- Noble silence
- Light cleaning
- Reflecting and catching up on homework (as you'll notice by scrolling down... ha ha)
- Mindful eating and drinking of coffee
- Reading material for month three
- Formal practice
What: 25 minutes asana / 20 minutes seated practice
Focus: Second Foundation / Exercises 5 - 8 (Ana-)
Second Foundation: Aware of feeling, sensations, feeling tone (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral).
5. Breathing in, I feel joyful. Breathing out, I feel joyful.
6. Breathing in, I feel happy. Breathing out, I feel happy.
7. Breathing in, I am aware of my mental formations. Breathing out, I am aware of my mental formations.
8. Breathing in, I calm my mental formations. Breathing out, I calm my mental formations.
Started to decipher the difference between all this talk of calm, joy, and happiness. First Foundation brings awareness to breath and body. Simple breath awareness leads to a natural calming of the body. The body is less fidgety, agitated, uncomfortable. With this calmness of the body, a sense of joy arises (ahhhhh... at last). From this place of joy, peace and happiness develops. I think I was confusing calming the body with a general sense of calming, which comes later. I needed to discern the various stages along the way, instead of reading them all as one experience. Fine tune awareness.
Focused on feeling the body in asana practice. Mindful of the sensations in postures and breath. Wondered about the overlap in awareness of breath and body and awareness of the sensations of breath and body. Again, a fine tuning of awareness. There is breath, there is body. Now, there is a deeper awareness of the sensations specifically.
Sat with sensations and feeling tone. Body settled on cushion and blanket - used to the position and practice. Calmness in body. Aware of a contented peaceful feeling. Open attention to sensations. Like sending feelers out into the body. Watched sensations shift and change... Aware of breath, of thinking, of body. Girlfriend yells, "Fuck!"at the computer presumably? Feel jump in body. Increase in heart rate. Tightness in chest. Head of the armbones drop forward slightly. Watch the watching. Breath - in and out, in and out. Tightness dissolves... practice continues. Experience ever-changing.
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