Meditation

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering meditation.

Still your mind in me, still yourself in me, and without doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of Love dwelling in your heart.

-Bhagavad Gita

Children attending their first swimming lessons have a healthy fear of putting their faces underwater. They are afraid they are going to drown. This is the feeling we can get when we go deeper in meditation and begin to break loose from some of our long-cherished emotional attachments.

When I was first meditating, I had the same fears everyone has. All kinds of struggles were going on inside me, and it took time and effort to overcome them. But once the waters closed over my head and I began to get my bearings in these new realms, I knew this was what I had been looking for and longing for, and all my energy went into diving deeper.

When we put our heads under and dive deep, leaving selfishness on the surface, we find a joy that is a million times what any surface sensation can give, and a love that at its fullest expression embraces all of life. Initially we may fear losing the sensory satisfactions that lie on the surface, but waiting far below are joy, love, life.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to sit quietly for five minutes twice a day for a week. Try to do it in the same place and same time every day. Make sure you can sit comfortably and keep yourself upright - use a chair if you have to. Observe what happens.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003