Ann on August 28 - Walking
Aug. 28th, 2010 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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exercise_every_dayToday for my walk I left the iPod behind and focused, really focused, on the sounds around me.
Cicadas, chickadees, and crickets were madly singing their end-of-summer songs. I had never really noticed before how the cicadas start softly, rise to a crescendo, then abruptly quit. That pause reminded me of the pause between the breaths that we recognize and value so highly in yoga practice. I was surrounded by the droning of bees, whizzing of grasshoppers, and annoying buzz of mosquitos (on only one portion of the trail, thank goodness.) Where the trail was closest to the road I could hear traffic and, for a time, the wail of an ambulance siren. I don't pray, but I took a moment so send a healing wish to all those involved.
I didn't powerwalk; today was for contemplation (though I never made it to the Meditative Walking we read about recently in Yoga Journal.) I concentrated on the crunch of my footsteps on gravel and the swish of my footsteps on grass. Far, far overhead airliners went about their business, a barely-decipherable hum; closer in, crows quibbled and squawked. I deliberately pushed away insistent earworms, as I'm learning to do during my daily meditation. When did such things even begin to exist? And will we ever be free of them? *wry grin*
I'm glad I took the opportunity (I'm glad I have the opportunity; another thing to be thankful for in a world of blessings) to be mindful of the things that interfere with my connection to the natural world, to take a few moments to push those things aside and just listen with my heart.
Cicadas, chickadees, and crickets were madly singing their end-of-summer songs. I had never really noticed before how the cicadas start softly, rise to a crescendo, then abruptly quit. That pause reminded me of the pause between the breaths that we recognize and value so highly in yoga practice. I was surrounded by the droning of bees, whizzing of grasshoppers, and annoying buzz of mosquitos (on only one portion of the trail, thank goodness.) Where the trail was closest to the road I could hear traffic and, for a time, the wail of an ambulance siren. I don't pray, but I took a moment so send a healing wish to all those involved.
I didn't powerwalk; today was for contemplation (though I never made it to the Meditative Walking we read about recently in Yoga Journal.) I concentrated on the crunch of my footsteps on gravel and the swish of my footsteps on grass. Far, far overhead airliners went about their business, a barely-decipherable hum; closer in, crows quibbled and squawked. I deliberately pushed away insistent earworms, as I'm learning to do during my daily meditation. When did such things even begin to exist? And will we ever be free of them? *wry grin*
I'm glad I took the opportunity (I'm glad I have the opportunity; another thing to be thankful for in a world of blessings) to be mindful of the things that interfere with my connection to the natural world, to take a few moments to push those things aside and just listen with my heart.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 07:53 pm (UTC)Have you ever tried metta (lovingkindness) meditation? A friend of mine is very into it.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 07:55 pm (UTC)