So today was unusually busy for me. Dropped my wife off at LAX, drove to Gardena for a little work, drove in heavy traffic to Miracle Mile to visit my sister in the hospital, drove thru Chick-Fil-A for lunch in Hollywood, drove in even heavier traffic home to Santa Clarita to see my kids for a few moments before I headed to a Nation Council meeting for Y-Guides, turn around and venture back to home to put my girls to bed and then, FINALLY, I get to sit...and it's 10pm!!!
Cushion pulled out from under the bed, the wonderful Sharon Salzberg guided meditation playing in my ears and I realize this is the first time today, since I woke at 6:30am, that I sat still and relaxed.....AHHHHH. Listening to Sharon's instructions, following my breath (placing my attention like a butterfly landing on a flower- SO beautiful) and just letting go. Sure, there was some monkey mind movement...what I am going to blog about?...remembering what Sharon looks like....can I not scratch this itch?...ya know, the usual stuff. But I didn't feed into it, let it go, and back to my friend the breath (another gen from Sharon). Quite relaxing, quite needed, and actually seemed to go longer than the real time of 15 minutes of the guided practice, but I'm not complaining.
Day one, check! Blog almost finished, ready to eat a little dinner (yeah, yeah, I know it's too late!) and read a little more out of Real Happiness before I lay my weary head to rest. Tune in tomorrow for one of my dear friends and fellow dharma group facilitators from Against the Stream Los Angeles sangha. Oh, big shout out to the worldwide Dharma Punx and Against the Stream-ers!!
May the merit of our shared practice benefit all beings, everywhere
-gary sanders
Comments
Hi Gary, What recording of
Hi Gary,
What recording of Sharon's were you listening to?
I'm a regular listener to Against the Stream podcasts.
Thank you for your blog!
guided meditations
Hi Kim,
I've been listening the CD that came with the Real Happiness book. There are about 5-6 meditations on there, along with some little talks/instructions. If you haven't looked online already, there are quite a lot of Sharon's recorded meditations and teachings out there. Here's some good ones the were recorded at Insight LA, along with some other great teachers:
http://www.insightla.org/audio/
Be well- gary
thank you
Thanks for the link to more teachings from insight LA. I will pick up Real Happiness. I do have several meditations from Sharon. I'm hoping to one do a 10 day retreat, but for now practise here. Have written, "right here, it's like this", on my hand- no real ink yet!
I'm Tired
just reading your post! You have an amazing dedication to still get 'er done after such a day.
Great post.
Debra
commitment
Thanks Debra, I really try and stick with all my commitments, even though I sometimes overextend myself. I just need to remember to breathe sometimes.
Sending Metta your way- gary
I loved that butterfly line
I loved that butterfly line too. My meditation teacher turned me on Noah's books. Love them!
Katie
beauty in words
Hi Katie. Sharon is a big influence on me, I just love all her books and recorded teachings. When I was in facilitator training, Noah told me my guided meditations were "flowery"....and I am SO ok with that. Sharon words and instructions so resonate with me, I suppose I've gravitated more towards her style...and this is coming from a 6'4 guy covered with tattoos (me not Noah).
Have you read Noah's newest book, Heart of the Revolution? It's a perfect companion book to Sharon's Lovingkindness book on the Brahma-Viharas...both books on that subject, written in two different voices.
May you and your loved ones be filled with lovingkindness- gary