This Month's Article:

"How Does One Meditate "
by Susan Niziurski-Shellman

This month's article is written by a yoga teacher and artist from Atlanta, GA, who regularly subscribes to this newsletter.  I found her honest experiences of meditation and self-discovery refreshing!  ~ Connie

    I've been meditating for 17 years and recently began to think back on how I began my meditation practice.  Fortunately, I came from a spiritually diverse family and grew up with the word meditation. 

    No one told me how to meditate.  In my adolescent years, I would grasp pieces of some meditation technique and, on occasion, my friends and I would sit around in a circle in deep oneness. Okay, mostly deep giggles, yet it was my first experience of a satsang: community, a coming together of like-minded people who are in search of the truth.

   As a teenager, I experienced walking meditations.  In the evenings, I would go down to the beach and walk along, watching the sunset. During those times I would have moments of losing awareness of the physical world and moving somewhere beyond time and space.

    Seventeen years ago, a traumatic event happened to me and I began meditating as a way to make sense of this tragedy.  I remember that first time: I walked out into my cousin's back yard with a few crystals in hand, placed my towel on the grass, and laid out in the sunshine.  What happened in those moments to keep me coming back, I couldn't really say.  It just felt right.  Did I do it consistently those first years?  No.  Did I struggle?  Yes.  Why did I continue?  It was a joyful exploration that occurred each time I came to meditation.

     Sometimes it was a profound and awesome experience. Other times it was quite mundane, yet each time was different than the last.  I also began to notice a difference in how I viewed the world and how I lived my life.  I began to trust the universe and live in the flow of the moment, letting go of controlling every circumstance occurring in my life.

    Throughout these past 17 years, I would occasionally take a meditation workshop.  I was so fortunate to have met some incredible teachers who allowed their students to explore meditation in an open and caring way, and allowed me to follow and trust my own guidance.  I explored many techniques through the years - some conventional, others not so - and even made up some of my own, following my heart.    

     About a year ago, I took another meditation workshop with a very respected teacher, but was given all sorts of rules: when and where to meditate, the same time each day, how to sit, what mantras I could say and which ones I could not, and how long I should sit in meditation.  Suddenly, I found myself not enjoying the process.  The excitement that brought me to meditation was filled with anxiety.  I felt guilty if I didn't get to my space on time and even found myself skipping a morning or evening meditation.  The mantra I was given just didn't sing in my heart.  I became bored with the process.  It was easy to lose focus and cut my meditation practice short.  I began to search on-line and read meditation books in hopes of finding a way back to my joyful exploration.  I struggled to maintain equanimity, yet found myself angry and off balance.

    As fate would have it, the universe was about to offer me a new teacher and a way back to my meditation practice with renewed joy and excitement.  I began taking a new yoga class that offered meditation after our practice.  This new teacher was caring and open and allowed his students to explore the process in their own way.    

     After class, I talked to him at length about my practice and what I had recently learned.  I listened to his experiences and what he had learned over his past 30 years of meditating.  I spent the next few days thinking about all that he said, which leads me back to how I have gotten to this place.  I guess you can say I've come full circle. 

    Like those early years, I was once again struggling and inconsistent in my practice.  I started back at the beginning.  This time I sat in a circle of one and brought my fears, misunderstandings, and anger to the circle -  and occasionally, a deep giggle would bubble up, too.  My mind would wander to what I had planned for that evening or what to make for dinner.  The more I struggled, the more I released, until one day I sat out in the sunshine in my own back yard with my crystals and let go by exclaiming silently, "what, what, what is this all about?"Then, I heard the inner voice say, "let go of the resistance."  In that moment, when I let go, I had the most profound meditation practice.  I was back in the oneness, the absolute bliss, void of time and space.  I floated in a sea of golden light, and then I came back to this physical world and went on my way.

     Each time I come to meditate, I bring my joyful exploration from deep within, with no expectations.  It's just me connecting with my true self.  I learned there is no right or wrong way to meditate.  Tradition works for some, others just follow their heart. Part of meditating is the struggle.  The struggle brings a sense of excitement and eventually a release of the resistance, and the release brings a sense of peace that carries over into all aspects of life. 

     We are all spiritual beings learning our lessons in the human realm.  I challenge each of us for this New Year to make the exploration into meditating each day. See what joyful experience can happen and how it can change your life.
~Om Shanti

Copyright © 2008 by Susan Niziurski-Shellman

Susan Niziurski-Shellman is a yoga teacher and artist living in Atlanta, GA.  Meditation and spiritual growth have been a passion.  If you would like to share your meditation experiences, she can be reached at www.sniziurski@yahoo.com
     

YOGA FOR YOUR BODY-MIND TYPE (Ayurvedic Yoga) comes to WALNUT CREEK at the Yoga and Movement Center on Saturday, March 8th, from 2-4:30.  Explore the 3 doshas, or body-mind types of Ayurveda, through yoga practice, and discover which one best fits you.  Included is discussion of influences of the seasons, phases of life, and times of day on our well-being, and how different asanas and styles of yoga will affect each dosha.  $35 if registered by March 1st: $45 thereafter.  Register soon to ensure your space and recieve your discount!
Information HERE or at
http://www.yoga-movement.com/

NEW CLASS ON THURSDAY MORNING,
9:30-11AM, beginning JANUARY 10TH!  At Stretchworks in Redwood City (border of Menlo Park and Atherton), just off Marsh Rd. at 101.  The Essence of Yoga is my unique blending of Iyengar, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Restorative, Shadow, and Yin styles with yoga philosophy and spirituality.  All levels welcome, but special emphasis on beginnners and building foundations of strength, flexibility, awareness, and compassion.  See http://www.stretchworks.net for information on this lovely studio.

Y.E.S. Yoga Teacher Training coming up for 2008, beginning in February! There is still space! See Joyce Anue's website for details:  http://www.joyceanue.com

A SEASON FOR NON-VIOLENCE:
January 30th - April 4th is a national campaign, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated to demonstrating that non-violence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and communities. 
Each year, I celebrate this 64-day practice with the 5 Yamas (ethical prinicples) and 5 Niyamas (inner practices) of yoga.  Beginning with Ahimsa, non-violence, we will explore one of the yamas or niyamas each week for 10 weeks.  Starts the last week in January in all classes.

HAVING COLDS OR SINUS INFECTIONS?  I highly recommend the practice of jala neti, or washing the sinuses with saline water.  This is the neti pot I use - it's stainless steel (I broke the ceramic one I had) and larger.  Much more effective for me!  See it HERE

Share Awakening Self with a friend!  Forward this newsletter to them, and they can subscribe at any time by clicking this link: SUBSCRIBE HERE

All around the world in the Northern Hemisphere, things are stirring deep beneath the cold blanket of mid-winter.   Here in California we're already into the signs of spring, but for many across the nation it's still plenty cold.  Many cultures take this time to remember that warmer and longer days are soon to arrive and have special celebrations with cakes, candles, and even critters in early February -- in hopes of banishing the winter!    The most familiar tradition in early February to us in the United States is Groundhog Day.  Some communities take this second day of February very seriously, and actually gather the whole town around the ceremonious groundhog hole to witness what the critter sees when he pops his head above ground.  According to the Punxsutawney, PA Groundhog Club's annual festival, last year their groundhog saw his shadow - predicting 6 more weeks of wintry weather ahead.  We'll see what he portends this year!  The tradition dates back to a German custom brought to Pennsylvania in 1887, although the original bear that briefly emerged from hibernation has since been replaced by the more feasible woodchuck.      Also at this time, on the 1st or 2nd of February, is the celebration of Candlemas.  From German lore, candles are traditionally blessed on this day, celebrating the increasing light - since the Winter Solstice, daylight has extended by about an hour into the evening.  A black forest saying is as follows: "Candlemas, forget spinning, eat supper by daylight."  Candles are often lit all through the home to symbolize the sun's growing energy.    For Catholics, Candlemas is a feast day commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary.  Candles are often brought to the priest on February 2nd to be purified and blessed.  This is also one of the traditional days for taking down Christmas decorations -- if you have a live tree, now is an ideal time to carefully burn it in your fireplace, or return it to the earth through compost.      In ancient Western Europe, this was a season of preparing the fields for the first planting.  Depending on the grace of the earth for their survival, these communities took this celebration very seriously as they purified the fields and made offerings to the Earth Mother in gratitude.    Ireland knows this day as Imbolc, from the word Olmec, which means "ewe's milk" (the time of lactation for sheep) and also derives from Imbolg, "around the belly", signifying the fecundity of the earth mother.  Imbolc traditionally honors the goddess Brigid, who represents fertility, creativity, and the eternal fire.  She was later associated with St. Brigid in Catholic tradition, who founded the first convent in Ireland.  To celebrate, people put a loaf of bread on the windowsill for the goddess, and an ear of corn for her white cow, another symbol of purity and abundance.  February was often a harsh month in the British Isles, so these traditions inspired the hope of the coming warmer days and the renewal of life     Other parts of Europe hold similar holidays on February 2nd or close to it.  The French call this day "La Fete de la Chandeleur", and crepes are traditionally eaten to ensure a bountiful year.  In Britain or the US, you may find pancakes instead of crepes.  Why crepes or pancakes?  You guessed it -- their round shape again depicts the growing glow of the sun.    A bit further east in Rome, February 5th was hailed as the feast of the Nones -- the beginning of spring in the Roman calendar.  This marked the Roman New Year and it was a time of clearing the slate and beginning new endeavors.  Homes were given a good "spring cleaning" this month, and purified by sprinkling salt and wheat.     Pancakes are also part of the celebration of Mardi Gras, on February 5th.  Always the day before the Lenten season, this is the last day of Carnival, a 12-day celebration that culminates in the huge "party" that New Orleans and Brazil have become famous for.  Although known nowadays for lavish costumes, drunken revelry, and tossing beaded necklaces to the crowds, it is traditionally the final feast before the long fast of Lent.    On the other side of the globe we find surprisingly similar traditions. Throughout India, the festival of Vasant Panchami also heralds the coming of spring (Vasant).  This celebration is held on the 5th day of the month of Magh, which falls on February 11th this year.  The goddess Sarasvati (bestower of wisdom, knowledge, learning, and the arts) is honored this day, often with pujas, or special ceremonies, that include flower offerings and wearing the color yellow.  It is considered an auspicious time to undertake the learning of new things.  Books, instruments, and other representations of the arts are placed before her altar for blessings.      Of course, there's another New Year honored this month - Chinese New Year!  Their calendar marks it on the first New Moon of our calendar year (which falls in 2008 on February 7th -- the year of the Rat). The celebration goes on for 15 days, marked by family reunions and giving thanks to Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household, and the ancestors.  Departed relatives are highly respected and their presence and memory is honored with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table.  This communal feast symbolizes the sense of family unity and oneness with past and present generations.      Whether winter still lays thick in snow across your lawn or you're already dancing out among the daffodils, know that the joy of spring is around the corner.  Light a candle, banish the darkness, and feel the warmth of the glowing and growing light.  ©2006, 2008 by Constance L. Habash