The Citadel

Settling down - the art of becoming relaxed

 

When I begin a relaxation in a class, we begin with a "settling time". This simple process is the most valuable skill I can impart to a student.

Why? Because it's the part of formal relaxation - lying down on the floor, breathing and visualizing - that is most transportable into daily life.

Everyone understands how a day can go from bad to worse. Simple everyday things insert themselves into something that began calmly. The phone rings, good or bad, it sets that calmness swirling. Outside demands are made on you and soon you're juggling three things at once. You fall behind, and the pressure builds. Soon it's a race just to keep your head above water. Along with this comes all the associated emotions; irritability, frustration and feeling overwhelmed. Your energy, that began quite centered, is swirling. You end your day feeling crazy and depleted, and is it any wonder.

Mastering that transition back to calmness from craziness, is mirrored in the first five minutes of a formal relaxation. In a formal relaxation we lie down comfortably, and then we wait for changes to take place inside us. It's amazing how few of us have the patience to wait (on our own behalf) for the body to calm. For most of us, it has to be a journey of trust. Very few of us have a concept of a deep reservoir of calmness inside ourselves. It's not the kind of thing we learned at our parents knee.

The reality is we do have calmness inside us, but we need to know how to find it. Much of what we experience as "stress" is to do with our body. Too much stimulus pushes up our heart rate, raises our blood pressure and engages our flight or fight nervous system. Even a small but continual assault of over-stimulus can bring about a stone age response in the body. It prepares for battle when none is needed. When we allow that response to continue unrelieved over time we burn out. We become like a candle burning too wildly, we devour the wax and too soon snuff out the flame of our own essence.

This is where training ourselves to settle down is helpful. We can learn how in formal relaxation, and we can practice it in daily life. Here are some things you can do to help yourself settle during the day. All of these things take 5 minutes and that's all it takes for your body chemistry to change enough to begin to relax.

- Take breaks. Take one every hour. Take these breaks as quietly as you can. If you can, go outside into fresh air, but indoors will do, even if it's at your desk. Just stop and release the activity.

- Breath deeply. One of the quickest ways to get the body to relax is to breathe. Practice a deep abdominal breath standing or seated.

- Shut off the noise. Turn off the radio, TV, etc. Close the door. Get small children to take a relaxation break by reading or listening to a story. Avoid office gossip. Bathe in quiet.

- Learn to recognize your own relaxation release point. Whilst you relax, observe your body. You'll feel the point when it begins to relax. For me it's a feeling of pleasant heaviness in the muscles and a feeling of coming down to earth. When you recognize your own point, it's easier to go back there again.

- Gaze at a beautiful picture, or listen to the sounds of nature. In this digital age, via wallpaper and apps, it's not hard to do. The beauty of nature both uplifts and calms us.

- Learn an uplifting or calming affirmation. "All is well" is one of my favourites. Close your eyes and repeat it slowly inside a few times. If that's too new agey for you then repeat a favourite prayer. One of my favourites is this prayer from St Theresa of Avila.

Let nothing upset you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything is changing, only God is changeless. Patience attains the goal. He who has God lacks nothing. God alone fills every need. 

- Take time for lunch, a whole hour. Go for a walk, sit quietly and eat something delicious and healthy. Your productivity will soar later in the day.

And that's what I'm going to do right now, break for lunch. We can take comfort that in our busy lives, craziness is not necessarily inevitable. We can acquire new habits that support relaxation, but it takes application. May you have a joyously relaxed day!

Much love,

Wendy x.

 

                   

Beloved...the verse and the riddle.

"New Mexico storm" Photo - Wendy Bradtke 06 (C)

You are my beloved,
my friend.
You are my father,
my mother.
You are my husband,
my wife.
You are my daughter,
my son.
You are my child
and my sibling.
You are without
and within.
I kiss my fingertips
and you are the kiss,
my fingers and
my prayer.
Beloved, you are
there.

Much love today, Wendy xxx

Where a mantram goes, nobody knows.

As I’m passing thru a very thorny patch in meditation presently, its probably a
great time to think a little about how valuable a mantram can be. Let me say
though, in one sense I struggle with the use of mantrams. Its not that I don’t
love the gentle lull of the mantram’s beat in my head, I genuinely do, its that
to some part of me it seems such an unimaginative way to deal with the mind,
which is after all essentially creative. The artist inside can scream "give me a
picture to contemplate!"

Now this may or may not give a glimmer that recently I made some peace with
having a mind. Now that may seem like a weird thing to say but the truth is a
lot of yogi’s do have that trouble and tend to see the mind as an enemy to be
vanquished. I have recently given that some deep consideration and I accepted
it is there, and even embraced the mind's busy-ness.

I actually accepted that I like my mind, I no longer see it as a restless enemy
to quieten down to non-existence, rather I see it as a part of me I simply need
to deal with. And maybe because I've become more acquainted with what’s
beyond it, digging around in the pre-conscious mind. All of this has come about
because of a re-newed commitment to find happiness inside me instead of from
outside sources. Yes, that finally happened! It’s taken me 50 years bloody hard
slog to get there.

So my inner resolve to find my inner smile has occasioned a hugely creative
renewal, it’s almost like a renaissance and my mind is full of wonder and dreams
again. I have an entire series of paintings, one novel, two non fiction titles and
a heap of short stories all sitting inside like Hoover dam. I barely have time for
inner misery any more.

There’s a marvelous land within to be experienced, lived and expressed. That
being so, until I lose my marbles, I intend to play with them. Now those marbles
I’ve really earned, and really own. Others may have left marks on them, may
have tried to screw with them, even possess them, but I know they are
un-possess-able. It's my "inner landscape", and if I screw that up, or make
it good, it’s my deal after all.

It occurred to me this morning, meditating, that I might use the time to
SENSE LIFE, rather than embrace the void. And a practiced meditator
will recognize here I am at the cliff-face of a deep philosophical change.
Excuse me but its - scary.

Bliss, Wendy.

 

 

 

Chakras are not sharks….(but what are they?)

Firstly let's get my pet peeve about the sanskrit term Chakra sorted. Its pronounced CH-akra, as in CH-urch, not SH-arkra, as in the movie "Jaws".

Right I got that off my chest, let's move on. For those who love some history (not one of 'em myself, let's go straight to the point - Yay!) Chakras belong to the meditation system called Tantra which pre-dates Yoga, so that makes it ancient. Tantra is based on the idea of liberating energy to change your consciousness.

Now that statement beggars the question - "what is consciousness anyway?" I like to look at it this way, if we could think of how we feel as a reflection of our attitudes, then we could think of our consciousness as our state of being, or how we are. So, how do Chakras fit with that? The Chakras are energy flows that are really close to Source Energy, so they are a kind of consciousness in themselves. They sit in your body like whirlpools of energy, and yup, that means in everybody. In meditation we develop the Chakras by expanding and clarifying them. In that way we expand our own consciousness by experiencing Source energies directly through our own Chakras.

These are the positions of the seven major Chakras with their sanskrit names -

• Mooladhara or Earth Chakra at the base of the spine. Its colour is red and it influences our stability and motivation.
  
• Swadisthana or Water Chakra in the lower abdomen . Its colour is orange and it influences our creativity and vitality.
• Manipura or Fire Chakra just above the navel. Its colour is yellow and it influences our instinct and drive.
• Anahata or the Heart Chakra at the breastbone. Its colour is green and influences the way we experience and give love.
• Vishuddi or Throat Chakra. Its colour is blue and influences direction and communication.
• Ajna or Mind Chakra back from the brow towards the centre of the head. Its colour is violet and influences intuition and visualization.
• Sahasrara or Crown Chakra at the top of head. Its colour is white and influences inspiration and life purpose.
  

This list is not extensive, as the subject of Chakras is vast. Thankfully there are simple ways of working with Chakras and one of those is through colour. Meditation on colour gives us an amazing way to experience Source Energy at its very purest, as colour is one of its building blocks. So here is a meditation within Vishuddi Chakra to try - anyone can do it, try it now, later, or a few times. Just go for it!


Assume a comfortable seated posture in a quiet place. Don't get too pedantic about it, sitting in a chair is fine. The most important thing is your body is relaxed and upright. Close your eyes and unplug from the world outside. Focus on your breathing until it gets slow and deep. Cultivate an attitude of being at peace with things. Take time for all of this to develop, as meditation can't be rushed.

Allow your mind to form a picture of a clear blue sky. Appreciate for a moment the expanse of blue letting your awareness spread out into the open space, floating up into the sky. Look out and enjoy the feeling of space, openness and lightness. Feel the full power of the sun imagining sunlight pouring down through the space like golden threads. Stay with this a few moments.

Then focus on breathing in and out. Imagine that your breath can connect with the sky, so as you breathe in you draw the sky inside you. And as you breathe out you let your being flow out to the sky. Let this breathing increase your sense of connection with the sky...you are in a state of becoming...(sky)

You could end your meditation here or you could then add a mantram. In this case use the So hum mantram, as it is a mantram of becoming. Say it internally with your breath -

Sooooooooooo - very long as you breath in...

huuuummmmmmm - very long as you breath out...

Keep imagining that the sky and the blue are flowing on the breath, with the mantram. After awhile you can let the breathing and mantram go. Feel when it's right to do so.Then try sitting still with where-ever this meditation has taken you. To end your meditation stretch your body and take time to reflect.

This meditation, one of many others, will help to open your Vishuddi Chakra and allow an experience of the space, clarity and direction within it. That's what meditation is about, its not about the technique, or the length, or anything complex. It's about what you experience, and from that you will learn all that you need to understand...

Most important is to enjoy what you do, don't struggle too much with it. Joy is the soul of Tantra. It's joy that liberates our creative energy within.

With Joy, Wendy.

The illustration is a detail from a painting "Blue angel" - Wendy Bradtke 2000 Cpoyright.