I'm still reading "Wherever You Go, There You Are", a small portion daily prior to my meditation. It's amazing that wherever I open the book, it's right where I need to be, the chapter pertaining to something very relevant, important to me. That's how I started the book: I opened it and read, and now I am following the format until it feels like it's time to do something different.
A recent section I read was about escaping from "the world" by doing your meditation. When it's time to be doing something you need to do, and you choose to escape it by meditating, it's not helpful and is actually like taking a step backwards. One of the reasons for meditating is to lose your attachments. And escaping can be an attachment.
And that's exactly what I've been doing the past couple weeks. Since we are moving out of our home and having a new one built because of storm damage, I have until May 30 to get everything packed. My husband and I are both packing, but I have more "stuff" plus a business with inventory, so I have at least three times the "stuff" husband has, and I'm working a lot longer doing the packing. He leaves the house to play tennis every day just before noon, when he leaves, that's when I do my meditation. And instead of doing a meditation, then getting on with what I need to do, I've been making my meditation time longer. My regular meditation is 20-30 minutes and I've been making it last an hour to avoid packing things. And I've not felt good about it, but didn't understand why, because wasn't meditating an hour a "good thing"? Yes, it is, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, but not if you're using meditation as an escape, and letting meditation become an attachment.
Interesting how I opened the book to that chapter.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Monday, May 9, 2016
Color Therapy, Colors of Jade, Colors of Chakra
My first trip to China in 1999 was to learn Chinese medicine, Qi Healing, and tai chi and qigong. Chinese medicine practices seem to agree with me, my philosophy, practice and go-to when I need healing.
My second trip to China a few months later was to continue a treatment the doctor had started with me and was working well. That's when I learned about jade use for Chinese medicine practice, and about meridians. Colors of jade are often used for balancing the meridians, and some of the Chinese jade that has all five colors of white, green, black / charcoal, red ("hong") and yellow. When I'm feeling out of balance, I look at and touch all my jade bangle bracelets, and always find one that "feels" like what I need. And it usually does help. The jade also gets a "glow" as I'm wearing it, so I know my body qi and the jade qi energies are working together.
I also do yoga as part of my daily practices. Yoga also uses colors that relate to the Chakras. The colors and locations have some similarity in both yoga and qi healing. But yoga has more colors, because there are more chakras than meridians.
Sometimes people who are searching for their path in life try many different methods, and try to practice them all. While trying them, if a person tries to practice them all, their life can get very out of balance, and can actually work against them. So I chose Chinese medicine as my practice. It's the Dao, being in harmony with nature, and is also were feng shui and yin and yang theories come from.
But I still do yoga and part of my daily practice.
Color therapy is becoming part of Western healing practices, The US government and medical organizations are trying to cut back on prescribing opiod drugs for chronic pain and looking for alternatives. Studies are being done about color therapy used with cognitive behavioral therapy to be helpful for both chronic and acute pain. I read an article today "Color Therapy Yoga Offers Fresh Perspective". The yoga teacher occasionally teaches a class that focuses on a certain chakra color and has colored sunglasses the students can wear to perceive everything through a certain color lens. The class participants find that by focusing on a color they can see a lesson rather than a problem in a situation. When interviewed for the article, the students felt moved by the experience, more focused and motivated. They not only got the benefits from the yoga practice, but also from the color exposure.
Perhaps this is a trend now. A Chinese practice that has worked for centuries now being incorporated into modern wellness.
My second trip to China a few months later was to continue a treatment the doctor had started with me and was working well. That's when I learned about jade use for Chinese medicine practice, and about meridians. Colors of jade are often used for balancing the meridians, and some of the Chinese jade that has all five colors of white, green, black / charcoal, red ("hong") and yellow. When I'm feeling out of balance, I look at and touch all my jade bangle bracelets, and always find one that "feels" like what I need. And it usually does help. The jade also gets a "glow" as I'm wearing it, so I know my body qi and the jade qi energies are working together.
I also do yoga as part of my daily practices. Yoga also uses colors that relate to the Chakras. The colors and locations have some similarity in both yoga and qi healing. But yoga has more colors, because there are more chakras than meridians.
Sometimes people who are searching for their path in life try many different methods, and try to practice them all. While trying them, if a person tries to practice them all, their life can get very out of balance, and can actually work against them. So I chose Chinese medicine as my practice. It's the Dao, being in harmony with nature, and is also were feng shui and yin and yang theories come from.
But I still do yoga and part of my daily practice.
Color therapy is becoming part of Western healing practices, The US government and medical organizations are trying to cut back on prescribing opiod drugs for chronic pain and looking for alternatives. Studies are being done about color therapy used with cognitive behavioral therapy to be helpful for both chronic and acute pain. I read an article today "Color Therapy Yoga Offers Fresh Perspective". The yoga teacher occasionally teaches a class that focuses on a certain chakra color and has colored sunglasses the students can wear to perceive everything through a certain color lens. The class participants find that by focusing on a color they can see a lesson rather than a problem in a situation. When interviewed for the article, the students felt moved by the experience, more focused and motivated. They not only got the benefits from the yoga practice, but also from the color exposure.
Perhaps this is a trend now. A Chinese practice that has worked for centuries now being incorporated into modern wellness.
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