7 Tips for Meditation

Helpful Tips from My Latest Meditation Workshop

As a meditation teacher I find it important to go see my Teacher periodically to get recharged, inspired and to have a sense of progress. I recently traveled to L.A. to attend a weekend workshop and here are some of my take a ways.

We use meditation to find peace until we (permanently) R.I.P.  As you go into meditation you are entering a state of peace for a few minutes or longer. Meditation is best if approached in a very relaxed way. If you are too ridged you cannot learn as well. As you progress with your practice a few minutes can extend to a long time.

After Teacher meditated, he said, “If I sat here longer, my meditation would have been sustained for a lengthy time. Do you know why? It is because I am aware of the Divine in everything. The Divine can be a place to where you can go as well.”

In the story of Siddhartha (Buddha) it is said that he left the palace to get a better understanding about life, living, suffering and getting old.

In life there is suffering. But you can choose to do more learning about suffering or you can choose to live with lots of suffering for yourself. Suffering is a natural part of life. It comes in many forms. Cultivate to transcend the self. Do the best you can. Also, add lots of happiness to your life.

 Teacher asked the contemplative question, “Does it matter where you go at death?” You know, Heaven can be had now by virtue of having peace with yourself.

Happiness can come from knowing we are a part of the Divine.

Make personal changes before you crossover so that others will think kindly of you when you have ‘passed’. Use your life now to become the best person you can be. The strength for this can be found through a solid meditation practice.

It is so easy to feel lousy. It is the continuous feeling good that is difficult. Start by being mindful of what you say to yourself. In the morning look at your reflection in the mirror and be happy to see that wonderful person!

We all have a ‘small self’ and a ‘big self’. Meditation helps to bring the ‘big self’ forward or to the surface more. Every time we meditate, not only do we sit with the daily small bits of our lives, but we address something greater than ourselves as well.

Better Sleep: Meditate before bed. If you have had a “long day” then this is an especially good practice.  Do not focus on the things you cannot fix.  If you wake up in the middle of the night; breathe deeply; inhale and exhale while focusing on the tan tien (Just below your navel.). This is also considered meditation. Another Technique: In standing meditation, tighten both fists at your sides. Hold firmly for about a minute. Then relax everything. This will help with your sleep as well.

Please join me Monday mornings and Wednesday nights. See calendar page for the dates. www.MeditationFromTheHeart.com

Spiritual Cramming

Spiritual Cramming

I’ve found myself – as I do periodically – with the feeling that I have some ‘free time’ on my hands. With that feeling, faithfully comes the itch to fill it right on up. Yes, folks I definitely scratched that itch.

This time I’ve gone for the spiritual gusto. My regular Sum Faht Meditation practice is firmly in place and inside of that practice I occasionally use a timing device (app) called the Insight Timer. This app is connected to other users. It is quite a delight to know that during my Wednesday evening classes there are usually another 3,500 people meditating across the world at the same time we are.

I decided to join a 12 week course called the Practice of Direct Awakening lead by Craig

Hamilton. Awakening is beyond the mind. One of the fun things he challenged our group with an exercise of sitting for 15 seconds and simply let everything be as it is. Success! Now do it for 30 seconds. No matter where your mind goes let it be and have no judgement. How about you try this too!  And when you are done, add a few more minutes of meditation. (Simple – Right!?) Be easy with it. Be who you really are right now.

Meanwhile, I have also joined an 8 week women’s group which

involves creating and singing beautiful heartfelt songs about life, love and feminine mysteries. Plus we are delving into our direct lineage and honoring all of the women who without whom we would not exist. This intention is also a powerful healing around being a woman in this world.

There is a gentleman, David Nicol, who is making a huge effort to join and educate people about the phenomena of Group Subtle Fields. I am listening in periodically to these talks. Even if you are not in the same room together you can actively connect/feel the energy a group.

The Book of Joy – an – audio book with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu – narrated by the husband, Doug, of my friend and medical doctor, Dr. Rachel Abrams, is currently escorting me during my drives to the various places life takes me. It is a personal goal of mine to be as happy as possible all day long. I am learning about the spiritual depths of joy versus the state of being happy from listening to these amazing spiritual leaders. I highly recommend enjoying your own copy of this fabulous book. One key component is the mental aspect of having a good attitude with compassion and generosity toward yourself and other human beings.

I’m laughing right now because I’m remembering that during all these years of meditating  (29) my Teacher has encouraged most people to not read books on spirituality because any questions you may have you can find the answer to by going within. You need only to sit in meditation. This advice really has worked for me. I am, however, reading a book right now called The Diamond Cutter – The Buddha On Managing Your Business and Your Life. This book has not only been entertaining, but has given me some sweet insights on the art of detachment. And a gentle reminder about how every moment contains the flow for infinite possibilities.

Lastly, I am giving a heartfelt plug for the book Cultivating Compassion – Simple Every Day Practices For Discovering Peace of Mind and Resilience. Why? Because I am proud of my little sister, Amy Pattee Colvin, who authored this book. Within its pages you will find help day by day for 66 days to develop a personal practice – discovering more about yourself with a compassionate heart.  

Of course all of this spiritual cramming is on top of my regular day to day life of running Water Star Motors, home and self-maintenance. I love my life!  

Please join me Monday mornings and Wednesday nights. Or, if you prefer, book a private session. See calendar page for the dates. www.MeditationFromTheHeart.com

Breath is Key to Life

Breath is Key to a Life Well Lived

Finding Space

Being aware of your breathing takes attention away from thinking and creates space. It is one way of generating consciousness. The breath is key to discovering inner space and connection to spirit. It creates gaps in the stream of thinking. Without those gaps, your thinking becomes repetitive, uninspired, devoid of any creative spark, which is how it is for most people on the planet. You don’t need to be concerned with the duration of those gaps. A few seconds is good enough. Gradually they will lengthen by themselves, without any effort on your part. More important then their length is to bring these gaps in frequently so that your daily activities and your stream of thinking become interspersed with space.

Be aware of your breathing as often as you are able. Do it whenever you remember. If you consistently do that for one year it will be more powerfully transformative then attending workshop after workshop. And breathing is free.

Be aware of your breathing. Notice the sensation of the breath. Feel the air moving in and out of your body. Notice how the chest and abdomen expand and contract slightly with the in – and outbreath. One conscious breath is enough to make some space where before there was the uninterrupted succession of one thought after another. One conscious breath (two or three would be even better), taken many times a day, is an excellent way of bringing space into your life.

Trees have space

Let’s now stop and do a short breathing exercise. Be sure you are sitting comfortably. Close your eyes and mouth. Place your hands over your belly. Breathe in with an internal count of five. Breathe out with a count of five. (Repeat for a total of five sets.) Relax and open your eyes.

Did you notice the natural pause between the inhales and exhales?

Even if you meditated on your breathing for two hours or more, which some people do, one breath is all you ever need to be aware of, indeed ever can be aware of. The rest is memory or anticipation, which is to say, thought. Another way to put it is the past or the future. Breathing isn’t really something you do but something that you witness as it happens. Breathing happens by itself in the now. The intelligence within the body is doing it. All you have to do is watch it happening. There is no strain or effort involved.

Many people’s breath is unnaturally shallow. The more you are aware of the breath, the more it’s natural depth will reestablish itself. This is like the breaths you see a baby taking.

Because breath has no form as such, it has since, ancient times, been equated with spirit. From the Bible: “God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.”

The German word for breathing – atmen – is derived from the ancient Indian (Sanskrit) word Atman, meaning the indwelling divine spirit or God within.

The sky breathes

The fact that breath has no form is one of the reasons why breath awareness is an extremely effective way of bringing space into life, of generating consciousness. It is an excellent meditation object precisely because it is not an object, it has no shape or form. The other reason is that breath is one of the most subtle and seemingly insignificant phenomena, the ‘least thing’ that makes up the ‘best happiness’. Whether or not you practice breath awareness as an actual formal meditation is up to you.

Being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment – the key to all inner transformation. Whenever you are conscious of your breath, you are absolutely present. You may also notice that you cannot think and be aware of your breathing at the same time. Conscious breathing stops your mind. But far from being in a trance or half asleep, you are fully awake and highly alert. You are not falling below thinking, but rising above it. And if you look more closely, you will find that those two things – coming fully into the present moment and ceasing thinking without loss of consciousness – are actually one and the same; the awakening of consciousness.

Key thoughts from the book “A New Earth; Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle

Please join me Monday mornings and Wednesday nights. See calendar page for the dates. www.MeditationFromTheHeart.com

Benefits of Meditation - Personal Experience

It is hard to describe Sum Faht Meditation in exact detail because it taps into what is needed in the moment and produces different results every time for every individual. Overall the results are for the good and for the betterment of the person. Any meditation practice helps one to pause, look inside and listen. Answers are always there.

Meditation from the Heart

In my style of Meditation I teach with a variety of tools to help people handle their life in an easier, lighter, more fun or pleasant way. A good meditation practice has many ‘aha’ moments. These come with delights from the new understandings. There is not a “One step to Heaven” enlightenment in Sum Faht practice, but a beautiful journey with many benefits along the way.

What are the benefits of meditation? Like my son likes to say, “You gotta do it to know it.” There is an inexplicable, feel-able connection to yourself and to your higher self to know what you want or don’t want in life. It is nice to take the time to sit quietly especially when you do it with personal reverence. Meditation builds compassion for yourself and others. It also builds a strong connection with Nature - seeing the beauty of the divine in all things great and small.

Yes, there are the recurring basics within the Sum Faht Meditation Practice. For example: Sitting Meditation, Standing Meditation, Walking Meditation, Guided Movements (moving meditation), Learnings of Healing, and Mudra Meditations (which are hand positions.) We also work with intuition and with Nature.

Recently I heard the sublime song by Bobby McFerrin called Discipline. It reminds me a bit about peoples struggle to do the things that are ultimately good for them.

“No discipline seems pleasant

at the time but painful.

Later on, however, it produces

A harvest of righteousness and peace

For those who have been trained by it.

No discipline seems pleasant

at the time but painful.”

I find that through discipline comes freedom.

At the very beginning of my Sum Faht Path I found the strength to rid myself of a very toxic relationship and find a new one with Henry. It helped the both of us to remain sane and vital as our new journey together brought us through most all of the major stressors in life at once: New relationship, marriage, moving from west coast to east coast, new job for Henry and total career change from Interior Designer to mother of three for me, bankruptcy and moving back to the west coast (all in one year.)

I was always proactive with my children’s health. If they felt something coming on I would ‘work on them’ and poof 99% of the time they were better. By teaching the kids meditation they had an early sense of their spiritual essence and were driven to explore and question the many belief systems out there. Often I caught them in their teenage years explaining meditation to their friends. They all three told me later how meditation helped them get through the trials of their teens.

My meditation practice has transformed my life over and over again. It has helped me go from a person with a complete lack of confidence to feeling courageous and sound in almost all life circumstances.

I have moved from being invisible to visible. Yet I can still be a ‘ninja’ if stealth is needed. I share a deep connection with people from all over the US and other countries. I truly like myself and have faith and the power to change what is no longer working for me. I feel safe. I can go with the flow.

My meditation practice gives me structure and personal strength to my days. There is a noticeable difference between the days I meditate first and the ones where I just run out the door.

I encourage you to join me in my Sum Faht meditation classes (see calendar) or to dust off your own practice. “You gotta do it to know it.” Meditation is good.

Life's Seven Challenges

The seven challenges to being a good human being are: Humility, Patience, Acceptance of Fate, Surrender, Simplicity, Detachment and Harmony with Nature.

The theme underlying all of the challenges is the basic struggle to be a well-balanced, good-hearted person. There is a story about two monks who are walking along when one asks the other about his goals in life. The one monk replies, "I'd like to be a saint. Why? What are your goals?" The other monk says, "I just want to be a good human being." The first monk responds, "You are very ambitious."

Humility: Whatever qualities or attributes we possess were given to us. They were not our doing. We didn't create our intelligence, competence with languages, artistic skills, or ability to deal well with people. These are, quite literally, gifts. As we develop spiritually, we increase our ability to help or heal others. We can become better vehicles for healing or helping, but we are not the originators of that energy. Part of the purpose of spiritual development is to help others, but that is not a way or an excuse for making ourselves more important or powerful.

Patience: Spiritual development takes a very long time and is a slow and painstaking process. It is work that does not end. There is no 'getting there.' There is only more insight, and the reward is more work.  Impatience merely hampers our progress. It is as inappropriate as standing in your garden screaming at a seedling to grow faster, to hurry up and bloom.

Blooms once a year

Acceptance of Fate: We can't control reality. But we can control the way we deal with whatever happens. We can feel defeated by a particular event and wail at the heavens, or we can choose to view the event as a challenge, a test of our ability to maintain faith no matter what the circumstance. But an understanding that some things are beyond our control is a wisdom and can simply be accepted as gracefully as possible.

Surrender: We want to naturally live on faith that our struggles have some meaning, that our efforts are not in vain. We must surrender have faith in the forces that impel our lives.

It is an excellent time to surrender in meditation. In particular, we must surrender the ego. We need to bypass the intellect and the ego so that higher spiritual forces can communicate with our Inner Selves. Having a fundamental faith in the power and benevolence of those forces are good to cultivate so that we can truly let go and surrender ourselves to their care.

Simplicity: One of the greatest compliments the Teacher pays a person is to say that he or she is 'simple'; meaning open, direct, or uncomplicated. In our culture we tend to respect complexity, and we use our minds to make things 'more interesting', that is, more complex. But in meditation the intellect and complexity frankly has no place. The Teacher said once that it is very difficult for a complicated person to become simple. It is much easier, however, for a simple person to become complicated. One just needs to learn to constantly ask, "Why?" 

Impartial Observer

Detachment: When we learn to accept fate and surrender our egos and intellects we learn to have more detachment in our everyday lives. This does not mean that we don't care about things, people, or our responsibilities. We still experience strong emotions and can be deeply involved in many areas. But we learn to maintain a certain perspective, to see things in context rather than merely from the narrow viewpoint of our own egos. When someone infuriates us, we still feel the rage. In addition, however, we learn to have the discipline to also view the situation impersonally, as if we were an impartial observer.

It is good to learn detachment from our past patterns of behavior. Many of us define ourselves as victims for whom everything seems to go wrong, or as scapegoats who are always hated and picked on, or as underachievers/overachievers. We may learn to not define or limit ourselves in terms of stereotypes or anything else. And we may learn to detach ourselves from our own destructive habits.

Harmony with Nature: The final challenge is to consistently harmonize and flow with what is natural: Both the natural flow of the Universe and the flow of our own Inner natures. In meditation we learn to 'go with the flow' and to blend with different energies. In day-to-day life we strive to live in harmony with nature, not upsetting the natural balance of our world. 

Summary: It is good to consistently try to master the Seven Challenges, and integrate these values into our everyday lives. True spiritual development is measured by the goodness of our hearts and actions, not in our accomplishments and fame in the mundane world. Nor in our ability to meditate well. This, however, does not minimize the immense value of meditation.

All In A Week

Have you ever had those moments of, "Where did the time go?" Last week seemed to fly by so quickly I thought I had better take a moment and be grateful for all the things I did and not put myself down for the things not done.

I hand-addressed and sent out 70 thank you cards to the last half of March's new Water Star Motors customers. I also sent a couple of birthday and congratulation wishes. I most likely responded to 200 emails and several face book posts.


I accidentally double booked myself on Sunday with a wood carving class at Cabrillo (taught by Ron Cook) and a fundraising event at SCO. So I got started on my project, apologized to the teacher and headed to Market Street to finalize my Monkey Business themed table for 8 called  and to prepare to be a fashion model as part of the Tea's entertainment. I modeled two lovely outfits from the Daisy store. After the Tea I took my table down and put everything in my dishwasher at home. Then I joined Henry for a yummy wine tasting dinner at a friends house.

Monday I taught a Meditation from the Heart class, wrote two blogs - Reflections of a meditation retreat and Life's Seven Challenges. Downloaded photos from my camera and got frustrated with how to work with the windows 8 program on my newish laptop...argh! I practiced my singing lessons and had a nice 20 minute walk to my voice teacher's house. We revamped the entire choreography to Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend. Yep, another 20 minute walk back home after toasting (apple cider) with some of  the Stagebridge leadership team. Date night.

First thing Tuesday morning at Water Star Motors I had to update the security systems on all of our computers and help fix one of our email systems. I got caught up on some of my paperwork and then went to get a relaxing facial from Santa Cruz Skin Solutions.
After a quick bite I had a three hour rehearsal for Stagebridge's Hat's Off II at my house. Then I created and ordered up 300 more thank you notes for WSM.

Wednesday: I did my Directorship duty at the SC Women's Leads Club. Worked at WSM. Got my hair freshly colored and cut by Gloria Riola, wrote out a mudra meditation guide for my students and put a couple of hours in on my wood carving project.

Thursday: My employees are happy that I did their payroll for the week. Bank and credit card reconciliations, various reports, mail, etc. Then I took my first ever Tap class. Yes, time to 'shuffle off to buffalo'. My Follies colleagues are dreaming of me being in tap numbers in their various shows hosted by SCO (Santa Cruz Opportunities). I practiced my singing lessons. I worked on my wood carving for about an hour before teaching my evening meditation class. Henry took our son, Dan, with him to the Warrior's playoff game. During which they got to see our grandson play and our grand daughter win the 'Slam dunk' game. (Go Victoria!)

Warrior's Playoff Game

Friday: Worked for a while. Took my 1st of 6 1.5hr Musical Theatre class on Solo Expression by Kathryn Adkins through Stagebridge (more songs to learn) and my 1st of 6 Dance classes taught by Sharon Took-Zozaya. She has us learning some great choreography. Yep, a little sore and stiff.


Saturday: Started in the hot tub. Got the laundry going. Did some shopping for food and other items at the music store. Picked up a wine club shipment from Storrs. Gardened. Participated in a mini-training on web presence for My Leads Club (Thanks Kayla!). Prepared our home for tomorrow's visit of one of my sisters, Amy. And I wrote this blog.

Meanwhile, there was all of the regular stuff that goes into my daily routine. Like 8 hours of sleep, at least 3 meals a day (including artichokes and lemons from the garden), meditation,  playing with the cats, occasional power naps, moving thousands of dollars out into the universe, reminding my husband of things he may have forgotten, watching some TV, reading and playing internet games, as well as a surprise visit from our middle son, Andy.

Wow! I am grateful for my life, health, businesses, loved ones and me! I hope you are having a terrific week too!

Reflections of a Meditation Retreat

A couple weeks ago I had the good fortune to attend a week-long meditation retreat at Buckhorn Springs (Ashland, OR) with my meditation teacher of 27 years.

Out of the 26 folks who attended 9 states and two countries were represented.

A retreat is a perfect way to remove ourselves from our daily grind and connect more deeply with our spiritual nature. The end results are being well rested, revitalized and chock full of new insights and vigor. Often the wholeness human beings are searching for can be fulfilled from within. Especially if one takes time to retreat from daily routines and stresses.

Getting ready for another round of meditation

Sometimes I like to look at the statistics of a thing. We started with an evening meditation on a Friday and ended with a morning meditation the following Friday. In between we enjoyed 47 hours of meditation, learning, laughter and exercise. As well as 25 yummy meals that were lovingly prepared for us.  We also had an after party which included a silent auction where we raised $1600 for our scholarship program. During our free time there was several acres of beautiful land to explore, more meditation to be had, helping others with healing, sharing life experiences and the exploring of the beautiful town of Ashland.

I am always stuck by how magnificent the night sky is when we are removed from the city lights. The milky way is rich with stars. I am so lucky to experience such breath-taking beauty. It was quite fun to name all the constellations we remembered from our schooling.

A typical day would start with an hour of meditation from 7-8am. We rise from our sleepy state and walk in silence to the meditation hall and quietly sit and meditate. Breakfast is served. As you can imagine, sitting for long periods can be tiring. So to help us with that we had a daily exercise period from 9-10am. During which we'd stretch, do chi kung, tai chi and other breathing/moving exercises. From 10-Noon we'd have a session with the Teacher. Lunch is served. Free time til the 2:00-3:30 session with Leong - often outside - learning more about nature. Free time til dinner was served. 7-9pm evening session with the Teacher. Sleep and repeat.

I have to say that this retreat was golden with laughter. And there was so much harmony and great connections between all the participants. Lovely!

The main thing that is up for me at this time is Patience. Patience with family and with my meditation business.

Patience is one of the seven challenges to being a good human being. Spiritual growth is a natural process and it cannot be rushed.

Time is our gift. We have time.

Headache Relief

Meditation from the Heart's Quick Tip for Relief from a Headache

Does your head ever feel like this?

Many years ago I learned this easy and effective way to help others to get rid of their headache. It is a technique from Polarity Therapy. A person does not need years of meditation cultivation; it simply works every time. Even a child can do it.

Human beings are chock full of positive and negative electrons. At times they seem to gather in an over abundance in one's head - causing a headache.

For ease of description, Person A - is the one with the headache. Person B - is the one who is helping to lessen the headache via this polarity technique. 

Polarize a Headache

Have person A sit comfortably in a chair. Remove any hat or glasses.
Person B (standing) rubs their palms together briskly for a few seconds. Approach the left side of person A. Ask them to close their eyes and breathe deeply. Their breaths should be audible.

Person B places their right palm lightly against the base of 'A's' neck and the left palm about an inch away from 'A's' forehead.

Hold this position for a minute or two while person A is taking deep breaths. 

When done person B should flick their fingers a few times and or run their hands under cool water.

This simple technique helps to re-align the positive and negative electrons and moves the painful stagnant energy out of the head.

Gratitude Offers Abundant Living

I love this acronym: G.O.A.L. 

   Gratitude 

Offers 

     Abundant 

Living

When times are tough it is good to get back to the basics by reminding yourself of the many things you have in your life for which to be grateful.

Do not take life for granted. If you look at your life you will see that you really do have all that you need. Appreciate the little things in life. And know it is the little things that you do for others that people appreciate most.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough. It turns denia into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie

Blessings: If they are not appreciated then they are not blessings. You are a blessing.

Do not take life for granted. Focus on the joy of life right here, now! For example; “Mmm this is a great cup of tea/coffee. J”

Don't Worry Be Happy!

Happiness is a state of being.

Being happy does not mean you need to deny everything else. 

Do things that make you happy and agree with yourself.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

If you think about it you will know that there is nothing outside of ourselves that has the power to make us happy.

For example: If I think, “That cup of coffee over there will make me happy.” And I go over and get it, I may find that I am feeling happy for a while, but then I get bored with it (and the cup is soon empty). 
Now, I think, “Getting a new pair of shoes (like so and so is wearing) would make me happy.” Poof! I have new shoes. After a while I find the ‘external happiness’ fades. I get bored again.

This is temporary happiness only. Permanent happiness comes from within and goes with me where ever I go. So, if you catch yourself saying, “I will really be happy when…” Perhaps stop yourself and say, “I am truly happy now.”