This weeks health tip comes direct to you from Mary Kilmer from the Nataraja Meditation & Yoga Center. She will be one of our many great presenters we have lined up for Discover Wellness Month. If you would like to know more about how to incorporate meditation and other healthy habits into your life, join us on Healthy Habits Day happening Tuesday, September 18th at 6:00 PM. You can RSVP for the healthy habits workshop by calling 858-558-0057 or register on line.
Also, if you desire to be well, you should determine whether spinal problems could be contributing to your health. If you’ve never had a spinal check-up, don’t miss out on a chance to receive a free Chiropractic Wellness exam on Discover Wellness Day (September 18th). Call 858-558-0057 to sign up today.
When the Doctors at IHD suggested I write a heath tip in advance of Healthy Habits Day, I asked myself, “What is the healthy habit that encompasses all the others?” The Answer? Attending to Yourself; being in relationship with yourself. I have learned this from my Meditation Teacher, Dr. Erhard Vogel.
Much of the time we are stressed out, out of sorts, feeling ignored or unappreciated. We tend to blame our boss, mate, child or life itself for treating us badly. However, even when things seem ideal, you can still feel deprived. How is that possible?
We lack relationship with ourselves. As long as that is the case, little of the positive attention and love we are offered can get through to us.
Many of us recognize that taking time for ourselves is important. But what can we do in the precious time we carve out to actually give ourselves what we need most? Does taking a bath, a walk, a run or painting – if those are things we enjoy – truly fill our need or calm our turmoil? Temporarily at best.
We deserve to feel the way we do in our favorite activities, all the time. However, we tend to make two mistakes: we confuse temporary pleasure with real satisfaction, and we credit the activities themselves for the enjoyment we experience.
In reality, the deepest pleasure we experience occurs because, for those moments, we are in relationship with ourselves. Our real Self is coming through, and that experience is pure – and potentially lasting – pleasure. Those are the moments of life that stay with us, that inspire us and that we long to be in all the time. And we can.
How would it effect your life if you began your day by placing your mind, feelings, body, senses, and everything else about you into a state that is balanced, energized and relaxed, in which you experience clarity, ease and connection as you move from task to task, and in which you feel fully involved and yet not dependent upon what takes place?
That is one way of describing meditation. I have been immensely fortunate to learn from Dr. Vogel. Erhard. He is one of the extremely rare teachers in the world who live fully in meditation, and actually teach the fundamentals by which anyone can succeed with meditation. I have talked to many people who have not been so fortunate, and have given up in frustration that their mind just would not be still or that meditation just isn’t for them. With a real teacher and even a modest amount of regular practice, anyone can succeed with meditation and enjoy significant benefit to their life.
When people in our classes at Nataraja Meditation & Yoga Center ask, “How often should I meditate?” my teacher says, “Once a day, all day long.” And he means it, because we are capable of that. He does not mean to sit with eyes shut the whole day, but to be dynamically, calmly, enjoyably and skillfully in relationship with your real Self as you go through each day. When you do that, you gain real understanding of and successful relationship with everyone and everything else.
P.S.: If you are ready to make a change in different areas of your health and well-being, then RSVP for some of the many great seminars and fun activities we have planned for the community during the month of September. The Doctors at IHD have teamed up with other wellness professionals (life coach, meditation and yoga instruction, and even a professional chef) to participate in a national campaign called Discover Wellness Month throughout September. The aim of this campaign is to help people to reduce their healthcare cost through effective tools and strategies towards living a higher quality of life. Check out a description of the events we have planned and see which events you would like to attend.