meditation smeditation

during my birthday massage at a very swanky spa, i decided to practice meditating. i was successful for some minutes. other minutes, my mind wandered off to very far away places. it was always interesting, the conversations in my head, when i caught myself drifting and had to reel them (the thoughts) back in. funnier still, was how i startled myself every time i became aware that i had been mind-rambling. at times, i played complete scenarios out before i caught myself.

it has been many years since i have been a practitioner of yoga/meditation, so it's like learning to roller skate all over again. wobbly is not even the half. instead of schedules that i wont keep, i've devoted only 5 minutes a day to mediate. u'd be surprised how hard it is to come by five minutes, but that's another rant. however, in order to sit for long periods of time, i have to step my yoga game up. (no, 5 minutes is not long but i gradually add minutes so eventually we will have- long periods of time).

"Concentration can be cultivated. One can learn to exercise will power, discipline one's body & train one's mind." - Anil Ambani

the task at hand in yoga is to find union- between mind and body, between the individual and her God, between our thoughts and the source of our thoughts, between teacher and student, etc. (liz gilbert). yoga is sanskrit, translated as 'union'. yoga comes from the root word yuj, which means 'to yoke,' to attach yourself to a task at hand with ox-like discipline. since i suck at discipline, what better way to fight my way up the hill? so those pretzel-like moves we have come to know as yoga, is but only one part: hatha. it's hard enuff as it is to sit still and listen to God speak. it's even harder when your hip is hurting. so bending, twisting and flexing goes hand in hand with sitting to listen. 

after all, praying is talking. meditating is listening. i have come to learn that i talk alot. i dont listen much. and we cant have that!