4-Minute Guided Mindful Body Awareness Meditation

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion sessions

A big thank you to everyone who joined the Free Online Mindfulness Session, we practised on ‘Becoming Aware of Self Care as an act of Self-Compassion’ and a ‘Gentle Body Scan Meditation’.
Self-care is an act of deep compassion and compassion is incomplete without awareness and courage.So,in the turbulent times we are in,it means a lot to show up for yourself and for others but we start from ourselves first.
May we be kind to our struggle, our bodies and our emotions!
May all beings be eased in these moments of stress and have moments of calm to anchor them through this.
To attend future sessions, please fill this form and a Zoom link will be shared with you.
https://form.jotform.com/200785572966468
For the benefit of anyone in distress or handling things all by themselves and in need of support,do share this and support(if you can)with donation.
Peace our way!

Being here in heartful gratefulness: Everyday Living

Every moment is a call to respond with compassion and authenticity. Every moment is a chance, a letter dropped by to be opened with care for who knows what is in store and that’s the best and challenging part to be with.
I notice my kid sitting in the living room brushing the dog’s soft hair and her usual sweet anger that she doesn’t like too much of this attention and that she would have better been a cat with another family.

Sufie is the name of this gentle dog, she is full of self-preserving pride, right now recovering from painful mange-a difficult skin condition and yet that tenderness with which she tells the toddler to not bother her too much with touching and rhyming (well we all know how toddlers can be ) melts my heart in its core. I know all her stories as she knows mine too.

While in the garden, the newly sprouted spinach is a moment of celebration, we sit back and juice the fresh aloe vera,watch the new buds of Desert Rose and collect the dried leaves, kitchen waste for composting in a basket.This is an everyday ritual in our house,sit with what has sprung and what is gone in the small balcony garden.
The first meditation I learnt from my mother was -‘The Art of Being with the Garden’ and it has stayed back forever. Everything needs growth, care and cultivation.

The other day on a call with a friend we meditated on our seeds and what it means to be with them, allowing them to be there and enjoy their flowering when it is meant to be.
I count the trees from the window, more than 10 I can easily say, laden with flowers. I breathe to their presence and thank them for being around, always in all the seasons of moods, minds and changes.

Everything moves, the depth grows and shows us how to continuously be with something else in its another challenging form. Nothing stays forever and that is a beauty I cherish and memorize like a mantra but then there are things I deeply miss like going back to my parent’s house and study the bathing house sparrows while finishing my school homework, brewing some Hibiscus tea thankfully gifted by a roadside tree on a journey in the unknown hills, watch my mother settle to disagreements by sitting out and feeling the warmth of grass, silent walks followed by the crows hovering in the air.
Holding what is gone and what is there with a heart open and inviting is a gift that I am grateful to my Mindfulness practice for.

While I write this all,the other dog called Laura finds me typing something and sits close by the chair, her tail now touches my feet and her ears in resting calm slowly settle on my lap. She tells me she needs nothing and makes no noise.I want to now go and make some tea but I give in to Laura and relish this moment too, we depend so much on her warmth and in the spirit of generosity she gives without a thought.

Fifi, our blind pigeon is doing well after the rectal prolapse. She is eating well, cooing to our sounds and I am looking forward to giving her a bath today.

I am so grateful to everyone in my life, on my page for their presence and words. May all beings be peaceful and eased in their struggles!

Things are as they are, a heartful connection of being with turns everything into a moment of presence lived in its all.

We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For by Hopi Elders

You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour,

now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.

And there are things to be considered…

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?

Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled,

and said, “This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast.

It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.

They will try to hold on to the shore.

They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.

And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves.

For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over.

Gather yourselves!

Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

–Hopi Elders’ Prophecy

 

A CLOCK IN THE FAR PAST:A PAUSE,A DEDICATION

And when it comes to transparence,

a truer tale could be told in

not so much as two lines

as that harboured in a tome

meant to be flipped

with nonchalant fluency.

 

A Clock in the Far Past by Sarabjeet Garcha opens with the poem ‘Frugal Narrative.The above lines struck me like an invite.The word frugal is an interesting kernel to explore,there is an emotive generosity,a meditative capacity in these poems to pause, to generate insight,feel fruition and leave an inescapable taste in your presence once you have kept the book back on the study or by the bedside or gifted someone else to enjoy.The balance of the book lingers on.

 

The outstanding experience of bringing the reader closer to earthiness to feel ‘a lump of loose brown soil’ or ‘malleable mound’ or ‘jaggery gone viscous’ are real reminders of transition,a journey out of the ‘plastic chaos’ of now to equanimity,to eco-awareness. There is no idealism in the pitch as we take the journey to the poet’s past,it is presented as it is and that’s what keeps the faith in both now and then. ‘A Patch of Sunlight’ confirms how we have could have seen more, read more yet there is no negation of what has been missed for it has only added to the capacity of experience.

 

The missing punctuations mystify the reader. Do we go deeper or do we just stop is the question one wraps into while reading ‘The Believer’, ‘Unlearning the Kabir and ‘Keeper of the Granth’.At times the poems weave a lull, a walk blanketing the rainy forest, the freshness of fecund memories one can just brew as one keep turning the pages.What keeps the text, reader and narrator going in a rhythmic dance is that ambiguity of simplified belongingness. Here nobody is leading the other or refusing the other,it is also an amalgamation of obscuring the boundaries, yet keeping what belongs to you as yours;it is a delightful mix of walking together;often reminds of buskers you meet on a train journey or a religious walk that is incomplete without everyone’s accompaniment of full presence. The poems carry one into their fold without demanding,jostling but slowly lacing one in a way that you are startled how effortlessly your being wears them without a cost.

 

I enjoy this richness that compels you to feel known,tasted,once belonged be it in past or now or speak of some private soiree when you know you can put ‘glow-worms to shame’ or the perpetuity as ‘says the river’ in the poem ‘Passenger”.

 

Every return of mine

will coincide

with the scripting

of a new tale..

 

And one wonders holding the clock in the hand, the fluidity, the passage, the endearing challenging timelessness of the time. In the practice of mindfulness, the attention is all-encompassing,non-judging and kind. The tenderness, beauty and ease with which this collection blends into one’s being calls for its acceptance into the poetry of presence.

Thank you Sarabjeet for this eclectic brew. Breathing, sipping, singing and moving! We are walking into the dance of past without searing it for analytic display but for the healing that it has already brought into the now.

 

I Fly… – Unboxed Writers

Sri Kaur | Feature, Poetry

Source: I Fly… – Unboxed Writers

Nature Meditation

Nature meditation:walking with compassion,resting under the trees, feeling the grass, filling our mind with the abundance of life,the gift of green,the gift of breathing and above all being with the beauty of impermanence for every moment things change as is their nature and as we open to watch this with curiousity and joy ❤Let’s walk to our green patch,to a tree,to an indoor plant,to a blade of grass,to water,to clouds,to whatever is here right now ❤May we be happy!May we be peaceful and kind!

What do you notice?

Do you see me?Often we miss because we are not fully present.Here I am sleeping tenderly in the photo,it was a big meal and a beautiful day!What have you been upto? I notice that if we don’t notice fully,we miss so much of beauty and awkwardness both,life is a mix of both, right?

Sufiee-the master trainer

Stop with Sufiee:Dog Wisdom &Therapy

The Roaring courage in us:Notice the Stars

It is utmost important to take care of your inner feelings.No matter what your mind says or you hear from others,if you pay attention and be kind to yourself,you will see the roaring courage right in your heart.The heaviness,the dullness,the sadness to not see ourselves as whole,love ourselves fully,celebrate ourselves comes from years of conditions, our surroundings,our people,our circumstances hardened us with.If we watch ourselves as a miracle,it is easier to notice that the hardening is just frozeness, it is not forever.It is ready to flow,just a compassionate gaze.

I always tell my son-the stars are right there,behind the clouds.Just notice the clouds as blanketing the stars,you are always a star,sometimes you are just shining behind something.The moment we notice ourselves,we are lit up in our brilliance inside and outside.It is worth the effort,whatever it takes-meeting a friend,sipping your tea,writing notes,reminders,daily fitness,allowing the rest to breathe,to recover,reading a book,travelling to mountains,lying by the beach,writing this blog,rocking my heart.It is all worth the effort,the clouds are waiting for us to pierce them through and notice the stars.

We are always enough to take care of ourselves,protect ourselves and love ourselves.The roaring courage is right there,right here!Blanketing ourselves is equally important as revealing ourselves.May we be happy!May we be eased in the now!

Letters to dear Body: Notice our Body

Letters to dear Body: Notice our BodyReminders are our friends.Reminders keep our practice functional, supporting our mental health,physical health, nurturing our presence.

Dear Son helped me out with doing fresh reminders for the entire apartment.

 

We decided to start by drinking a jug of detox water, writing letters to our body,reminders for our body,inviting our presence to settle,watch and be with our body.

The first reminder is Breathe and Smile.We are enough,we have been told.We are not enough we have been retold many a times.

This reminder is to say nothing at all,just notice the body, breathing body,the smiling body,the tiring body,the painful body, welcoming the body in whichever way dear body is.

This reminder is an invite to be with our bodies,to begin our journey,our rest, experiencing our love,our sadness ,our stories held in the body.

Let’s start by being with the Body-our friend, companion and bearer.

Noticing the body without stories, feelings,doses of compassion for there will be time for all that but first where is my body,how is my body and let me notice you dear body.

You can notice the small changes you didn’t see for years,you can experience your pain, sensations, cold or warm,you can feel fullness of your presence and let it be as it is.