Tag: meditation

Power of the Labyrinth

03/29/2017 / Laura

Life can take us in many directions, and often on paths we never thought we’d choose. Sometimes the way ahead is clear. Other times, (and for me, more often than not,) the path ahead is a bit hazy…I can’t quite see the images…and when I get to that intersection I am really not sure where I’m supposed to go.

It’s like hiking, which has always been my favorite thing though these days my feet don’t want to cooperate. I hike a trail. I can tell where it’s going. Then I come to a point where it seems to split into many options. Obviously only one is “really” the trail. But the others look kind of okay…are they options?

If I choose one I’ve never done before, will it bring me back to where I am right now?

Or will I get lost and never find my way back?

The movies want you to think that it’s easy to figure out moments like this. There’s a sudden vision. Or the music changes and the sun comes out and you just know. More likely is you are tired, distracted and you’d just like someone to come along and tell you which way is which.

That whole fantasy about how things get easier as you get older…hmmm…how’s that working for you? I agree we have more wisdom as we age. But I’m not sure it always makes things easier.

When my mind won’t settle enough for me to figure out what’s next, or there’s just no peace because it feels like I’ve backtracked and messed up and soon I’ll even up living under a bridge, I try to find experiences that quiet it all. Meditation is good. Tai chi is restorative. Nature is always a balm.

And then there’s the labyrinth.

According to The Labyrinth Society, a “labyrinth is a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological or spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance right brain activity.” Labyrinths are considered walking meditations, where your psyche meets your spirit.

Labyrinth enthusiasts believe that as you enter the labyrinth, you release. When you enter the center, you receive. Then as you leave, you give back to the world what you have received.

One of the most famous labyrinths is that found at Chartres Cathedral in France. This labyrinth is 42 feet in diameter and is thought to have been constructed in the early 13^th century, though no one is sure. What is known is that up to 1,000 people have walked the path and the numbers continue to grow.

What is it that pulls so many people to walk this design? Does it really have a power all its own?

Many years ago I was at a point in my life where I could not figure out what was my inner self giving me direction, or what were the messages I’d absorbed for years from well-meaning but negative people I was around. I just wanted to clear my mind and get a feel for what my path should be. I had heard of a large labyrinth laid out at a church near me, and I decided to try it. A friend had suggested that before I walk the labyrinth, I say a prayer or meditation of what I hoped to find…what answer I was looking for. And be sure to enter the design with as clear a mind as possible.

Easier said than done, but I followed her advice. And it was, for me, an amazing feeling. As I entered the labyrinth, I felt what I can best describe as a force field…an energy that seemed very real and very strong. I took my time and let thoughts come and go. What most impressed me was how just as you think you’re about to reach the center, the labyrinth takes you back out to the outer edges, slowing you down, making you revisit where you have come from, not allowing you to just quickly find that golden egg.

In other words, you can’t get where you going without circling back to where you’ve been.

I find that to be a huge lesson. We don’t just come out of the rodeo shoot and never look back. We make progress, we accomplish things, we lead our lives…but we’re always calling upon where we’ve come from.

Some reject this idea, as they have come from places or environments that were abusive or so negative they never want to look back. I understand that. But I think even that pain has something to teach us and if we boomers ignore it, it’s just going to keep popping up and block our forward motion.

I also noted how once I reached the center of the labyrinth, I felt peace. I could just breathe and be for a bit. (How often do we do that??) Then as I was ready to leave the center, I once again had to follow a path that picked up speed, then slowed, and again, took me literally full circle…to the outer edges and back.

Maybe this all sounds weird. But lately, I’m in a place again where my inner self is a bit off-balance, where it is easy to give in to the notion that because I’ve returned to an earlier address, I’ve failed or walked backwards. Yet my conscious mind knows that’s not the case; I’ve just taken one of those spur trails to see where it will take me.

I’ll still get where I was going, but I will take an unexpected route. And it might be one that for a while doesn’t feel quite right, like putting on shoes that don’t fit or a sweater that itches. But if I trust a higher force to get me through the dark parts, then surely there’s a vista at the end of this trail that’s far more beautiful than I could have imagined.

I let go. I receive. I give back. And maybe in the process, I return to who I am so I can be even more.

“Methinks the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”

Henry David Thoreau

Sitting still.

06/27/2016 / Laura

Why can’t we sit still?

Ever have one of those days, maybe on a weekend, when you have worked hard all week, whether at a job or volunteering, gardening, servicing the car, housework or any other intense activity and now, just when you could just sit down and be quiet for a while, you find it hard to do nothing?

You’d think as boomers and beyond we would realize we’ve earned these moments of quiet. Our bodies need rest. Our minds need rest. The phone, the laundry, the clutter can wait a few hours or even days. It’s strange how quickly we can feel guilty.

Or come up with 10 reasons why we need to jump up and get something done. If our minds wander, we think we’re “wasting time” when really we might be doing some beneficial day-dreaming.

Who knows what great insight could emerge?

Some people bike for miles and miles and then when they reach their destination, they rest for 15 minutes and get right back on the bike. Or hike all day to a beautiful glacial lake and find it hard to just sit by it and breathe, without checking their watch and heading back in 10 minutes. Do we think we’re missing something? Maybe so.

But then maybe, just sitting in the grass with your dog and feeling the breeze on your face might be feeding your soul more than you know.

Modern wisdom is telling us how bad it is to sit for hours at a time at our desks or on the couch. The advice is to get up every 20 minutes or so and walk down the hall, up some stairs, around the office, whatever. I think that’s great advice. But I also think there are afternoons or evenings when a few hours of watching the clouds might be even more beneficial for our circulatory system.

Being still resets natural rhythms. Lets our deeper consciousness work out the tough issues that vex us. Helps us savor good memories and positive experiences.

It’s interesting that as well as sitting still, silence seems to be hard for many people. In conversation. In church. In a car on a road trip. Some people are just uncomfortable with silence and need to quickly fill it with music, talk, or noise. Meditation is, for these people, impossible or excruciating. Yet listen to the list of benefits realized from meditating: it increases positive emotions, boosts the immune system, decreases pain and decreases inflammation. It’s even supposed to enhance brain functioning and decrease depression.

So maybe we all need to just sit.

A bit.

And breathe.

Summer’s here and for many, provides opportunities for visiting places of natural beauty like the beach, the mountains, the desert, and more. What if, sometime in the midst of the giggling and playing and socializing, we all found a few moments to just take it in…eyes closed maybe, breathing quiet, ears attuned to the wind, the waves, the birds.

What if we turned off our phone (gasp) and use our minds to take a photo of the scene and hold it there.

Let everything relax for a minute, and just be.

Just be.

Ahhhhhhhh……………

“Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness.”

Eckhart Tolle

Maybe we’re okay as is.

04/04/2016 / Laura

It’s the start of the week, the month, and maybe a brand new season. We can look at it with anticipation and joy, or we can feel overwhelmed and even frightened.

Why can’t we get out of neutral and do the things we keep saying we will do? What if the months pass and we’re still just sitting here? Why does it seem like everyone else is making progress?

But then again, why don’t we boomers and beyond give ourselves a break?

Where is this critical voice coming from—the one that keeps saying we need to improve, to change ourselves, to transform our personalities into a lotus flower?

What if, for a moment, we considered how perfect we really are. What a miracle we are.

That maybe what is inside of us is just okay. That instead of hitting ourselves in the head with a block of wood, we should nurture our inner self and celebrate our spirit?

In other words, lighten up.

I like this notion. I like remembering that spirit made me and spirit lives in me. Way before teachers, preachers, or finger-pointers took hold of me, I existed. I shine. I live, breathe, and love. So maybe I’m just okay—without trying to become someone I was never meant to be.

In her book, “The Wisdom of No Escape”, Pema Chodron touches on these thoughts more than once. Her are just a few excerpts of her words:

“Loving kindness doesn’t mean getting rid of anything….we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change our selves. Mediation practice isn’t about throwing ourselves away and becoming something better. It’s about befriending who we are already…if you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom. Someone who is very angry also has a lot of energy; that energy is what’s so juicy about him or her…the idea isn’t to try to get rid of your anger, but to make friends with it, to see it clearly with precision and honesty, and also see it with gentleness….”

See it with gentleness. What a nice thought! Turn off the voices that tell you it’s time to develop a new personality. Put down the whip. Think soft instead.

Pema also says:

“Life’s work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into the circle wake you rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to open, be cautious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will. It’s going to stick around until you learn your lesson, at any rate. The journey of awakening—the classical journey of the mythical hero or heroine—is one of continually coming up against big challenges and then learning how to soften and open.”

We’ve earned a little softness. We’ve endured a lifetime of struggle, pain, happiness, sadness, and just about everything else. So does it really make sense to think we’re doing it all wrong? I don’t think so.