Posts Tagged meditation

One Bad Apple

November 2nd, 2010 by Elizabeth

You’ve heard that phrase, right? One bad apple spoils the whole bunch? I’ve recently been reminded in a very big way that that phrase can also be used in regards to our bodies. When one part of our physicality is out of whack, so follows the rest of our body. And that’s the time we need to dig down deep and use all of our tools to bring us back to some semblance of balance.

A little over a week ago I underwent Lasik eye surgery. I have worn glasses for 43 years, so the notion of being in life without an external means of eyesight correction thrilled me no end. But no one prepared me for the post-op period while awaiting the resurrection of my perfect sight! Oh, sure, the doctors told me that my vision would be clear and then blurry off and on for the first 2 weeks, but they didn’t mention all of the other challenges that may come up (I understand, as my challenges may be different from others). It certainly has been a reminder as to how the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies are so very connected.

My biggest challenge this week has not been with seeing far away or up-close, but with my mid-vision being quite blurry and hazy or what I have come to call “fluffy”. And everything around my house seems to be in this mid-vision, so I have come to find out that fluffy vision can be very disorientating, frustrating, and exhausting.

A friend pointed out that I had done something very violent to my eyes–had a flap cut in my corneas and then had my eyes doused with pulses of laser light. So of course my eyes–my physical body– have been healing, but so have been my emotional and mental bodies. For over four decades I have gone through the act of putting on glasses to make my way in the world. My eyesight was so bad that I was totally lost without them (You’ve heard of 20/20 vision? Well mine was about 20/800!). I was addicted to this external source, but all of a sudden, I didn’t need it any more and, even though the fluffy eyesight was annoying, my glasses would not have helped.

As bizarre as it may sound, I was actually grieving the loss of my glasses. I happened to find them the other day and put them on, remarking at how strong they were for me now. But at the same time the familiarity of them on my face reminded me of and felt like an old friend, and I was swept up in a sudden wave of sadness.

Falling away this week were not only actual physical perceptions I had of the world, but emotional and mental ones as well. To adjust to this monumental life change, I have called upon just about all of the seven personal alchemy steps I have just recently shared with you (except the two that involved writing). The ones that I found most helpful were that of meditating and listening to music. The musical vibrations really helped to soothe and sitting in the silence allowed me find peace amidst all of the inner turmoil.

It has been a challenge–and I may still not be completely out of the woods yet, but I have a new appreciation for something that I may have taken for granted all of these years and a new appreciation of how delicate our inner balance is. When one part of us is off, so there goes the rest of our being.

And this can be a beautiful analogy to the world in which we live. Can you see that? When one of us is off, there goes the rest of us. Take notice how integrated and connected we all are. How lovely and amazing. Fascinating lessons everywhere!

The Discovery Of Your Personal Alchemy: Avenue #2

October 26th, 2010 by Elizabeth

“We are all wizards. Breathe in this glorious fact. Feel it. Know it. The magic is there all around you. Just when you least expect it you will see a beautiful wand in your hand and your desires and dreams will have materialized at your feet. Merlin is all of us and we are all Merlin.”

I wrote those words to you all back in February of 2009 and they still stand true. You are Merlin and Merlin is you. It is just a matter of continually using the right formulas–the formulas that work for you– to find and open up your treasure chest of Magic. And just so you know, you were born with this treasure chest. Maybe you are now just finding the map or perhaps you’ve been sidelined a bit with some adventures and have rekindled your hunt for your buried treasure. No matter what your circumstance may be, these tools I am sharing will help you to find that buried treasure.  It just takes a little practice and a little patience. I will give you the shovel. It is simply up to you to pick it up and break ground.

The technique I present to you here is a meditation based on the Buddhist meditation called vipissana. It is all about the amazing art of being present with whatever arises.  What I share with you I call B.L.I.S.S. meditation.  Here I will break it down for you:

1. Breathe
2. Look
3. Inside
4. See
5. Separate

Simple. Straight forward. Direct to the point. And you may ask, what IS the point? The point, the bottom line, is to get to #5 and see that you are SEPARATE from all that is arising, whether it be a thought or an emotion. Thoughts and emotions come and go with the wind. The trouble comes when we follow their track.

So  find yourself a comfortable place where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes. Breathe, just normally. Focus on your breathe as long as you can. Be patient. Even if you can only focus on a half of a breath; that is perfect. When something pulls you away from your breathe then Look Inside. This means simply to look at what comes or is coming up. There will be thoughts or perhaps emotions that will arise.

See these thoughts or emotions. You can perhaps see the words themselves. Or if it is an emotion, label it. For example, if it is sadness, say to your self “sadness”. Observe everything in this way. And as you do this labeling and observing, it will become magically Separate from you. When you become the observer, that thought or emotion is no longer felt as to be you or part of you. Once it is all separate, then comes the Magic. All of this can happen in a matter of seconds. As you arrive at the bottom line of becoming Separate from what you are seeing or observing, then go back to the first step which is to Breathe and focus on your breathe. You have come full circle in the process.

BREATHE –> LOOK INSIDE –> SEE –> SEPARATE

The  minute you begin to honor and observe that which has arisen, it will fall away and dissolve into that which it came from. And when you continually do that, you will begin to see glimpses of your inner magic; your treasure chest. This practice will help to unveil your personal alchemy.

Ever find yourself on a treadmill in your head, running the same thought over and over and over again? If you feel yourself caught in this trap, take in a deep Breathe, Look Inside, and See the thought. This action will then magically Separate you from it so you can jump off of the treadmill. It relieves the overwhelm, the distraction from the Now. And in the Now is the only place we will ever discover our Magic. This tool can be used anywhere anytime to bring you back to focus and back to life.

If you practice this BLISS meditation diligently, you will uncover your inner magician more and more. It takes persistence and patience to dust off that Magic Wand of yours. But isn’t it worth it???

Are you studying?

January 28th, 2009 by Elizabeth

Accept what is. What you resist persists. Go with the flow.

Undoubtedly, most of us have heard one or all of these phrases. And they sound oh-so-great when you are sitting in the seminar room or with your fellow practitioners at a meditation sit or even as you pour over a Byron Katie book. But let’s be honest. You never fully understand those phrases until you get down and dirty in your own life and just experience first hand, putting all that learning to practice.

I have taken a lot of self development courses, but the one that I am presently enrolled in is by far the BEST I have ever taken. It is on-going. It is called “My Own Life”. Full enrollment began on October 20 1962 the second  I was born. Sometimes I am a bit perplexed as to why I would have registered for such a course. But the great thing is that the rest of the world is also enrolled in the same course at the same University: LifeU. Everyone has different curricula than I do, but some of us have similar professors, some of us prefer taking the tests without studying and going blindly into class, and some are even trying to cheat on their final exams. But we all answer to the Dean of the Universe. We can struggle and fight as we learn and move along toward Graduation Day, or we can quietly pull our chairs up to our desks and crack the books with honesty, integrity, courage, and a zest to learn.

Sharing our learnings is one of the neatest aspects of LifeU. Why not look to your classmates for assistance in cramming for that mid-term? So now, if you don’t mind, this classmate would like to share intimately with you what she learned while she got down and dirty in her studies this past weekend (this blog is G-rated, by the way, for any of you wondering about the “down and dirty” part…).

I have fairly recently closed the door on a traumatic, unhealthy relationship of 11 years and, as a result of that, I have entered a phase of renewing, blossoming,  learning the true meaning of self-love, and beginning to see the True Love that is Elizabeth.  Light is flooding my life with a gorgeous new relationship, I am selling my house, and my spiritual work has taken on new incredible and exciting dimensions. So much excitement, love, and light in my life! So here I am, just sailing along singing and laughing and then…do you hear that? Yup. That sound you hear is of that other shoe dropping.

Last Thursday I woke up with feelings of dread, loneliness, and despair, coupled with self-doubt and great feelings of self-hatred (and goodness knows what other darkness was thrown in there). Out of the blue. Nothing in particular had happened. Nothing that I could put my finger on at least. My lonely empty house felt to have doubled in size and the halls echoed with the sounds of my wailing as I felt the loneliness and trauma arise. My dogs ran to help, but their tender pawings at my body and kisses on my face did nothing to soothe me. The cold and the dark of the winter loomed and seemed to intensify all of the pain. I felt so removed and disconnected from the world. My boyfriend was working and on the other coast, adding to the isolation. The tears and the wailing went on into Friday and  Saturday. The fortunate thing was that I have been in similar classrooms before (with different teachers), and the pages of the book seemed familiar.

So what LifeU had previously taught me was to look at what it is that is coming up. Observe it. Then you will become separate from it and it will eventually dissolve. So I was aware and did that. The odd thing was that this time, the intensity was far greater than anything I had ever experienced. In those moments I could totally understand how some of our classmates ditch school and flunk out.

So at 4 AM on Sunday morning, as I lay crumpled face down on the floor, I experienced one of the biggest revelations of my life. In a moment of satori (instant enlightenment), I saw that I had been looking and observing the “crap”, the negative stuff coming up, but I realized that I had not been fully ACCEPTING it, and I was judging it for being there. The minute I accepted and stopped judging, even if it all didn’t make any sense, I  reconnected and felt peace. In that moment of exquisite realization, my teacher handed me my paper with a big A+ on it with a big gold star.

So you may be wondering why I could have all that stuff coming up if I am in such a joyous, love-filled place in my life. Here is exactly why: one of my glorious teachers, Sondra Ray, taught me that “Love brings up everything unlike itself for the purpose of healing”. So then  it is no wonder. With so much love in my life, there was no escaping this accelerated learning portion of my Life Course.

I highly recommend practicing the acceptance part. No matter how unpleasant or strange it may seem. Love it and embrace it. Fully and without reservation. Perhaps this can help us as the semesters  roll along. I personally want to go to the head of the class. I intend on graduating with the highest of honors. Maybe even with a Ph.D and summa cum laude…