A "meditation" for all of life, all the life... if you want to love your life more

Magic Carpet #2:
SENSING
3 LAYERS
OF YOU IN
YOUR BODY
in the
NOW

GAME #2.1 Noticing and getting to know our three layers.

Go to a window, or outdoors.

Stand.

If you can, take off your shoes, or your shoes and socks.

Feel your body as sensation. This is calling “sensing.” So, here’s the game that will set you free from the tyranny of so-called “thinking,” which is nothing more than the yammer in your brain.

Sense the three layers:

BOTTOM LAYER: 

Your feet and toes and legs. 

Your pelvis and hips.

Your relationship to gravity.

MIDDLE LAYER: 

Your ribs and belly.

Your back and spine.

Your neck.

Your arms and shoulders and hands and fingers.

Your relationship to breathing.

The breath coming in.

The breath going out.

The breath moving your ribs and lungs and belly.

TOP:

Your eyes that see.

Your ears the hear.

Your tongue that talks (and other grand stuff)

Your mouth and/or nose as they breath in.

Your mouth and/or nose as they breath out.

Your head that balances on top of your spine.

Your smile or not smile on your mouth/ face.

This is you.

You are present and alive in this very beautiful moment. You are alive in air and body and  breathing and seeing and hearing. (Which equals…being alive.)

You are alive in this your body in this moment in gravity ( Which equals being alive on the planet Earth)

Life is now. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NOW OR NEVER.

We are in a body now. We are alive and on the planet Earth now. TO BE PRESENT IS TO SENSE THIS, IN THE MOMENT.

Life is usually mistakenly imprisoned up above the neck, as words in the head. We miss even our real experiences in the top layer of our smile or what we are seeing and hearing in the moment.

And the choice is huge, and often we forget we have it.

We can come into the three layer now of our real life in the real moment in our real body on this real planet of gravity and air and sound and light.

This is the miracle.

We are alive.

Now.

Our sex is often little more than abysmal thrashing around, if we even have a partner.

And often we don’t. We can’t find a partner in love.

And when we are searching for one, there is the lure of sex and partnership, and even (rarely) of friendship, but we so often are trying to create one of the most amazing, and yet one of the most difficult achievements of life on Earth — a fabulous love — without being present.

Robot A wants Robot B to love it.

Robot B wants Robot A to love it.

Two robots can’t love.

They can just want.

The solution.

Get present. Get grateful. Remember what we love. Realize what our deep and most meaningful goals are.

When, to get present?

This can only have one answer, right?

Now.

Now?

Yes, now.

Right now, of course, there’s another game.

When to play it?

Now.

As you read this book, here’s 

SUPER GAME #2.2

AS YOU READ ( or listen to) THE REST OF THIS BOOK

SENSE THE BOTTOM LAYER, AT LEAST FEET AND PELVIS

SENSE THE MIDDLE LAYER, AT LEAST OF HANDS AND BREATHING IN AND BREATHING OUT

SENSE THE TOP LAYER OF SMILE OR NOT SMILE AND FEELING AIR COMING IN AND OUT OF YOUR NOSE AND/OR MOUTH.

Read just the bold print again while sensing, either all at once, or one at a time, the three layers.

Now, go back to the beginning of the chapter and read that while sensing, either all at once, or one at a time, the three layers.

And the super challenge: read (or listen to) the whole rest of the book that way. (Hint, feeling a smile on your face and putting just a tiny bit of attention on the genitals inside your pelvis will make this a lot more fun)

That sounds like “too much,” right?

And as you read these words, try to be in awareness of at least one of those layers.

And as you read these words, try to be in awareness of another layer.

And as you read these words, try to be in awareness of the third layer.

This is the miracle.

When you can talk to your mate, or to a stranger and have ANY awareness in ANY of these levels, you will be living, in that moment at a vastly more awake level.

At the level of the children who are our guide back into the kingdom of heaven.

And guess what?

When we move, it’s easier to have awareness in the body in the present.

So let’s give ourselves the present of being present as we move.

And how are we going to do that?

Big surprise: another game.

Game #2.3. MOVE SLOWLY AND EASILY WITH AWARENESS 

A. Stand up. 

Feel the floor under you and the breathing in your middle and the air coming in and out of your nose/ mouth.

B. Now move:

Raise up onto your toes, so your heels lift from the ground.

Stay there a bit

Come back down

Do this three times.

Do this almost as if “for its own sake.” Do this for the full and easy enjoyment of the movement and your awareness of yourself now alive and moving.

C. ADD ON BREATHING

1. As you come up onto your toes and raise your heels

Add on BREATHING IN

2. At the top, heels up a bit and neither raising any more, nor coming back down

Hold your breath a bit and smile

3. And as you

Come back down so your heels touch the ground

Breathe out

and notice how that feels in your middle layer

Do this three times for the pure enjoyment of up and down with breathing.

D. Now, do this three more times, as you practice awareness shifting from bottom, to middle, to top layer.

First time up and down with breath: notice the bottom layer

Second time up and down with breath: notice the middle layer

Third time up and down with breath: notice the top layer.

E. Walk around a bit.

Notice how you feel more full and alive.

F. Then do D again,

With three additions.

One: Add a smile.

Two: Now, go ahead and do three times of rotating your awareness to do one movement noticing bottom layer, one movement noticing middle layer, one layer noting top layer.

G. Do the three times of going though each layer again. And add on speaking aloud what you notice.

So each time you are going up and down and noticing a layer, say aloud,

“Now I am aware of…”

And state what you are aware of in that layer.

For example:

“Now I am aware of my heels going up and down”

“Now I am aware of my belly in my breathing.”

“Now I am aware of breathing in my nose.”

“Now I am aware of my hip joints”

“Now I am aware of my hands.”

“Not I am aware of my eyes seeing the sky outside the window”

“Now I am aware of my legs pressing down onto my feet.”

“Now I am aware of my ribs in my breathing.”

“Now I am aware of sounds of a bird outside coming in my ears.”

Needless to say, to do this as you are moving and breathing in coordination to your movement is a full menu.

And:

You, as a living person on this planet Earth, are a miraculously full menu.

This is you sensing and noticing and enjoying the fullness of your being alive. Right now. This feels good.

And..

You deserve it.

And, hey, you can do this three layer meditation anytime and all the time, if you like being rooted into the reality of being alive right now, on the planet right now, in your body right now.

This meditation requires nothing more than that you put your attention on what is always there:

Your legs and pelvis and Earth are always there.

Your hands and arms and breathing are always there.

Your breathing in at your nose or mouth and your eyes and ears are always there.

How marvelous to be awake to that now.

Right now.

Right?

wake up, an ongoing meditation for 2014, all day, every day

ten fingers
ten toes
belly
eyes
ears
nose

that's it for the starter
all day,
each moment

meditation

the belly is about breathing,
and the nose, too

and what about the spine in between,
if you remember and sense that too, so much
the
better

and the ten toes,
down there at the bottom
as far from our thinking apparatus as
possible
and connected to the legs

if you can sense your entire legs
great

and if the legs and their anchor, the pelvis
remind you that you are in gravity
so
much
the
better

ten fingers at the ends of our hands
where are yours, right now?

and the eyes,
taking in light

where is the light coming from
right now
that is bouncing into your eyes

and ears:
sound,
day and night,
sound coming in

what is it

it's big this meditation
not as big as life
lots getting left out you can add
on

and
an all day
now reading this
later talking
walking
driving
reading

give it a try
if 2014 is the year for you
to
wake up

cheers
Chris

Toes and Nose: Day One of 108 Experiments in Movement, Relationship & Freedom

TOES AND NOSE;
Movement One, of a new series
Movement One, of the sub-series: Bed-ercize, i.e. exercises you can do in bed

Here goes,
and go slow
and don't do the advanced versions if
you want
and take lots of rests,
even though this is very unstrenuous

1. In bed, under the covers:
Move your toes right and left
with your heels stationary
as if the feet are windshield wipers

do this
and every movement with 3 elements;
a. slow -pleasure -awareness
b. as little effort at possible
c. noticing each movement as possibly different than the last

stop after eight or ten or twelves
and rest
just breathe and sense your entire body
in the bed
legs arms back pelvis head ribs toes fingers
everything
enjoy the rest
enjoy the sensing

follow these instructions at each and all rests

2. Now, as your toes move right and left
move your nose/ head right and left
to the same side as your feet are moving

again not too many
and all the instructions above
and then the rest as per above

3. Now, as your toes move right,
slowly slowly and with pleasure awareness and enjoyment,
move your nose and head the opposite way,
and then when your toes move right, head and nose to the left
and back and forth like this for awhile

8-12 with ease and so on
rest as per above

4. Now, do 3, but fancier:
toes left, noses right,
eyes to the left,
as if following your toes,
and then
toes right, nose left, eyes right, again
as if following your toes

go really slowly
and gently
and easily
and with lots of amused awareness
and
make sure to breath

figure a way to enjoy this

rest and try it again,
with more pleasure and enjoyment

That's enough.
Later we'll get the jaw into this,
but let's start easy

This is a great waker upper
a compromise between the nothing of the night
and the movement of the day

and it wakes up spine and brain and neck and eyes and hip joints
and toes

and what else?

What else wakes up for you?

Play with this and find out.
Good.

23 : Ten fingers, ten toes, belly....

Ten fingers Ten toes
Belly
Eyes
Ears
Nose


the belly and the nose:
breathing

the belly and the nose:
the spine and the head and the pelvis

eyes: light

ears: sound outside our head

fingers,
toes,
and the whole limb if we can

have fun

even now

ten fingers
ten toes
belly
eyes
ears
nose


good

17: Mindful Walking, (and sitting)

As part of meditation practices all over the world people have realized that sitting forever and ever
is both narrow and beside the point of being in life

so you get to get up now and then
and walk slowly and pay attention to your walking

this is fun
and we walk a lot in the day

and today:
pay attention to : when is your weight on your heel
and when is it on the front of the foot

and when you are not walking:
come back to gravity and breath:
are you leaning forward or back in your chair?
what is the shape of your spine?

and those sweet arms and legs:
where are they

good

Thumb and little finger, games for you, and maybe food for the brain of a child

Last week the toes, 
this week the fingers.

And what is the biggest different we can
find
in the fingers.

Between the big strong and ever useful thumb,
and the little weak, and often forgotten pinkie
is a great place to start
(though in reality the ring finger is the least recognized
in the brain, but that's okay,
let's make the differences as far away as possible:
big finger = thumb
littlest finger = pinkie.

Now, this gets tricky with a special needs child,
because we can play with these fingers and the
child might not be able to distinguish
the differences.

So what to do?
As always start with yourself:

start with whatever hand is connected to the  shoulder and elbow
that feels best.

Let your hand be wide.

Splay out your thumb and little finger as far away from each
other as they can comfortably go,
and then paying attention to them both,
begin to rotate and gyrate your hand
in many places and positions.

Roll in around, way out there,
up high, over the the side, down between your legs,
behind your back.

Bring it close and rotate the hand up and down your front side
feeling the differences in the thumb touching your body and the
little finger doing the same, and feel/ sense all the while,
the relationship in space and in sensation of the two fingers.

Take lots of rests.

Have some fun.

Take a walk to rest, or lie down.

Then do everything you did above
with realization of the elbow
and the shoulder blade
and the ribs
and the spine
and the pelvis.

Think of different ways to circle your head
with the pair of fingers, the little finger and the thumb,
all the while keep attention and awareness
on and open to your spine and ribs and pelvis.

Take lots of rests.

Would this to be good for your child.

In little doses, sure.

Keep it small.

Don't force their hand,
and I have never said that literally,
it's kind of neat:
don't force their hand.

And touch their spine or ribs now and then
as you do this.

If you don't force anything,
and don't expect yourself to have had the
years of training a practitioner has,
and just let it be joyful,
something will happen.

You will have some experience.
Your child will have some experience.

If you are non judgment,
and not forcing,
they will learn.

You might not know what.

That doesn't matter.

Go slow,
gentle
curious.
Enjoy the touch.

The Learning Switch: Anat's Second Principle/ Essential

One: there is no learning switch.

Two: Anat didn't invent learning as crucial to our method

Three: without a constant awareness that a purpose of a lesson is
this:
the student/ client learns something
the lesson isn't a lesson

That's really all that needs to be said.

With a special needs child, with any child, with your lover:
what's the difference between the "this little piggy goes to the market" toe,
and "this little piggy stays home" toe

That's huge
That's delicious

and if we can hook that up
with the opposite hand's fingers,
little toe left to little finger right,
how much more delicious

and if we can sense
and they, the special needs child, any child, the lover
wakes up to the spine in between this two,
how useful

and then for a lesson:
what's a function this can tie into

for the practitioners:
you figure it out

for the parents:
stand up,
move around,
find something you do that noticing left big toe
and right thumb makes clearer, easier, happier,
more pleasurable, more potent

don't try to evoke that in your children
by movement or manipulation,
but have it in the back of your mind
when playing with toes and fingers

go slow enough so you can see that look
in your child's eyes,
you know the look when the learning switch is on

practice with your mate
who knows the delights that might led to

Good
Move into Life
 










The Potent Self



Mindfulness and Learning

Tai Chi upgrade

If you know tai chi,
and want to radically improve the awareness/ mindfulness
benefits
try this:

start the form as you usually do
with extra attention on whether your weight is on
your left foot
or your right foot

gradually expand your awareness
so that each time you weight is on your left foot,
you add on as well
attention to your right hand,
and vice versa

do this as fully as possible:
all fingers, all toes,
the meat of the hand, the fullness of the foot
the wrist, the ankle

and in the foot
attention to where your weight is being placed

keep doing this and then add on:
selecting one digit of the "lit up" hand ( which is the
hand opposite the foot pushing down into the Earth)
select one finger of the "lit up" hand
and put attention on that finger and the equivalent toe
of the opposite/ weight bearing foot

And switch in the next posture
as your weight shifts to the opposite foot

Like this:
left foot on ground, right hand lit up: chose the thumb and the big toe
right foot bearing weight, left hand lit up: choose the little finger and the little toe

toward the middle of the foot,
those toes are "harder"
but that is the fun of it
in a way

and you'll forget to keep this
awareness game going,
maybe,
and just come on back
and "light up" your brain
as you do tai chi

Getting to the toes of the matter, joy life love learning, backs and back to the present, which is always here, just waiting

We walk each day, many times pressing down into the floor and Earth with our feet, and this pushes goes through us all the way up our spine. We usually don’t notice this. We have five toes on each foot. We usually don’t notice this. Today is as good a time as any to begin more and sweeter and happier noticing of these things. And more.

Lie on your back, please on a firm but comfortable surface. A lawn, a wood floor with a carpet or blanket on it, or a very firm bed. Feel your back pressing down. Feel the Earth pressing back up. Feel each leg in the sensing way, sensing the bones and muscles and blood and everything of each leg, one leg at a time.

Then sense your arms, one arm at a time, from finger tips to shoulder blades.

Now sense your spine, along the floor, where does it touch, where does it lift up? Sense the top and bottom and back side and front side of your spine.

Sense your arms and legs and spine and see if your had your toes, as part of that. If not, add them in, and your head and ribs. Sense your whole self on the floor.

Good.

Just that much, if you stay present with it, can change your life if you do it a few times a day.


And let’s do more.

Please raise one knee toward the ceiling, so that one foot is as if “standing” on the floor, sole pressing down. Pick either your left leg if you are right handed, or right leg is you are left handed, unless one leg foot toes ankle are in some sort of pain. Then pick the un-pain leg and foot, or the less pain if both don’t feel so great.

Good. Now begin to press this standing foot into the floor, and use this push to raise your pelvis on that side, so it lifts and rotates. Go slow. Only have half the pelvis coming off the floor. The side of the pelvis on the straight on the floor leg side stays down.

Do this slowly, many times, push the foot down, feel the pelvis rotate, feet your back arch.

Many times, each time with a sensing of a different part of you: toes, ankle, knee, hip joint, pelvis, spine, ribs, neck, head, arms. Feel different parts and all of you at the same time if you can.

After many times, say twenty to thirty, take a rest, let your leg down and feel the difference side to side. Rest long enough so that you feel your body and brain integrating what you learned, then raise your same foot to standing.

Throughout this lesson, if will always be this foot. At the end, you can get up and walk around, and feel some big differences and ten or twenty minutes later come back and do all this on the other side. Or right before you go to sleep is a great time to review and redo this lesson on the other side.

So stand the same foot again, and press again, first three times so the your knee falls in toward the middle as you press, and three times so that your knee head out over your foot as you press. Go back and forth three times each way, and sense how this is very different in your hip joint and in your toes.

Rest again and integrate.

Now, stand the same foot again, and from now on in the lesson, press your foot so that the knee is heading toward over the standing foot. Begin to press, and as you press, raise one side of your pelvis, rotate, arch your back, and push your belly out.

Really notice your belly going out on the pushing and arching phase of this movement. And now practice sometimes breathing in as your belly goes out, and sometimes breathing out. Feel the difference. Enjoy both ways.

Rest and integrate.

Always find pleasure and learning in each movement.

Standing your foot again, and press a number of times, knee toward over the standing foot, and belly out, and add this on: for three times, as you press, start the press as you have been all along, in your heel but now for three times, as the back arches and the knee moves a bit down toward the foot, push through the big toe of that foot. Three times. And then three times through the next toe, the index toe. And then three times through the middle toe. Then three times the ring toe. And three times the little toe.

Rest and integrate.

Stand the foot again. Always move slowly, with learning and enjoyment, and finding out about all parts of yourself, not just the toe that is pushing, say. Now, go through the previous movement, but the other way: 3 times the little toe, and so on working your way back to the big toe and sensing ribs and spine and breathing and pelvis as you press through your heel and then the selected toe.

Rest. Enjoy. Breathe. Feel yourself on the floor. Feel differences side to side. Feel differences in your general state from the beginning of this short lesson.

Roll to your side and get up and walk a bit, feeling the lopsidedness and the learning and the amazing results from going slow, from being present, from giving yourself the present of learning.

Good.

Enjoy your day, sense your toes a lot, and sometime during the day, go through this game on the other side.