Today is week 5. Our 30-minute mediation starts with just a few of us today. The more I practice this the easier it seems to fall into place although I did weave in and out of ordinary time during today's practice. A tiger presents and I pet it and notice its magnificence. I examine its teeth and large head. I then seem to be the tiger as I grip my paws into the earth and move quickly through the snow somewhere. I feel a sense of power and freedom as I traverse the vast and empty land making great speed. Then I find that I am in a zoo. I am stuck with the sense of frustration and hopelessness of being locked up. I start to feel what I would feel if I was contained as me and as an animal. One that wants to be free but caged in. A camel then flashes before my eyes before Christian calls us back. Why a camel, I wonder?
At the end of today’s practice we listen to instruction by the narrator as she tells us to focus on the 3rd eye not by efforting or concentrating but by placing our awareness here. A ‘being rather than a doing’ she tells us as I think of Osho who also advises against a one pointed concentration practice. I start to see Osho, his gray beard and the picture I have of him in my mind or maybe it was him. He then disappears and I see an octopus (I am in a Beatles’ (garden) song once again without the psychedelics!) I cannot help think a message here about the meaning of Octopus. When I get home I look up the meaning of octopus and what their medicine is. This is what it means according to one site.
· Willpower.
· The use of the psyche.
· Focus on the goals.
· The creation of an illusion.
· Creation of mysterious environment.
· Strategy used for defense.
· Knowledge of surroundings.
· The use intelligence.
· The unpredictability of attack.
· The complexity of actions.
· The power of regeneration and evolution.
http://www.auntyflo.com/magic/octopus
At the end of today I tell the group that I am blogging about my experience but will be sensitive to what I share about them. I hold my breath as they stare without saying anything. I reassure them that I have given them fictitious names. They have no interest in what I have written but rather are most curious of the names I have given them. Annette wants to be called Julie when I tell her her name. Apparently she was punched by a famous Annette who accidentally swung her coat around into her while leaving an event when she was younger. We finally settled on the name Shanti (peace) instead. It's the name of her cat and seems more fitting after hearing the coat story.
At the end of today’s practice we listen to instruction by the narrator as she tells us to focus on the 3rd eye not by efforting or concentrating but by placing our awareness here. A ‘being rather than a doing’ she tells us as I think of Osho who also advises against a one pointed concentration practice. I start to see Osho, his gray beard and the picture I have of him in my mind or maybe it was him. He then disappears and I see an octopus (I am in a Beatles’ (garden) song once again without the psychedelics!) I cannot help think a message here about the meaning of Octopus. When I get home I look up the meaning of octopus and what their medicine is. This is what it means according to one site.
· Willpower.
· The use of the psyche.
· Focus on the goals.
· The creation of an illusion.
· Creation of mysterious environment.
· Strategy used for defense.
· Knowledge of surroundings.
· The use intelligence.
· The unpredictability of attack.
· The complexity of actions.
· The power of regeneration and evolution.
http://www.auntyflo.com/magic/octopus
At the end of today I tell the group that I am blogging about my experience but will be sensitive to what I share about them. I hold my breath as they stare without saying anything. I reassure them that I have given them fictitious names. They have no interest in what I have written but rather are most curious of the names I have given them. Annette wants to be called Julie when I tell her her name. Apparently she was punched by a famous Annette who accidentally swung her coat around into her while leaving an event when she was younger. We finally settled on the name Shanti (peace) instead. It's the name of her cat and seems more fitting after hearing the coat story.