Meditation On COVID

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(10 Minutes)

When thinking of proactive ways to keep COVID-19 at bay, we think of social distancing, slathering our hands with sanitizer and wearing masks. Few refer to the obvious first lines of defense. Our mind plays an important role in fending off the virus. And a healthy lifestyle plays an important role in supporting our immune system. First things first!

  • Up your game in the healthy eating department i.e. lots of veggies, limited sugar, whole grains, organic when you can
  • Get enough sleep and rest
  • Exercise
  • Vitamin C, D and zinc supplementation

Going deeper, the intangible plays a supremely important role in keeping us healthy and able to build healthy, Yang energy.  Meditation allows us to build Yang, tapping into deep reservoirs of energy within and from the universe.

The COVID virus is a good example of a Yin object, which is any object that is degenerating or useless or harmful. (See Chapter 4 of my book How To Stay Out of My Emergency Room): Everyone Does These Crazy Balancing Acts

COVID all around is bad news. Like all plagues, it causes disease, mild in some but deadly in others. But now recall that inside every Yin is a little dot of Yang. If you have been infected by COVID, and you’re reading this, you’re still alive.

Here’s a meditation where you can go deep in your integration, the result of which is well-being, health and positivity – expanding that little dot of Yang. Either way, you need all the Yang you can get during this pandemic:

Your Higher Self  feeding Yang energy to your mind and body

Yin/entropy COVID, fear, loss, etc.

  1. For this meditation on COVID, go to your safe meditation spot, away from all media and distractions

2. Get comfortable, mentally and physically and bring a pen as you will be writing on the symbol.

3. Take one deep cleansing breath, in and out, slowly. As you exhale, let the breath take you gently down to a meditative state

4. Now breathe normally and calmly, breathe in…..breathe out….. breathe in…..breathe out…..

5. Visualize your Yin/Yang symbol: is your Yin predominant, or are you in balance?

In the Yin or next to it, list what comes to mind when you say “COVID”: for example, ‘virus’, ‘spiny’, ‘hateful’, ‘Yin object’, and any other things you associate with the pandemic: ‘job stress’, ‘isolation’, ‘face masks’, ‘insecurity’, and so on.

In the Yang, write your positive thoughts: ‘health’, ‘strength’, ’empowered’, ‘good choices’, ‘joy’, ‘balance’, ‘strong immune system

6. Using your imagery, find and make contact with your Higher Self. Feel it giving you strength. Feel its Yang energy flowing into you. Feel it guiding you. You know what it wants you to do.

7. Breathe in positive Yang energy………breathe out negative Yin……………

8. See yourself eating healthy foods, exercising, getting enough sleep, and taking extra vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc to boost your immune system

9. Imagine yourself in a grocery store, your workplace, around strangers as well as people you know. See yourself as healthy, confident, strong, secure, empowered

10. If fears or worries or negative thoughts bubble up, breathe in extra Yang, and breathe out the negativity; feel refreshed, re-energized, restored

11. ‘I can manage COVID, this pandemic; I can beat it, I can overcome it, in all its shapes, and move forward more healthy, more strengthened, and more confident’

12. Once you feel your Yang restored and re-charged, finish your meditation with this image of your Mutual Relationship with others

13. As you emerge from your meditation, take a deep cleansing breath. Re-enter your world strengthened. And take your Higher Self with you.

Mantra Meditation

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Goodness is its own reward. 

It is the center of your Higher Self.

What is a mantra? The word comes from the root -man  मन्त्र or ‘thought’, in Sanskrit.

It is an utterance, a word or sound or group of words or sounds. To some it has religious meaning, connecting to God. To others it has mystical, spiritual power. A mantra can have structure and literal meaning. Or not. For our purposes, it has the power to focus your mind. 

The classic mantra is AUM ॐ(A-U-M). 

Said properly, slowly, from the bottom your body to the top, A-U-M has three syllables, three sounds, three ascending vibrations:

‘Awe‘ – feel it in your abdomen (third chakra – solar plexus)

‘Ooo‘ – feel it in your chest (fourth chakra – heart)

‘Mmm‘ – feel it in your head (sixth chakra – third eye/forehead)

Say awe – ooo – mmm. 

Feel it vibrating up your body, from the bottom up:

down in your abdomen – awe – in your chest – ooo – up in your head – mmm

Say and feel it several times, from bottom to top: 

awe – ooo – mmm    awe – ooo – mmm     awe – ooo – mmm

To the ancients, A-U-M is the sound of the universe. When said in your mind or with your voice, you connect to the vibration of the universe. Say these sounds slowly, – awe – ooo – mmm. Feel them rising from bottom to top, activating abdomen, chest, head, your whole body. They calm and relax your nervous system. They prepare you for meditation.

Once you feel the universal A-U-M, if you like it, use it before all your meditations. It will help calm and focus your mind, in addition to physically focusing your breathing. 

Once you feel the universal A-U-M, add your own mantras. I like to start my meditations with the mantra – Goodness is its own reward -. It reminds me that the good is always there, my Higher Self, always waiting to enter my life. Any time the entropy of the universe, the yin of the universe, decays my goodness and my Higher Self, I reboot and refocus on what really matters, Goodness. 

Here are some more mantras that I find helpful. Some are from Twelve Step programs. Others are from Eastern philosophy. Add your own once you get the hang of it.

  • Easy Does It
  • One Day At a Time
  • Do the Next Right Thing
  • Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.*
  • Every day in every way I am getting stronger.
  • I am a magnet for health, wealth and happiness.
  • Attitude of gratitude.
  • Inhale the future, exhale the past.
  • Love Justice Truth and Beauty
  • Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu – May All Beings Everywhere Be Happy and Free
  • May I be happy; may I be well; may I be safe; may I be peaceful and at ease.
  • May you be happy; may you be well; may you be safe; may you be peaceful and at ease.

Here is an excellent blog at mindvalley.com for further information on mantras: https://blog.mindvalley.com/mantra-meditation/

*Here is the complete Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), a well-known American Protestant pastor and theologian:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Find Your Good Parent

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Parents and Child

Your Higher Self is your best self, anywhere, any time. You connect to your Higher Self whenever you need a Yang infusion: love, kindness, decency, good guidance, strength. When you talk to your Higher Self, it is to ask for guidance. When your Higher Self talks to you, it is to encourage you to do good, to make the right choices, every moment by moment.

Some, including many frequent flyers (those who return again and again to my emergency room), grew up around difficult people. These include difficult parents. But earthly parents do realistically set the tone for our understanding of ourselves. Sometimes not for the better.

A simple and powerful meditation is the Higher Self through a Good Parent Meditation. See yourself as being seen and acknowledged by this truly loving, caring, and helpful parent/Parent. Then, whenever you connect to your Higher Self, you are also connecting to this higher Good Parent.

Good Parent Meditation (10 minutes)

  • Begin, as always, by clearing your mind and focusing on your breathing. This time, however, be sure to close your eyes.
  • Now image/visualize a person who most supported you, and truly cared about your well-being, even if briefly. They may have helped you during a difficult time in your life and made you feel truly loved. You grew better as a result.  [If no one, sadly ever fulfilled this purpose for you, imagine your Mother or Father as having all the good qualities you would expect from a parent].
  • Focus on this person or Being.
  • Internally repeat their name or write here if you wish:___________________________________________________
  • Now imagine that you are floating weightless, but safe in the darkness of outer space. You need no space suit. It is warm and dark and strangely beautiful, floating in all that darkness.
  • When you are ready, see that in the darkness a distant, bright light is floating like a star. Focus on this light. As you approach this light, you realize you are heading for the embrace of your Good Parent.
  • Notice, gently and happily, that this Parent is constant. He or she has been there forever, radiating love and kindness, but also strength and firmness. When this Parent sees you, he or she sees your goodness, and smiles; sees your flaws, but is patient and hopeful.
  • The light and love get stronger and stronger and stronger as you move closer. Love is taking up your entire heart.
  • You float completely bathed in the bright love. It is all around you. It is everywhere. You feel nothing but this bright love.
  • Feel the goodness of the love. Feel its tremendous purpose. Its strength. Its indestructibility. Its energy. Its wisdom. Its truth. Its guidance. Bathe in the joy of that pure goodness.
  • Now feel your Good Parent embrace you, and talk to you with wisdom and kindness. Your Good Parent says, ‘Thank you for being good, and kind.’ Feel the light and love from your Good Parent gently flow into you. The pure bright love slowly fills your head, your neck, your chest. It flows out along your arms, your hands, your fingers. Then down into your torso, your pelvis, your legs, your feet, your toes.
  • You are in the light; your body is filled with light; everything is light. You feel incredibly happy and strong. You feel indescribable joy because you are filled with the light and truth from your Good Parent.
  • Relax and just enjoy this moment. Give yourself over to it. Continue to breathe deeply.
  • When you are ready to finish your meditation, take a deep, cleansing breath, in and out. Sit for a time as you readjust to regular consciousness.

As you leave your meditation place, realize you are free to talk to your Good Parent anytime. Connect as often as you like. Every day if you wish. Who would not want to repeat this incredible experience?!