Do you meditate? Do you know how? There are so many beautiful ways, surely there is one that is right for you.
I’m just back from a wonderful meditation retreat in the Catskills, and trying to get caught up with everyone and everything that happened while I was gone, and yet, I’m still feeling that deep, beautiful bliss in my soul from my retreat experience.
Don’t have time for a retreat? Try this: for one minute (everyone has one minute!) stop everything you are doing. Stand or sit still. Place your hands in your lap or at your side. Take a deep breath – in and out. Imagine that you are a pipeline that reaches up to the heavens, and extends down into the earth. Imagine sweet, cleansing Universal/Divine energies flowing down your pipeline from the heavens, through you and into the ground. Then feel the strong, earthy energies from our beautiful planet flowing up through your feet, empowering your body, and flowing out to the heavens. Imagine this one more time, sweet, cleansing energies flowing through you from heaven to earth, and strong, earthy energies from earth up to heaven. You still have time for one more cycle of energy to flow through you, from heaven to earth, and up from earth to heaven. Now, how do you feel? Relaxed? Grounded? Centered? Focused? Ready to take on whatever your next task is? Good! That’s what meditation can do for you!
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At the retreat, my hosts would play soft music over the loudspeakers every hour on the hour, to remind us to center ourselves and relax into a meditative state for one minute. Whether it happened in the midst of a class, during a meal, chatting with other participants, or while actively engaged in an activity or discussion, everything would pause for one minute of meditation. They called it “traffic control,” controlling the traffic in our busy minds just like a stoplight reminds us to stop our cars for a moment to prevent accidents. I loved this practice so much I've set alarms on my cell phone to go off every hour to remind me to stop just for a moment and connect with my inner self – and with the Divine. It’s effective! And I’m finding that it is making me more productive than ever!
Can you do this? Can you take just one minute for yourself every hour to control the traffic in your mind and connect with your spirit – or with God? You can use this as a prayer reminder also – but instead of talking to God, just allow yourself to feel deep gratitude or love. No words are necessary, unless you need to focus on just a single word to quiet your mind. There is a difference between prayer and meditation; prayer is talking to God. Meditation is listening and feeling.
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A meditation practice can be so powerful. The benefits have been well-documented in numerous scientific studies over the years: a clearer, more organized mind; lower blood pressure and heart rate; increased/balanced immune system response; reduction in pain levels; higher productivity and effectiveness, and more. So if you don’t have a meditation practice, or haven’t found a technique that you are comfortable with or that works for you, or you just haven’t tried it at all and don’t know how, perhaps this is the time for you!
I welcome you to join me at the Center for Healing Therapies in Waterford, CT, for my Monday evening classes; The Path of the Mystic. These classes include instruction about spiritual/mystical experiences, and include a different meditation technique in each class. This is a great way to experience several different techniques, and find one that you feel is right for you. The classes are designed for drop-ins, so you are welcome to come to just one or however many you like! The Center also has numerous yoga classes, massage therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT tapping), counseling, and so much more for your body, mind and spirit.
Register by contacting the Center for Healing Therapies;
www.centerforhealingtherapies.com, 860-443-0800, 83 Boston Post Road, Waterford, CT
Drop in rate $20
Multiple class discount packages available
Including a new student discount of 4 classes for $40!
Rev. Stacy Lee Goforth is an Interfaith Minister, Spiritual Life Coach, Intuitive, Mystic, Author, Co-Creator of Crystal Vibrations Jewelry, and Talk Radio Host of Goforth on Faith.
