Practices

At age 20-21 in 2006, I was going through a very tough time mentally and emotionally. One of the professionals that saw me recommended Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. Near the same time, I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

I followed some of the directions for Zen meditation and immediately began to recognize how thoughts seemed to just be running through my mind rather than me running my thoughts. I also had a profound physical experience. I realized I could feel my body quite differently and much better than I had been used to.

Since then, I tried many different practices and at some point began sharing my own.

I have a few concepts that I work with that appear different than how people approach meditation.

• I focus on the direct physical optimization part of the practice.
  This means that if I'm doing a sitting practice, I spend a good deal of time oriented towards "optimal" sitting.
  I believe that JUST sitting or JUST standing or JUST lying down or JUST moving the body "normally" should actual represent tremendous health and well being.
  So when doing a sitting practice, I have the expectation of my body feeling nothing short of amazing, if I am doing the practice well, and have my health in order.
• I focus on deliberate improvement of quality of thought and perception rather than only "clearing" the mind or separating identity from thoughts.
  

Some thoughts on visualization and chakras

I think visualization and imagery can have a powerful role both for a sort of litmus test of how a person thinks they're doing and as a sort of road map or "north star" to follow. This could be something like having a mental picture of achieving some goals, looking a certain way, being somewhere, being with certain people... or it could be something more internal like imagining the aura or colors emanating from the body or spirit.

What if there was a color associated with a part of the body that represented its healthy form? Sort of like how certain appliances have a green light when things are fine and red when they're off, or a battery meter going from green to red.

I have not extremely deeply studied the chakra system, but it seems to me like the associations of colors and sounds with parts of the body are not simply "randomly" selected by people, but rather they have been discovered and regularly confirmed.

From time to time I will think of or look at the colors and make the sounds meant to represent healthy vital functioning of the chakras and try to embody what feels aligned with them. I think it's a worthwhile practice.

I made a simple program to cycle through the colors, provide the mantras and statements associated with each. Give it a try! There are 7 chakras here corresponding to different areas of the body and spirit from the root to the crown.

Simple Chakra Meditation