Gratitude Meditation

Gratitude Meditation:

Bridget comes to all of my classes. Like, EVERY SINGLE ONE. The one day that she missed class I felt like my arm was missing or something ... she has become so much a part of MY experience as a teacher that it almost threw me off my game. Now that you've been introduced, let me tell you that Bridget also dictates many of my lesson plans. She doesn't dictate with demands, but with questions...amazing, simple, complicated, insightful questions. I love it. Her questions then inspire me to come up not just with an answer/suggestion/solution, but for a flow that would enhance it along with a meditation that plays into it as well. Her love for Yin yoga is on par with my love and admiration for it as well, so usually my Wednesday morning classes are an evolution of a question she asked me the week before. Last week she came up to me after class and said that she felt so blessed...SO much to be grateful for (she recently got married and bought a house!), and is there a way to express this abundant gratitude to the universe? She said that she had sat in meditation many times and just thought over and over "Thank You Thank You Thank You. Namaste!", but she was hoping that there might be a more authentic and deeper way to express this. So today's YIN class was focused on gratitude....starting with some chanting to open and awaken our heart chakra, focusing on the stomach and spleen meridians (which emotionally are associated to the heart chakra) and ended with a heart meditation, chanting WaheGuru WaheGuru. It was a beautiful practice, a beautiful way to begin the day. I am oh-so-grateful to be able to teach yoga...especially to this wonderful group of individuals. Bridget - I am grateful for your questions, thank you for helping me to reach higher and dig deeper.

If you would like to express gratitude, here is a quick 15 minute meditation:

Begin by opening and igniting your heart chakra:

1. Easy Seat. Eyes closed. Neutral breath
2. Bring your hands into the mudra shown below (Sit cross-legged. Let the tips of your index finger and thumb touch. Put your left hand on your left knee and your right hand in front of the lower part of your breast bone (so a bit above the solar plexus).
3. Concentrate on the Heart chakra at the spine, level with the heart.Chant the sound YAM.**Chant YAM for 10 breaths, saying it 3 times on each exhale. Example: Inhale, Exhale: Yam, Yam, Yam. Inhale.

End with a Heart Meditation, chanting WaheGuru:

1. Bring your hands to your heart chakra in the center of your chest, right hand over left. Breathe directly into your heart. Feel your heart open and unfold. After several breaths, begin breathing into the space around your heart, allowing the heart to expand.
2. Allow the energy of gratitude and appreciation to fill your heart. Visualize this as a beautiful golden energy spilling out from your heart, then filling the space around your heart and overflowing into your body.
3. Begin to chant WaheGuru (wa-hey g'roo), or just mentally resonate with the chant.

This is a beautiful version of WaheGuru that I found on youtube, and have been singing along with:

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These chakra meditations use mudras, which are special hand positions, to open chakras. The mudras have the power to send more energy to particular chakras. To enhance the effect, sounds are chanted. These sounds are from Sanskrit letters. When chanted, they cause a resonation in your body that you can feel at the chakra they are meant for.

For pronunciation, keep in mind that:
the "A" is pronounced as in "ah,"
the "M" is pronounced as "mng.

Reference: http://www.eclecticenergies.com/chakras/open.php (check out this site for the mudras and sounds for each chakra).

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Know What You're Chanting: WAHE GURU

Wahe Guru is an expansive combination of words, which means much more than the simple four syllables it appears to be. It’s an expression of awe at all of creation and our participation in it. As you can see, it’s taken many words in English to even try to define it.

Wahe Guru is another way of expressing the joyous ecstasy that comes from knowing your true essence– call it God, call it soul, call it Self… whatever. Making the sound puts it into the mind’s vibration and like a seed planted, eventually it blossoms and what you get is the experience.

"LET US RISE UP AND BE THANKFUL, FOR IF WE DIDN'T LEARN A LOT, AT LEAST WE LEARNED A LITTLE, AND IF WE DIDN'T LEARN A LITTLE, AT LEAST WE DIDN'T GET SICK, AND IF WE GOT SICK, AT LEAST WE DIDN'T DIE; SO, LET US ALL BE THANKFUL." -- THE BUDDHA.