Unit 7 Meeting Aesclepius

So my blog has been a work in progress with the rush for Christmas and then getting sick and now well if it is a jumbled mess, I apologize.So here goes.

I don’t know if it is the season of the year or that it has just been a rough time with all these recent deaths, but I have been a very teary person lately. As I tried the Meeting Aesclepius meditation the first time, I immediately thought of my mother, who I miss very much. I got tears and that went along with memories and so on. So there was no focus on mediation this. The next time I focused on my Yoga teacher and mentor Julianne. In many ways she is the ideal that I hope to aspire to in my spiritual growth.

This went so much better, I felt a sense of calm wash over me and I found I was better able to “settle into stillness”. As I sat I focused on one of her favorite sayings, “Inhale gratitude, exhale love.” I settled and felt my breath grow slower and deeper. This time there wasn’t the emotion of sorrow that I had experienced with my mother, but more of peacefulness. I have to say this was not my favorite meditation.

I started this blog last week, but let me tell you of my journey this week. I missed Christmas. I had the stomach flu and though we had a houseful of people, I could not pull myself to be with them. Finally I felt good the next evening for a few hours and just as I was going to bed I had the hint of a scratchy throat and stuffy nose, yes I woke up the next morning with a cold. (joy) But as I had lain in bed before falling asleep I did a visualization of my immune system, white blood cells and T-cells waging war against the cold germs and destroying them. Good energy in bad stuff out…breathing. I have to say though I still have a cold, it is minor to what they usually are. I ran/walked eight miles today and I felt great.

Some one posted on Facebook this week “Inhale gratitude, Exhale love”. I thought this would be a fitting meditation. I took it on one of my short walks this week. It took a while to focus on it as I was under the weather and today I briefly attempted it on my long run, but it was not the time for it. I think this would be a great thing to practice a few times daily.  

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" This saying is very true. I taught a boot camp style fitness class for three years about 10 years ago. Wow, that seems so long ago when I am writing this. Anyways, I had all sizes, shapes and levels of fitness in my classes. We did some fairly extreme workouts but I never made anyone do anything I had not done and benefitted from. If they were new, I’d do the exercise right there with them. I shared my experience as a newbie, especially anything I had struggled with. I still believe that you have to lead by example. I try to do that for the most part. I think if you are going to work in the wellness field you need to set an example for your clients or patients. One of the doctors at the medical center I work at was a self-proclaimed couch potato about six years ago. He joined the half-marathon/5K training program I had just set up. He was just going to walk the 5K. Each week he showed up and did the training distance we were doing for the half, but he said he would only do the 5K at the actual event all the way up until the week before the event. Well, he completed the half marathon and has gone onto running four marathons and numerous half marathons. For the past four years of the program he has been one of my coaches. He shares this story with his patients, credits this change in his lifestyle as saving his life. It was not just his health that benefited, but how he interacts with people and his patients has changed.

As far as implementing psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life goes, I think starting small and going from there. It could be by journaling, meditating, or just breathing. It could be as easy as setting your intention each day. I have a metal paperweight that says, “Be…” and then there is a place to insert a card with a different word, which can be whatever you want. Brave, patient, present, and many others. But I find it can help me set the tone of my day. Sometimes during the day I look at it and think, “oh how fitting for today”.

I think there is a lot to mindfulness and being present in your life. For example, today I could have spent my run worrying about getting my house clean for company tomorrow and making grocery lists, but I would have missed the misting rain on my face, the surprised smiles of those I gave my smile to, the beauty around me on the trail, and the joyful look of those who were accomplishing the distance of eight miles for the first time.

I wish you all a happy new year and safe travels.
Sarajane