Day 29

It's 5:30 in the morning and I'm drinking tea with sugar, a remedy for a scratchy throat. First week in full time work and the body is trying to keep up with the sudden change in schedule. It's amazing how quickly the body picks up the signal to slow down. I just checked my temperature and I'm right at the cusp. It might be time for a dayquil and I hate taking pills. I avoid them at all cost. But there are times for Eastern philosophy and there are times for Western medicine.

I have the whole weekend planned full of festivities, but of course, I do... because the moment you make all these plans, Life comes in, slaps you awake, and says, "Bad timing, eh? You still think it's about you, don't you?"

I feel that I have to step back, sit down, and be still. There's no time like now to stay rooted in body and listen for any clues as to the best way to take care of it. I'm already seeing thoughts like "I don't have time to get sick right now" creeping in . My mind tends to jump to catastrophic conclusions as to how a little cold now can affect the rest of my life.

I'm going to follow my own advice and the advice of the meditation practitioner from last night's Dharma talk, I'm going to breath through it...

The Practice

5:50 AM Meditation - 10 minutes
Cardio - 20 minutes
Evening meditation at ZCLA - 30 minutes
Personal practice talk at ZCLA - 1 hour

Reflection

I haven't felt like skipping a day yet. It's sort of becoming like brushing my teeth. I don't think about it. I just do it.

During the personal practice talk yesterday, one of the long-time practitioners was sharing her experience and she talked about how if she doesn't meditate every day, it affects other areas of her life. She is not as focused, things tend to pile up, and so on. I wonder how much we come to depend on formal meditation to balance out our lives. Krishnamurti says it's another escape; yet, he meditated all the time.

To me, meditation or following your breath is a continuos process. It's before, during, and after sitting. I find that there is some dependency on the actual sitting in a certain way, but in my personal practice, I'm not confined to that. I come back to the breath periodically through out the day and especially if stresses or challenges arise. If I feel that my stress level is rising, my immediate thought now is "where is my breath?" Then, that extra layer of heaviness melts away.