Maxi Danger Uncut

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Meditation Challenge: Day 6

This morning was the hardest by far, but interestingly enough found myself hopping out of bed almost looking forward to it. Don't think drinking the night before is the best lead-in - went and saw the pies play the hawks in the prelim final at the g last night. Epic match, collingwood got up by 3 points, kicking a goal with 3 minutes left to grab the lead, booking themselves the chance to win back to back premierships next week. Headed down smith st for a few celebratory drinks with foles, got home bout half one.
Have started to incorporate a few basic yoga poses before meditation, just as a little warm up. Dad stayed at my place last night so felt too self conscious to bust out the 'aums' with someone within hearing distance. Only managed about 12 mins, but having an AFD today so tomorrow should be better.

Meditation Challenge: Day 5

Friday morning came with a mild hangover, due to a charity poker tournament I went to the night before. Pretty cool night, went down with the boys from work and played my way to the final table. Got knocked out before the final three though, so didn't quite get the job done.
The meditation session was ok, again struggled with the candle thing. Will probably just start skipping it, but the good news was that I did manage to get in a solid 20 minute session.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Meditation Challenge: Day 4

Can check Day 4 off the list, with another session completed this morning. Tried sitting in a chair which made it a bit easier to relax, as I was worried about my posture. Not getting the whole 'be at one with the candle/eyes open' thing though, found that really tough. Rest of it was good though.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Meditation Challenge: Day 3

Another solid effort this morning, crunched out a good 20+ mins. Tried the 'Hero' pose for a few minutes, although that was painful, so switched to a variation of the cobbler's pose with my back against a chair which was much more comfortable. Finding the 'eyes open' meditation much more difficult than having my eyes closed. This morning a few thoughts from work starting creeping in when I was staring at my candle, however wasn't too bad. Will see how I go tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Meditation Challenge: Day 2

Day 2 of 7 in the Meditation Challenge. Found this morning also to be quite difficult - I guess cos I don't really know what I'm doing...

Here's my current meditation runsheet:

  • Prep: start my youtube meditation playlist in the background, light a candle on a little table, and sit cross legged about an arms length from the candle. Close eyes.
  • Punch out a few 'aums' to warm up.
  • Focus on breathing for a bit.
  • Visualise 'heart' breathing.
  • Visualise 'centralising' myself.
  • Open eyes. Meditate on the candle for a while.
  • Close eyes. Few more aums.
  • Finish with an affirmation.
This morning was pretty tough, I think mainly because I find sitting cross-legged quite difficult. After talking to Meriel (who went to another class last night), found out that sitting cross-legged isn't a 'must have', it's more important to be comfortable. Also looked up the internets at lunch, and came across this article which was pretty decent: 
http://life.gaiam.com/article/do-you-have-sit-cross-legged-meditate
Will give the 'hero' pose a go tomorrow.


Also went to my usual Tuesday night yoga class tonight, and finished off with the routine 15 minute relaxation/meditation session, which we always do. Don't know if it's because I've being do some much of it lately, but really got a lot out of tonight. The instructor talked us through firstly a body relaxation exercise and then followed with a mind relaxation/visualisation exercise. Picture yourself in a forest, beautiful blue sky above, sun shining on you, that kind of thing.  It's hard to describe but by the end of it I felt like I had this little ball of focus in my mind, just behind my eyes. It was pretty cool.

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Weekend (+ Meditation Challenge Day 1)

Had an awesome weekend. Friday night had a couple of low key beers with the dudes from work. Nothing too major - implemented my new policy of only having light beers until I've had dinner. This was a direct result of an absolute bender on a Friday night a few weeks ago, which caught me a little off guard, and left me with the worst hangover eeevvvvaaaaa.
Saturday morning went out and saw the Skahill's clan, who were down for a a few days for a wedding. Great to catch up with the crew. Given the sun was out, cruised out to Warbuton on the bike, clocked up a round trip of 160kms. Very nice countryside out there, definitely worth going again. Came back for a barbie at Em's place, which was entertaining, mainly because of the body language of a certain couple, and the theories/gossip this sparked, definitely gave the rest of us something to talk about.
Sunday morning headed out to Kew Library for a meditation workshop. Didn't know a lot about it prior to going in, but had Syme and Meriel to back me up. I was thinking that if they started talking about Shakra's and Reincarnation I was going to bail, but luckily it was pretty much on the level. Practised a couple of new techniques, and started a 7 day meditation challenge with the others (to meditate everyday for a week), will be interesting to see the results. Meditation course finished, it was time to balance out the healthy stuff by heading off to the pub to catch up with Johnny Hibble, Gabbo and Foldy. Ended up having an impromptu mini pub crawl - hit up the Baden, the Union and also Grumpy's on the way home. Grumpy's had this local band playing, they did an awesome cover of Brooke Fraser's 'There's Something In The Water'. It was pretty cool, keen to head back there next Sunday to check em out again.