Monday, August 31, 2009

A little preparation before bedtime confrontation

M was not interested in bed this evening. At 8:30 she was screaming for her brother to be returned from a sleep over. I let her call our neighbors house to get that out of her system. Naturally her brother refused to come home.
While she spoke to him I gathered myself and prepared for a difficult bedtime. I had no goals, and nowhere to go and nothing to do. All that mattered was that I was compassionate to my daughter and had a win-win outcome for bedtime.
She crumpled down on the floor and dug in her heels:
"I am not going to bed no matter what you say."
"M, you are going to bed. You can go walking or I can carry you. I can carry you like a baby or I can carry you by your heels."
"You mean I can walk on my hands all the way to bed?"
"If you can make it. It would be a new family record, I said."
We laughed our way all the way to bed and read a book and M drifted off to sleep, happy as a clam.
Win-Win.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Incredible weekend

My meditation practice feels like it is paying huge dividends. Last weekend I spent a full weekend with my wife and kids without reacting in anger for one moment. It felt like a huge accomplishment!

Communicating through the Chakras

In my 200 hour yoga teacher training class we did an intense set of Kundalini yoga for about 20 minutes, then the group took Shavasana. I was breathing normally and my mind was exploring a topic about work and I had received an insight. Then I heard a groan in the middle of the room, about 30 feet to my left. I felt sorry for the person who was experiencing the grief. A moment later I heard the groan again, but it was even louder. I had a thought that I could help the woman who was groaning by taking on some of her suffering. I decided to set the intention to try to offload some of her suffering onto me.
The moment that I set the intention, my breathing became shallow. I could only breathe in the top 10% of my lungs. I put my hand to the bridge of my nose and tried to breathe deeper. I was able to catch my breath after 4 or 5 breaths.
My abdomen began to feel like it was generating an extreme amount of energy. The area that I would call my 3rd Chakra was vibrating intensely. After 20 minutes this energy pattern moved to my 4th Chakra in the area of my heart. This again felt like deep, vibrational energy. For a brief time I also felt the feeling lower in my second chakra.
I believe that the woman and I communicated through our 3rd Chakras. This happened several months ago and my meditation practice has become much more focused since. I feel that energy channels were opened within my body by this experience.
My instructor explained that she saw this experience as my first experience as a healer. I look forward to exploring these abilities in future classes.