Daily Gratitude

It's that time of year again-- posting my daily gratitude in a public place.  I forgot to start posting over the weekend, so please walk back in time with me a few days and then, if you are so inclined, please join me in sharing your gratitude for the world.  This kid wouldn't claim any kind of wisdom or great worldly understanding, but I can say that cultivating a more vocal spirit of gratitude makes a big difference for me.  It allows me to tune in to the blessings and tune out the sad trombones...although, now that I think of it, that womp wahhhh sound is something to be grateful for, too.

So here we go.

November 1st Daily Gratitude: Brothers, great company, stopping in the middle of party prep bustle to read about King Solomon, the Cleveland Museum of Art.

November 2nd Daily Gratitude: The fellowship in a group of women I know, driving alone so I have complete control of the soundtrack (and can sing like a madwoman), going back to Evolution Yoga after a too-long hiatus, and feeling God's beauty wrap around me and support me.

November 3rd Daily Gratitude: Crazy looking handmade dresses from the thrift store, having friends to talk to on rough days, ropes + yoga, laundry + Munk/Walking Dead, wordmath.

November 4th Daily Gratitude: Work days at work, guitar in the background (and how it makes my brain work so much better!), spontaneous thrifting adventures, a chance to teach yoga (that's a blog post in itself) walking in the wind, coming home to my kids and those hugs and that garden and playing outside, watching a large cardboard box cartwheel down our block in a beautiful way, and then watching my darling husband run across the street, dropkick it, roll over, rassle with the box, and bring it home for us to fill with leaves.  Laughing hard.  Play dough, bath time, Nora's constant talking, love love love is all around.

Post your own gratitude!

This is the Stargazer sculpture at the CMA

 

Gong Washed

Today was my first gong wash or gong bath!  All I knew about gong washes before today was that lots of people said things like "Don't miss it!" "Oh, if you have a chance to go to a gong wash, GO!" I wasn't sure what it was or what to expect, but my experiences at The Studio Cleveland have been great so far, so I had faith this would be worthwhile.  

The set up was like this:

\We all sat in front of it, some lying, some seated, some on cushions.  I felt like a meditation noob for a moment there.  It's always nice to be humbled by inexperience.  Gives me something to look forward to.  Anyway, the wash began with bowls. And then gong master Steev Inglish slowly built the sounds.

As the hour and fifteen minute meditation progressed, I settled in and moved into a supine position.  You are supposed to lie with the crown of your head toward the gongs and your feet away, which helps the gunk flow out of you as you detox.  I tried not to point my feet at Ben.   Heaven knows no one wants my toxins. Yeesh. 

various mallets and a bow

As for my meditation, well that's kind of personal, even for a blog.  There's been a lot on my mind lately, and much of it I don't even have words for.  I did play with putting myself in the sound and disappearing for a while.  It's what I did when I labored with Jones and it's fun to do that when I'm not trying to escape pitocin-labor pain.  Much more mellow, as you can imagine.  Driftier.

I prayed.  I prayed a chanting and listening kind of plea.  God seemed to answer me back in gong-voice.  But I'm not fluent in gongspeak, so I'll have think more about what those answers and reverberations mean.  Praying seemed to come easier when I was wrapped those sounds and harmonics.  Like they drowned out the chatter that usually distracts me when I pray.  Something felt more pure in those moments.  

And, while this is may not be the right way to do things, I also allowed my mind to see its thoughts.   I just let thoughts drift in, stay as long as they wanted to without me speaking to them (well, this was the goal), and then go.  No conclusions. No realizations or plans.  Just letting them float through and rest for a moment.  It was nice to see where my thoughts wanted to go.  And the gongspeak was funny, too, because when certain thoughts came, CRASH CRASH SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHRRRRIIIIIHHHHH  Other thoughts got a thunderswell, some got space whale sounds, others cacophony.  I honestly can't remember well enough which thoughts got which reactions.  Now that I'm out of the meditation, I'd be inclined to analyze for patterns.  Ruminate.  But it's already fading away.  I think I'm thankful for that.

Oh, and I was able to meditate on the different physical sensations I experienced as a result of sound and vibration.  I am not sure of the extent to which I'm detoxed, but I will say that I physically felt different parts of the meditation in different parts of my body.  Sometimes my teeth, a few times some internal organs in the right side of my abdomen, sometimes in my head.  I was cold, so that was a distraction, but if I had put on my sweater and some socks, I think I would have gotten a lot more out of this aspect of the wash.

After the meditation ended, I did feel different.  I still do.  The pores in my face feel more open.  My mind is quieter.  I don't really want to talk or feel like I need to (both pretty shocking).  I just want quiet and peace.  One's easier to cultivate and control than the other.

And the twilight sky gave us a show on the walk to our car.  I'll definitely do one of these again, but I'll make sure I have some alone time with a journal immediately afterward.  You can come with me if you're okay with post-gong-wash- blissed-out-quiet writing.  Have you ever been to a gong wash or gong bath?  What was yours like?

A crooked I-have-my-hands-fulla-yoga-stuff style cityscape

Ah, my city!  Ah, night!

New places

I've been looking for a place to call my new yoga home.  A place where I can do some more growing, because that's what it's all about isn't it?   On Saturday, I went to Alicia's class at Evolution Yoga and it was lovely.  The space lets me look outside, which is exactly where I want to be when I'm doing yoga because I feel so much more connected to everything that matters.  When Alicia said "...because what you believe, you create" a lump leapt right into my throat.  Memories and emotions flying at my heart all at once and the realization that we've all learned so much from each other at Nishkama and that, like all good teachers, schools, classes, the lessons we've learned stay with us.  So that was beautiful.

Today, I tried something else new at Evolution.  I tied some knots and hung from 'em like so:

The whole situation was ripe for picking metaphors:  Supported by the knots I tied myself, flying, turning my favorite yoga pose upside down, etc.  But in that moment, I just felt joy and loved being near an open window with a potted plant gently shedding its spent blossoms on me as I hung like a monkey (or a piece of juicy jungle fruit?).  Spinal traction aside, I feel just all around good.  It appears that I'm embarking on a nice journey at Evolution.  I'm excited to grow more.  Oh, and holy cow that assist I got today made my spine rotate further than I thought was humanly possible.  My goodness!

Look for a garden post coming soon.  Chard!