Time: 8:04am
What: 15 minutes seated practice
Focus: Awareness at belly - "Rising/Falling"
Found the trick to awareness of breathing at the belly. It goes something like this: rising, rising, rising, falling, falling, falling. Repeating the labels for the entire length of the breath created space for easy and natural breathing. Identified three forms of awareness or thinking while on the cushion this morning: memory, planning, and the rising/falling of the breath. Each thought or moment fell into one of those three categories. Under the planning category (briefly) included designing a DIY fruit fly trap. Oops! Perhaps I should practice loving-kindness meditation towards the fruit flies that are taking over my apartment.
Time: 8:08pm
What: 20 minutes asana / 15 minutes seated practice
Focus: Awareness at belly - "Rising/Falling"
Evening practice is really in the world. Mat and cushion are set up amongst cats meowing and girlfriends clicking away at the computer. Had to pause in between asana practice and seated meditation to bring the vermicompost indoors (dealing with unwelcome critters - as mentioned above) and shut the balcony door. Theme for the practice: gross. The smell of cat litter wafted to the cushion, accompanied by the feeling of little bug-critters crawling on my arm/leg/shoulder. Cat smell was real, critters were a figment of the mind. Nonetheless, I was able to sit, watch breath, and note "rising/falling" (go me!).
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