Day 302: An Now, the End is Near...
We’re down to the final two steps of the Ayurvedic morning routine. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I don’t really do Step 18 which, according to the Ayurvedic Institute, is “Meditation.”
At this point, after exercising for about 30 minutes and doing my Pranayama, I’m supposed to sit for about 15 minutes and meditate in any way I know how. And I’m supposed to do another 15 minutes of meditation in the evening. The problem is that I don’t how to make myself sit still for 15 minutes and I’m willing to bet there ain’t an Ayurvedic sage alive who can make me.
I have trouble sitting still in theaters no matter how engrossed I am in what’s happening on the stage or screen. Sitting still in the car gets to me pretty quickly. About midway through a meal I always get the urge to stretch out my legs or put them up on something. I know I’m annoying--because I annoy the hell out of myself.
There’s a Buddhist monastery close to where I live and they offer free meditation classes each week. I’d like to go and get some serious help with my problem, but I’m afraid they wouldn’t know how to handle the likes of me. So mediation remains beyond my reach. When I finish my alternate nostril breathing, I stay in easy-sitting pose. Then I do kubera mudra, which simply means I put the tip of each thumb, index finger and middle finger together, while bending my other fingers until they rest in the middle of my hand. According to the website Elsiesyogakula.com, this mudra is a “huge, forceful commitment. You are harnessing desire, power, faith, courage and intensity behind those fingers.” The website also recommends speaking your intention out loud while holding this hand pose and sitting until it penetrates your breathing and heartbeat.
It takes about three minutes for me to do this and although that leaves me 12 minutes short, I’ve done enough to allow me to move on to the next and final step in the process. Who knows if it’s the exercise or the oil rub or the mudra, but when I reach this point each day, I feel as though I can conquer the world.
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” --Bertrand Russell
--CompassRose