Deborah Ferris Mindful Meditation & Reiki

Take in Beauty & Peace
We are in tumultuous times right now with the trade war brought on by the US along with world upsets such as war, deprivation in various countries and so on. How can we deal with all of this plus our own personal ups and downs?

We need to be grounded like a tree with deep roots in the earth and a heart that is open to love and compassion for our own sorrows and joys as well as, having compassion for others who are suffering.

We can bring flow and joy into our life by really taking in good experiences and events such as gazing at the smooth flowing of a river or really noticing the blue jay in a tree as he finds a cherry to nourish himself or his family.

We can find viewing or creating beautiful paintings, crystal jewellery or fiber arts like quilt making can bring about peace and enjoyment. Listening or making music can also bring harmony into our lives.

When we bring mindfulness and real presence into the moment there can be joy and peace in the beauty that is always available to us.

This week take some time out to refresh your soul and to feast your senses on the colours, images, sounds, feelings that counteract the
chaos and noise of the world. Steep yourself in mindful experiences that uplift you.

Wishing you happiness, wellness, ease and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Peace and Calm
"Peaceful thoughts and peaceful friends always conduce to a healthy, magnetic mind." (Paramahansa Yogananda, Yogi and meditation guru).

Our society is a frenetic and busy one with stress and tension as people multi task at work and leisure with a cell phone not far away. We do, however, need to take time out to find our inner peace and feel the benefits of calm and relaxation. These are the antidotes to many of our ills.

Just breathing in and out with a lengthy out breath can begin to calm our nervous systems. Do a few deep slow in breaths and lengthen the out breaths either through the nose or by opening the mouth on the exhale. Notice how this feels.

We can calm ourselves by doing a mindful body scan meditation lying down or seated. As we travel through the various parts of the body starting with the head or the feet we slow this exploration down. Again, we want to notice what we sense tightness, tension, relaxation or maybe feeling nothing. If we have pain in the body that interrupts this scan, we can attend to it through various techniques including breathing and softening this area in a visualization manner. Continue on with the scan when ready. We can learn a lot about ourselves and our bodies, minds and hearts just by spending 20 - 40 minutes doing this scan. As always, have compassion for yourself as part of your self-care practice.

Walking or seated meditation can also help us to find our inner peace - that place of stillness and silence -- that place that also carries wisdom and clarity.

This week try on some relaxing and peaceful ways of being including going to a place that engenders happiness and tranquility.

Wishing you my friends much wellness and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Be in the Flow
Life carries with it ups and downs, challenges and triumphs, so how do we maintain a sense of balance and flow? We need a mindful loving, wise heart to help us on our way.

Just as a stream flows around log jams and rocks we too can flow around, over, through the difficult moments by acknowledging what we are sensing, feeling and thinking and then accepting that this is where we are right now in this moment. Then let go.

Flowing through life doesn't mean we don't care about others or have strong values and a strong moral compass. It does mean being equanimous (calm, emotionally stable under pressure) with mindful and wise action.

Our meditation practice and our ongoing awareness can help us to reach this point of being in the flow even in the hard times. Not there yet, begin again. Starting over is Zen. Have compassion for yourself when you fail to be calm and you hang on to the impermanent. Continue your practice of breathing, mantra, self-guided Metta and so on and remember to look within as the observer. You can gain clarity and wisdom on right action.

Wishing you happiness, wellness and peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Happy August
We have entered a new month an ideal time for new or continuing intention to help us to continue in our personal and spiritual growth.

I'll share some of mine. Perhaps yours will be similar or maybe not.
Here they are: Spend more time in the garden enjoying its beauty; Keep up my walking so I am in good shape for a trip in the Fall; eat healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and lean protein and do this mindfully; do yoga everyday; and last but not least - keep up my meditation practice.

We can always make our intentions or goals more explicit like "I'll walk 35 minutes three times this week" and so on. It's good to put in some details to keep ourselves on track. We can even track how we are doing.

If you are new to meditation, you can find some good Buddhist-based guided meditations on Youtube.com. Most of them are quite short. I would advise also sitting or walking in meditation for a longer period without guidance as you go forward. This can help you to deepen your practice. The best advice is a good meditation teacher to help you on your meditation journey.

Wishing you all the delights of August and much wellness. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Immerse in Some Silence
"It is in the inner silence - the stillness in which thoughts and intellect are transcended - that ultimate truth dawns upon the consciousness, like a light breaking through mist." Paramahansa Yogananda, 20th C. yogi and spiritual teacher.

It is in this silence, this stillness, that wisdom comes to us. With wisdom and with its balancing counterpart love, we can find happiness in all areas of our life.

This week seek out some time in nature or in a special place at home or in a church and meditate in silence. Even a few minutes can bring glimpses of truth.

Like most things in life, meditating is a practice, the more often that we take time out to refresh ourselves in guided or self-directed meditation the easier it can become. We still might find some days or even weeks challenging. Begin again. It's the Zen way -- to start over right now in this moment.

Wishing you love, joy and inner peace. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Fleeting and Enjoyable
The beautiful flower that is fresh and lovely is so enjoyable and yet we know that it will change as the days go by. Life is full of reminders of its changeability and impermanence. While this is real and true, we can still take pleasure in the beauty that is in front of us.

We can pause look, listen, touch, smell and savour the joy that is ours for the having.

Take time this week to really look and listen to loved ones, friends and others. Show your appreciation. Give thanks and spread the love around.

Reiki Blessings. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Meditate with colour
Now that Summer is in full swing you might want to add one of the Summer/Fall colours into your environment especially if you want to enhance your creativity and vitality.

You can meditate with orange hued flowers or orange crystals like orange calcite and carnelian. The colour orange is associated with the sacral chakra below the belly button in the belly. So you can place/tape a crystal there or hold it in your hand.

As you meditate focus on the colour orange and how its vibrancy helps to bring creativity into your life along with emotional balance.

Spend time in silence letting go of thoughts and sense how this colour is assisting you.

You may also choose to spend time with other colours this summer like Yellow, Blue, Green and Red. You can even bring colours into your wardrobe so that the colour that you choose can bring in healing qualities.

Wishing you joy, creativity and happiness. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Concentration in Meditation & Life
Have you ever noticed times when you weren't focusing or concentrating on what you were reading, hearing or seeing? It happens more and more today with the cell phone and trying to multitask.

One of the answers is to turn off the devices for a set period of time and take some time for meditation. At first it might seem difficult especially because you might have many thoughts drifting through your mind. With practice and a teacher you can learn to focus on a single object - your breathing, a flower, a candle flame and so on.

Loving Mindfulness or Metta meditation is also a form of concentration in which we repeat set phrases for a period of time such as 20 minutes. We do this with a loving open and generous heart.

Concentration in meditation leads to insight and wisdom and a steadying of the mind.

Try it for a few weeks and notice the benefits.

Wishing you a beautiful day filled with joy and love. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Freshness, Beauty & Peace
Here is a gatha poem by Thich Nhat Han:
Breathing in, I am like a flower
Breathing out, I am fresh, beautiful and at peace.

In, Flower
Out, Fresh

In, Flower
Out, Fresh

With the out breath we soften, letting go of what doesn't serve us and we feel fresh like a beautiful blooming flower. At peace.

Repeat this short Zen poem throughout your day imagining how you are blooming and experiencing freshness, softness and peace.

Wishing you a Happy Canada Day on July 1 and may the days ahead be filled with wellness and joy. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

Vast Summer Sky
Sunday ushered in the first day of Summer with the Summer Solstice and beautiful sunny weather at least in some parts of the country.

There are many opportunities for us to get outside in the Summer months and connect with nature and nature offers us the chance to be mindful.

Just look at the sky and the cloud formations and you can capture the feeling of vastness and spaciousness. In mindfulness we often hear about the mind being like an open vast and spacious sky full of peace.

When the mind is disturbed with upsetting thoughts and emotions Buddhist teachers refer to them as clouds that drift in and out of our consciousness. When the clouds are gone, we can then find that clear spaciousness of the mind for tranquility.

As well, when we look up at a beautiful blue sky with or without clouds we may find our mood elevates too. This is known as gladdening the heart.

Wishing you spaciousness and a glad heart. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.