National Meditation Month Playlist on YouTube
Week 19 – My Meditation Journey – Part 2
You can listen here – 6:57 mins
I hope you’ve had a chance to check out my playlist for National Meditation Month on my YouTube channel. I’ve really enjoyed creating and posting some simple daily practices that are less than 10 minutes and I will continue posting through the month of May.
When I started practicing in the 90s, people thought I was a little strange. I would meditate for 10 – 20 minutes in the morning before I left to go to work. It really began to help me settle my thoughts and feel more focused and clear with my decision making.
I was at an event and I heard someone say that meditation is mental hygiene. That really made sense to me. You woke up today, right? You brushed your teeth, I hope you did anyway. You groomed yourself. You likely took a shower/bath, washed your face and attended to your personal hygiene, or at least that is the story I’m telling myself about your morning. In other words, you prepared to show up in the world.
Preparing your mind through meditation is mental hygiene and allows you to show up in the world prepared for whatever will come your way, known and unknown. I bet you have more unexpected things come up than expected. At least I seem to. 🙂
Taking 5 to 10 minutes every day to check in with your breath and your body is a powerful practice. I mentioned last week that my car was totaled. I ended up having lower back pain and some other pain after the accident so I began going to a chiropractor. I have had various levels of mobility over the years and I’ve had periods where my mobility has been challenging.
I grew up, playing tennis, basketball, and walking as forms of exercise. Through college and in my 20s and 30s I continued some form of exercise at least 4 to 5 times a week that could be going to the gym, playing tennis, and keeping my body moving.
There is nothing like the INABILITY to move to get you connected to your body. As I continued to mature, and listened to my body, I gave up playing tennis and basketball decades ago.
Walking has been my steady partner my entire life. You may have seen some of my breath breaks where I’m walking or out at a local park. I’ve done that since I was a teen. I’d just walk around my neighborhood and enjoy nature. Well back then, we didn’t have ways to listen to music while walking so I just noticed what I saw and heard. That habit has become very handy for me now as a meditation teacher. And walking is a form of movement meditation.
I bet you’ve been meditating and didn’t even know you were doing it. Did you know that there are many other types of meditation? This article from healthline.com mentions nine different types, – mindfulness, spiritual, focused, movement, mantra, transcendental, progressive relaxation, loving-kindness and visualization. You can find the article at https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/types-of-med….
By nature I am a very curious person and enjoy trying new types of meditation so I was thinking about taking a Tai Chi class and I believe it was around 2019 when I signed up for a class at Kaiser Permanente. The class was less than 10 minutes away and it was FREE… a twofer.
Tai chi is a flow of connected movements and Qigong is usually done standing or sitting in one place doing the same movement – both are synching your body to your breath. In the Tai Chi class we warmed up using Qigong to get our energy flowing and I remember thinking to myself, “how long are we going to do this same move?” I didn’t know at the time I would come to LOVE the Qigong practice as much as I do.
In fact, this week on the playlist we will be doing a few movement practices including walking and Qigong. You can check out the first practice for this week here.
So. how are you going to MOVE this week?
The card pulled for us from my card deck
Relax, Listen, and Trust Your Inner Guidance.
#10 QUESTION – What in my life is AMAZING?
This week and every Wednesday during May at noon I will be on the Insight Timer App. The sessions are FREE or donation.
I encourage you to check out this app, it is the #1 app for free meditations for sleep, anxiety and stress, and I have over 40 meditations, book excerpts, and my courses (for premium members) and more out there. The link is InsightTimer.com.
Our Next LIVE BREATHE WITH BARBARA SESSION is 5.10.23
Our group sessions are small and intimate (less than 10 people)
LIVE Breathe with Barbara Sessions starts at 8 pm Eastern, if you are interested you can register at https://bit.ly/3PGeBhW or go to my website at barbarafaison.com/store/livemeditationsessions.
May SESSIONS ARE – 5.10 & 5.17 (Wednesdays)
June SESSIONS ARE – 6.14 & 6.21 (Wednesdays)
Our Next LIVE BREATHE WITH BARBARA SESSION is 5.10.23
Our group sessions are small and intimate (less than 10 people)
LEARN MORE OR REGISTER HERE
May SESSIONS ARE – 5.10 & 5.17 (Wednesdays) 8 – 9 PM Eastern
I’d love to know about your experience with meditation. Are you new, or would you like to learn?
If you would, we’d love to have you join our Wednesday night sessions, we start on May 10.
Maybe you have a group of people that you’d like to start a practice with.
If you know any groups or organizations who want to offer a session, perhaps a lunch and meditate or a program I love referrals and would be happy speak with them about that as well.
On my website on the contact page pick the option that works best. That’s barbarafaison.com/contact-Barbara.
Or you can messaging me @barbarafaison on social media, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook are best.
All of the links are on my linktr.ee/barbarafaison.
If you need a quick breath break you can take one right here.
That’s part two of my journey.
Until next week, keep it moving and SLOW DOWN and enjoy life.
Be well,
your meditation ambassador
barbarafaisonllc@gmail.com
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