March 19, 2021
I know meditation or mindfulness is everywhere now. Perhaps if I had never left the US I would still have had experiences with mindful practices, but Asia has been my sandbox to learn in.
I have experimented with various types of mindfulness the past seven years: mindful eating, forest bathing, mindful walking through a maze, guided meditations, mantras, mindful breathing and mindful movement, and gong baths.
For about three months on the "Muse" app I listened for birds in my headphones while a gizmo checked my brain waves to see how Zen I was! (I got fairly good at being Zen, but not as much as LeAnn!)
I have also mindfully floated in a deprivation tank of water chock full of epsom salts - which is to say magnesium and sulfate - which combats stress. You can choose to lie in the coffin-like tank with or without clothes, with or without light, and with or without the lid closed. Pretty surreal.
And now, after trying so many of these, I am finally in a rhythm. Each weekday morning I spend twelve minutes in silent meditation with a few others in room 617. This calms and centers my mind for the day, connecting me to the earth, myself, and my Self.
And then there's the gong. . . but that is another story.
Thank you, Asia, for introducing me to these practices.
