body. And this I believe is the space in-between that is me, containing both. The silent retreat will truly be a test for me lol
Self guided practice notes:
- Mantras are a good anchor into the moment. Repeating ” checking in” has been helpful when my mind begins to wander.
- Sitting upright with my lower back supported is often most comfortable. Noticing this pressure, I feel less tense. I can relax further into the position knowing if I let go briefly, I am still supported in the experience. It’s like a weird trust exercise but you know you got your back (lols). Another favorite is a self hug. I am one of those people who like the feeling of their body smushed so it is the OG weighted blanket. Or literally wrap yourself in a weighted blanket.
- Ocean breathe or full breathe helps me visualize. I can feel a rise and a fall, waves flooding and receding. The rhythmic timing in my breathing that feels like being on a swing at the playground.
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