This week’s meditation is taken from various sources throughout my life – yoga classes, transcendental meditation course, books by Deepak Chopra, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Osho.

Using a mantra can be a very powerful and life changing meditation. Very simply, mantras are sounds which are repeated (either internally or out loud) and change your vibrational frequency to that of the surrounding universe.

Another way to look a mantras is as a tool to bring greater discipline and focus to your mind. Simply repeating a word or phrase whenever you find your mind wandering or whenever you are getting stressed or lost in the world, will train you to stay focused on the present and will almost immediately reduce your stress levels and increase your productivity.

There are hundreds of different mantras that exist for various different purposes. I will mention only three here that I have found to be both powerful and life transforming.

Om (ohm) - the sound of the Supreme Being. Includes past, present and future. Used for enlightenment.

So Hum – the mantra of the sound of the breath, with the breath being our link to life itself. ‘so’ on the in breath and ‘hum’ on the out breath.

I Am – connection with the inner self and the gateway to what is beyond this.

So, the meditation for this week is as follows:

Choose a mantra that you feel most comfortable with. Twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or early evening, sit quietly with your eyes closed. Take a minute to relax and get comfortable. Watch the mind and its constant activity. Then bring in the mantra. Aside from the ‘so hum’ mantra which will follow the breath, the mantra does not need any particular pattern of repetition. It should drift through your mind like any other thought. When you feel your mind wandering, simply trail the mantra to the end of the thought and let it replace the usual stream of words. In between, if it happens, let the mind sit in silence. After about 20 minutes (yes, you can check your watch, but don’t set an alarm) stop using the mantra and let your normal thinking resume, or sit in silence for two minutes as an adjustment phase before continuing with your day.

Then bring this into your day as often as you remember. Every time you notice the active mind, bring in the mantra.

Please remember that as you sink deeper into meditation this will trigger any thoughts or emotions that need to be released. Don’t get attached to anything that happens or comes up during your meditation. Allow it to be. If you need to laugh or cry, do, and then return to your meditation. If thoughts come up, let them float past. Don’t feel the need to ruminate over whatever thought or memory came up in your meditation – it comes to be cleared, not to be relived. Also, keep in mind that meditation can initially cause some emotional turmoil as these emotions and past events come up to clear. Keep at it and you will be greatly rewarded.

Wishing you a focused week of silence!

The first part of this exercise is my own and the second is adapted from a book called “The Four Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss.

When you lose someone close to you, amidst the grief and trauma, there is a certain presence that arises. This is like a precious gap whereby you get the chance to reevaluate your life and priorities. Death is a wake up call to the living – life is short, and these bodies that we inhabit are incredibly fragile. What are you doing with this opportunity to experience everything there is to experience as a human being on this planet? For the next week, your daily task will be to contemplate this, without the need for a death to prompt this investigation...

PART ONE – CONTEMPLATING DYING
For the next week, every morning, before you hop out of bed, spend five minutes considering that today may be your last. If you knew for sure that you would be dead by midnight, what would you do differently today?

Would you really spend 14 hours at work? Would you speak to the people you come across differently? Would you invite a special friend to lunch? Would you take the time to watch the sunset? Would you stop worrying about your weight / the scratch on your car / your kid’s feet on the table?

Then live your day with this in mind... Imagine that the shower you’re going to take will be your last. Stay in for an extra five minutes and really feel the water coming down on you. Instead of guzzling down your breakfast while you start making your calls for the day, consider that this may be the last time you taste anything. Stop and savour every mouthful. Make yourself something special to eat instead of just something to fill the gap. And why not eat it with your best cutlery? Wear that something you’ve been saving for a special occasion. Today is special. With every person that you see today, greet them like it’s the first time you’ve ever met, and remember to say goodbye like you will never see them again. You may not. Make sure you have closure on any arguments or issues that you’ve been hanging on to. Would they really matter if you were not around tomorrow. If you knew you were going to die, would it be so hard to be the one to apologise and make peace? Does it really matter if you’re right or not? Are the things you’re worrying about honestly worth taking up all your thoughts and energy?

Of course I understand that this is an exercise and you can’t simply wake up and go “well, if I was going to die today I wouldn’t go to work”. Of course you need to fulfill your normal responsibilities. However, if that is the case, then consider why you are doing what you’re doing. Is your job simply a means to an end? How many hours a day / week / month are you spending living as a means to an end? What would you really like to be doing? Can this somehow become a career for you? Start making that move today. Start planning or learning or investigating a change for yourself right now. Don’t live your life now hoping for something better tomorrow, or further on down the line. What if there is no tomorrow? And this goes for all aspects of your life – relationships, hobbies, health etc. If this was your last day would you really spend half of it watching arb TV? Or fighting with your mother-in-law? Or hanging out with acquaintances that you don’t really get along with?

What else would you change? What would you stop to appreciate? Start NOW.

PART TWO – CONTEMPLATING LIVING
Get a notebook or pad of paper and spend some time writing down everything you could possibly dream of having, being or doing. Write down everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Don’t limit yourself by finances, time or circumstances. From the silliest little thing to the wildest thought you’ve ever had. For example...

Having – a new car (be specific), a house by the sea, an ipod, the latest bestseller, the original Mona Lisa (yes, you can include the virtually impossible), a trampoline, a puppy...
Being – enlightened, fluent in a foreign language, a world famous ballerina, a better mother/father/partner, the first non-astronaut to walk on the moon, healthy, fit, able to tie cherry stalks into knots with your tongue...
Doing – go on your dream holiday, swim with dolphins, take fencing lessons, finish your degree, do a headstand...

Be creative, have fun and most importantly don’t limit yourself.

Once you have your list, pick your absolute favourite (or two favourites if you really can’t decide) - the thing that you would most regret not having/doing/being if you died today - and do something right now to start making that dream happen in your reality. Google it, price it, find alternative ways to achieve it. If it’s some thing that you want, see if you can get it on auction. If it’s a holiday, look at cheap flights and house swapping as an option. If it’s getting fit, step out your front door and start walking. MAKE IT HAPPEN. Set a definite deadline, and don’t make this too far in the future - an absolute maximum of 6 months time – and then work out very definite steps that you can take to get you there.  And keep in mind that you shape your own reality. There is nothing preventing you from achieving all your dreams except your own limiting thoughts about them. Stop procrastinating. There is no tomorrow, only today. Start living.

The truth is that there are a million and one ways that you could die during the course of your normal life today. When your time is up, it’s up. What did you do with it? Every single moment is precious. Make the most of them all.

Wishing you a week of truly living!

This week’s meditation is adapted from a book by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj entitled “I Am That”, and is the essence of his entire teachings on self awareness / enlightenment. According to Maharaj, if you can simply keep the thought and feeling of “I am” at all times, the rest will follow naturally.

The first part of this week’s meditation is the following: for 10 minutes twice a day (once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or early evening) sit comfortably with your eyes closed and simply repeat the phrase “I am” in your mind. If other thoughts come, and they most likely will, just let them be... Watch them passing like clouds across the sky. Don’t try to block them or deny them, but don’t become attached to them or actively follow a train of thought. When you catch your mind wandering, gently bring it back to “I am”. Try to keep the feeling of the inner body simultaneously as the feeling of “I am”.

The second part of this meditation is to keep the “I am” thought repeating in your mind throughout the day as a living meditation. Life these days is very busy and draws you quickly out of yourself and into the world - I find it helpful, therefore, to have little reminders to bring me back to myself... Like post-it notes stuck up around the house, or a gentle beep from my phone every 30 minutes or so. Whenever you see or hear one of these reminders, simply start repeating the “I am” in your mind again and continue with whatever you are doing.

Maharaj has the following to say on the matter:

“Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought ‘I am’. The mind will rebel in he beginning, but with patience and perseverence it will yield and keep quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally, without any interference on your part.... Reject all that does not go with the basic fact: ‘I am’. The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my parents and am now so-and-so, living at, married to, father of, employed by, and so on, are not inherent in the sense ‘I am’. Our usual attitude is of ‘I am this’. Separate consistently and perseveringly the ‘I am’ from ‘this’ or ‘that’, and try to feel what it means to be, just to be, without being ‘this’ or ‘that’.”

Wishing you a week of beingness!

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