January 29, 2009

There were 8 of us tonight for the Thursday Night Meditation.  All but one had joined me before, and it was really nice to see a few students from last semester who hadn't been able to sit due their schedules.  It's always really nice to check in with people, to see what everyone is up to.  Also Jeannette D. was there, fresh from Bonnie's yoga class!

First I asked those who had been at last week's sit how they liked the yoga stretching we had done--everyone really liked it.

So we started on our feet, in Tadasana, and I asked everyone to think of the practice of Ahimsa, how non harming in yoga begins with the body, then extends to all aspects of one's life.  I suggested that we just stand gently rooted, our heads, shoulders,hips, knees aligned, and breath.  Note the breath.

Then we rubbed our hands together to create some heat, then proceeded to rub our arms, head, face, front of body all the way down to the tops of the feet, then up the back of the legs, the lower back--a mini massage.

Then we gave ourselves hugs, dipped our chins down to massage the thyroid.

Came back to Tadasana, inhaled to Upward Salute, exhaled down, inhaled to Upward Salute once again, interlaced hands, turned them inside out for a little more stretch.

Then brought the hands into Namaste and a little thalmus massage.

Inhaled the arms up once again, exhaled down behind the back to interlace hands, softened the knees and exhaled down to Yoga Mudra.  Rolled up slowly back to Tadasana.

Then we sat in meditation for about 23 minutes.

After the sit, we placed our hands on our knees and I talked about Bee Breath.  I suggested we try it for 6 breaths.  We gave it a try, but I had a sense that it made some uncomfortable.

Afterward, we did Uttanasana in our chairs or on our mats, completely relaxing the head, neck, shoulders and arms. 

I talked briefly about how humming low tones sets the lower chakras vibrating, while higher tones tended to activate the higher chakras.  I talked about the power of vibrations of sound, and suggested that it might be fun to pay attention in the coming week to what sounds seemed pleasing, or what portions of songs resonated more than others.

Then we ended the evening!