Our Infinite Energy

[exercise] Visual Meditation: Quieting the Mind

image via www.natgeo.com | "Solar Loops" courtesy of NASA

 

One of the most frequent questions clients ask is, “How do I quiet my mind?”  It’s common for all of us- the monkey mind, swinging from subject to subject.  Your first thought is what you’d like to eat for lunch, which swings to what you ate yesterday, which swings to thoughts about organic produce, which trickles into a daydream about your ideal garden, which jumps to an entirely different subject like following up on that interview, from which you then tumble into thinking about filing your taxes and so on and so forth. 

Too often we exist in a constant state of chatter, held hostage by the mind's diversions.  The mind is an impeccable tool for helping us keep organized, manage a schedule, add and subtract; but it is not where we want to reside.  You don’t want to rest in the mind- rest in your heart space.  Rest in your gut.  This is where instinct lives.  These are the places where intuition grows.

So how do we quiet the mind? 

By asking it to be quiet.  By simply choosing not to dwell in its habitat of white noise.  By finding personal methods of disconnecting from it.  I’m a big believer in creating visual meditations that work for you.  For a long while I tried to simply close my eyes and focus on my breathing, but the deeply visual part of my nature would just create images and the mind would then join, like two mischievous friends encouraging each other to play a prank.    

This is the easiest method.  First, you separate yourself by thanking it for the work it puts in (keeping you organized, remembering a meeting) and ask it to be quiet.  Acknowledge its strengths; move on from its limitations.  Literally say, thank you mind, but you can be quiet now.  Remind yourself that your thoughts don’t control you.  You control your thoughts.    

Another application is to visualize the mind's chatter collecting in order to be released.  Deepen your relationship with your third eye and allow its sight to aid you in your quest for quiet.  

> >  Golden Ball of Light Meditation  

Start by closing your eyes.  Let the mind run for a few minutes.  Visualize all your thoughts meeting in the center of your mind and dissolving to form a giant, gold ball of light.  Shift all your thoughts into this radiant, gold light. 

Allow quiet to simply enter, to easily exist.  Focus on your breathing.  Connect each inhale and exhale: in through your nose, out through your nose.  Visualize that ball of light.  Remain gently focused on it luminescence, its healing power.

When it feels natural, move onto picturing the golden ball transforming into one long, bright line that extends up down the length of your central meridian, out of the top of your head and all the way down through your feet.  Continue to focus on your breathing.  If monkey mind chatter sets in again, focus on your breathing and repeat.  Continue to connect to your breathing.  With each exhale, release the chatter.  With each inhale, take in serenity.  As always, thank the spirit realm for their healing power. 

(copyright 2012) Sara Nersesian/Our Infinite Energy

[the week ahead] More on February's Beautiful Stillness

 

February 5-11

I mentioned last week that February’s arrival was going to feel a lot like the morning after a huge party.  The world seems cast in a distant fog and there’s a sort of separation that takes over you.  You feel the need to retreat, keep the curtains closed and rest awhile longer, despite the action of the world outside. 

The quiet sings louder in February.  On the 7^th day, God rested, and so this is the energy of the 7.  It is a point in the numerological cycle where spirit and matter come together to form consciousness.  This is achieved by turning in, by being vulnerable to discovery.  Stillness brings us closer to knowing.  Carving out time to simply be, without gain, without the goal of achievement, is our purpose this month.  With Neptune joining Pisces, we expand our consciousness; this union allows us to reach new spiritual planes and move beyond perceived boundaries.  We will begin to understand the once mysterious and seemingly incomprehensible.  Our eyes open wide, as if encountering colors we never before considered.  

Stillness, quiet, retreat- these aren’t easy states of being, especially in a culture that reinforces action, accomplishment, doing(!).   We’re encouraged to make the most of every minute, not waste an opportunity.  We grow up hearing the phrase, “life’s too short” ringing in our ears.  Stillness becomes another area in which something needs to be achieved, as if we’re to be the next Buddha reaching our own peak of enlightenment.  When I began truly honing my intuition in New Zealand, I thought that I had to really listen in order to hear something.  I soon learned that it was when I stopped trying to listen for something that the messages arrived.  By simply being open, present and empty, we become a channel for ethereal energy.  This is the beauty of February’s 7 energy. 

A very, very long time ago, I studied theatre during my formative years (the years when we are, perhaps, most vulnerable).  I studied Sanford Meisner technique, where the principle is that you do nothing unless your partner causes you to do it.  Nothing comes from you- every action and reaction is a result of your partner.  Before a scene, my teacher would remind us to say these simple words, “I am here to be done to.”  I use the same phrase now, before I close my eyes and open myself up to whatever energy or message may materialize.

I am open.  I am present.  I am here to be done to.     

 

image via natgeo.com | "Arctic Igloo" shot by Norbert Rosing

Winter is truly the season for stillness.  A beautiful snowfall silences the world, less sunlight and icy conditions force us to move just a bit slower than normal.  I wanted an image that captured the season's serene energy.  The picture above is the image I've had in my head when I think of turning inward and finding a quiet, motionless place. Consider: what is the visual image or place you go to when you hear RETREAT?   

 

the week ahead ---> Staying Open To Information

December 4-10

Fully occupied by the Mercury Retrograde we continue to gather information in order to make significant choices once the planet turns direct on December 13^th.  As I mentioned last week, a Mercury Retrograde is not the time to make important decisions.  It is a time to simply let information arrive and stay open to a continuous stream of messages.  This year the 4 numerology has required us to focus on our aspirations and goals.  The overall experience has been about connecting to our heart’s true calling.  It required us to revise our structure (as in what was/was not bringing us security) in order to bring our ideas into the material plane. 

Last week, the goals that we set for ourselves in the beginning of 2011 began to tangibly emerge.  Seeing many of our ideas come to fruition provided that blanket of comfort we needed, reassuring us that the direction in which we’ve pointed our compass is true north.  Simply stated, you’re on the right track!  And there’s no turning back.  Once Mercury turns direct, our level of commitment will totally anchor us to our goal.  Big changes are slated for 2012, but until then we must ready ourselves by reflecting on the lessons we’ve so far learned. 

Last week I mentioned the beautiful 7 energy December brings.  The main experience is one of contemplation, inner knowing and self-awareness.  It is a deeply reflective time, that’s inner silence is strengthened by the upcoming winter season, where the world gets slightly more quiet…after the intense holiday shopping of course!  For me, the 7 energy has always felt like a snowfall, when the world feels like if it has anything to say, it will be softly whispered.  There’s a great deal of wisdom that comes with the 7 energy, which is why it’s connected to processes of knowing oneself.

This is a time to welcome alone-ness.  Alone-ness is not to be confused with loneliness.  Loneliness is when you’re focused on the absence of another.  Alone-ness is existing peacefully and presently with “I.”  It is a time of truly valuing your own company, your own unique energy.  It is a time to rest, study and reflect.  Don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to be alone more often than usual over the course of December.  On the other hand, if you are resisting the value of being alone, you may find yourself clinging more than usual to others, wanting to be extra social or constantly surrounded.  Carve out time to look back on what you wanted at the beginning of the year, define what you want and consider how to nurture its growth.

Love & light.  Let me know how the Mercury Retrograde is affecting you?  

*photo above courtesy of nationalgeographic.com | "Autumn in Berlin" by Thomas Peter.  I wanted to find an image that captures the beauty of being alone, as well as one that communicates that quiet moments are unexpected and often come from ordinary circumstances. 

Meditation: I Go to the Stars When...



 photo courtesy of nationalgeographic.com | 'Nepalese Night' by Anton Jankovoy

 

This is what I see when I close my eyes.  I go to the stars when I need quiet from my surroundings. I turn to the night sky when I'm scared, when I'm hopeful.  I stare up when I'm filled with doubt, or when faith in myself starts to waiver. 

I close my eyes.  I'm in a place like this valley.  I look up.

The stars reignite my innocent inner child, the innate dreamer.  Ever since I was a little girl, I was fascinated with the night sky, both for its cosmic significance and its majesty; the deepest of navy punctuated by dots of silver, or the occasional streak of color.  I always talked to the moon.  I'd ask the stars for direction.  Of course I'd make (lots) of wishes.  The infinite nature of the universe or the idea that someone else, somewhere might be looking at the same star as me, blanketed me in comfort.

I go to the stars.

In New Zealand, a talented energy healer did a brief healing with me and asked, where do you go to feel safe? I closed my eyes. Like a slideshow, two images quickly surfaced in my third eye, one after the other.  The tree tops, specifically, lying on the forest floor, looking up at the trees and seeing sunlight stream through the leaves and the ocean, with its rolling waves and gradients of blues. Both places defined a part of me, but security was not their message.  Gently, a shadow took over my vision and tiny pin-dots of light began to twinkle and sparkle, "The stars."  My whole being relaxed.

I close my eyes and I go to the stars.  I dream.  I float.  I believe.

All is silent.

*

When you close your eyes, what is your sacred place? Where do you go to feel safe? 

 

Summer Solstice 2011

With today's summer solstice an encouraging energy has entered our space. Given the rush of energy last week that lit a much needed fire under our feet, I expected the solstice to enter forcefully. On the contrary, it was like slowly opening the door to your new house: quiet anticipation, butterflies of excitement and knowing you're right where you need to be. 

I mentioned earlier this week that we may be more sensitive, more emotional with the season's entrance. I was no exception, as it seemed everything this morning made me misty-eyed, though not sad, simply full of gratitude. When we turn that door's handle, knowing we are entering a long awaited place, you can't help but feel overwhelmed and excited- that lovely combination of joy sprinkled with a bit of nerves. What will this new space be like? What is in store for me? You decide.

Vulnerability comes with the new. When we champion who we are and that which is our highest calling, we expose ourselves. And that is beautiful. It also leaves us without our relied on defenses. Embrace your blank canvas.  It will be filled in time...in fact, you're in the midst of doing this right now. 

So continue to construct your architectural design and let the solstice energy softly awaken in your gut. Visualize the smallest ember glowing in your stomach, slowly becoming a vibrant orange flame. Let it reflect a humble power- we're not looking for a forest fire here, rather the small flame of a candle. Stay present as we embark on a summer that promises lessons in harmony, creativity and more building.