My River/My Journey

My River/My Journey
Dreams

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Getting Rid of Monkey Chatter and Relaxing the Brain

During the months of March/April, 2011 I taught the course, "Meditation For The Rest of Us," at Rivier College in the RISE program www.rivier.edu/rise.  RISE is an abbreviation for Rivier Institute for Senior Education. My intention in giving the 5 week course was to introduce people to a few different meditation modalities.

Often I find that people get discouraged because they can't seem to focus and get the "monkey chatter" out of their heads while they try to meditate.  "Monkey Chatter" is the constant dialog that goes on in our heads that is very distracting when we just want to sit and be still.  So, what do you do?  Breathe in - slowly. Breathe out - slowly. Just Breathe. And Sit.  When your mind starts chattering again, come back to your breath.  Breathe in, Breathe out.  Sit. Let you hands relax.

OK, so you have more "Monkey Chatter." Come back to the breath. Feel your nose breathing in air, and letting it go.  Nothing else exists but the nose on your face.  When you get a "Monkey Chatter" thought, look at the thought, then let it go, come back to your nose.  Breathe in, Breathe out.

As you Breathe In scrunch up your toes, and let them go lax as you Breathe Out.  Now scruntch up your calf muscles on the intake, let go and relax on the out breath.  Scruntch up your thighs on the intake, relax on the out breath. Do the same for your pelvis, belly, chest, arms, neck, face, and top of head.  As you relax your head after scrunching up your brow, relax it on the out-breath.  Feel your body getting heavier and heavier, until you have no body, but a relaxed heavy weight that feels like it'll slip into the floor.

Breathe In and Breathe Out.  Every thought, look at it, let it go of the Monkey, get a heavier body, Breathe Out, relax even more until you feel like you are slightly floating.  Breathe In and Breathe Out until you feel very comfortable,  so relaxed, so good - and then, when you want to come back to the moment, scrunch all the parts of your body again, breathing in and out slowly, as you come back into your body and reality.

Keep remembering how it felt to be relaxed and in the moment with breath and body relaxed as you go through your day.  When things get crazy, take a moment, close your eyes,  relive the moment of relaxation, let your breath out, relax,. Now you are ready to take up the challenge in front of you as you hold the quiet moment from meditation within you.  Stop being nervous, yelling, arguing, moving, going around in circles -
Stop, Breathe In, Breathe Out, Remember the moment your body was the heaviest.  Keep coming back to that moment until you Relax, Breathe, Now go on with your life - calmly.

Every time you think you are going to lose it - Breathe In, Breathe Out and remember the moment of relaxation. That is the key. Your brain will hold onto that moment, your body will relax with the thought.of stillness and spirit will help you heal, for the moment.

Look at the picture.  This is a peaceful scene from Capri in Italy I took recently overlooking the bay.  If it helps, put this picture in your head, or some other picture that is relaxful.  Every time you think you are losing it, remember the picture. Breathe In the peacefulness of the picture, and Breathe Out any aggravation.  Keep breathing and remembering until you are as calm as the picture.  Now - continue with your day. Calmly.