Autumn’s Edge 03: Finding Space (and Colours) In The “Chaos” Of Your Mind
In this episode, the host reflects on the experience of engaging in a 7-day meditation challenge, offering insights on the power of simple, short meditations and the universal struggle with meditation. The host shares personal experiences of how incorporating even brief, 1-minute meditations has led to greater consistency and depth in their practice. Drawing from the wisdom of Pema Chodron, the episode emphasizes that meditation is not about achieving perfection or escaping thoughts, but about creating space to witness the mind's activity without judgment. This process of noticing and allowing thoughts to come and go, the host suggests, is at the core of true meditation practice.
The host also shares the joy of community meditation sessions, expresses gratitude for a birthday gift, and looks forward to upcoming personal events and gatherings, including attending a retreat at Kripalu. The episode closes with words of encouragement, reminding listeners that meditation is a revolutionary practice that allows us to hold space for our thoughts, feelings, and deeper emotions, such as grief and pain.
Key Points:
Meditation Challenge: The host invites listeners to join a 7-day meditation challenge, noting that even 1-minute meditations can be transformative.
Personal Practice: The host shares their own experiences with daily meditation, affirming that small practices lead to larger shifts.
Pema Chodron's Wisdom: Meditation is about creating space to undo self-deception, allowing thoughts and emotions to flow without grasping or rejecting.
Universal Experience: Struggling with thoughts during meditation is normal, and noticing them is a sign of progress.
The Revolutionary Nature of Meditation: Meditation provides a home for all emotions, including grief, pain, and joy, allowing for deep healing and transformation.
Community and Connection: The host expresses excitement about upcoming events, including a retreat at Kripalu, and shares the importance of meditating in community.
Final Takeaway:
Meditation is not about achieving tranquility or perfection, but about creating space to observe the mind’s natural flow without judgment. By embracing this practice, we cultivate awareness, compassion, and the ability to hold space for all aspects of our human experience, leading to deep inner transformation.
TRANSCRIPT
How are the colors of your autumn's edge? Just popping in here to remind you, we're doing a 7 day meditation challenge. And if you're starting on day 1, even better. You can start right now and you can backtrack from Autumn's Edge episodes previous to this one and jump in. Today's Wednesday, October 2nd in real time.
And I wanted to check-in with words and tell you a little bit about the last almost week of me dropping into the various suggestions I've been offering you. I do have built into my schedule and my day and my viral mindfulness offerings, meditations, whether I'm in a wide circle with paid students or I'm meeting up with sobriety support friends or spiritual siblings, we will sit for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes together on Zoom as we begin and practice meditation. I also have my own practice, and I am happy to report that since I started last week, just a few days ago, doing these one minute meditations, it has created a space within me to do several throughout the day and to even sit for longer 20 minute meditations, 10 minute meditations. So I think it's really awesome. That was my hunch That if I chunked it way down and just got moving, so much of getting ready to do a 1 minute meditation is very, very similar, if not the same as doing a 10 minute meditation.
All of the the thoughts, all of the body memory, all of you getting ready to sit and then sitting for 1 minute versus 10 minutes is all of that same goodness and juice. So how are things going for you out there if you are doing this 7 day simple meditation challenge? And if you're not, that's just great. Know that these resources live here on the podcast feed. They are always available to you.
I have a couple more episodes coming to you from Autumn's Edge. And I wanted to share one thought that I learned this week listening to an interview about meditation, and I wanted to share a few words from Pema Chodron. Often, you might say, you're saying, you have said, I'm not doing this right. There must be something wrong with me. This should be so much easier.
How do you meditate? What is the right way to meditate? And so many of us, even myself still, can have those thoughts show up. I will say after a couple decades that those ones do show up less now. So here is a really beautiful idea.
The idea is is that your mind, your wild mind is a technology all of on its own. A very old ancient sacred spiritual human technology that has been on this planet since humans started on planet earth. And that it's nothing personal. You are just like the billions of other humans, the multitudes, the infinite humans that have graced planet earth. The mind thinks the mind does this.
And so you are nothing special, no offense. You are amazing. You are not unique on this topic. This is what brain mind waves do, the mind, the wild mind. And so if you're having those thoughts, if you're saying, oh my gosh, I'm not doing this right.
Wait. If you're obsessing about finding the right technique, did you hear that ding? So I have this wind chime that's sitting right up here underneath the ceiling fan. I've attached it to a hook and it hangs right in the center of the ceiling fan. Ready?
It was a gift from Harvey and her dad's for my birthday this year. And it's a really beautiful little wind chime with a tree on the top and a green beautiful crystal hanging from the center. So you're saying I'm not doing this right, I need to learn the right thing. You're obsessing about learning the right mode, the right teacher. Also, you're noticing it's uncomfortable, your mind, the thoughts are just constant in chatter.
So the very fact that you are noticing this means you're doing great. Let me ring the bell for you. You are on the right track, my dear Soul Sibling. The fact that you're noticing all of this means it's working. You are doing it.
See, we sit and we practice to notice and create space and distance from our thinking, from the thoughts. And as we consistently build this muscle, build this bicep, tricep, calf, your buttocks. As you build your buttocks, your glutes, you're building a muscle that then can be used off the mat when you're living your life, and you're in a situation, you're relating to people and your kids or your partner or your work person. And suddenly, you have a little more space as you're about to react, as you're suddenly driving through the conscious conditioning, the programming, the software, and you suddenly have a moment of, wait. Oh.
So the fact that you're noticing and able to articulate this means you are doing it, my dear. You're doing it. This is the work. Stay with it. All important, beautiful, meaningful things take time.
Repetition, practice. I'm holding in my hand these little heart rocks. They're actually not rocks. They're pieces of art that have been engineered in the shape of pebbles, but on the front side is a very clear ceramic heart with colors. So I'm holding in my palms, your heart, your intention for practice.
You can do this. You are doing it. So we have another day, technically, in real time. But as we know, all of these digital offerings live eternally on the Internet, on the podcast feed. So I will post, a couple other resources for guided meditation practice, and I'll continue to serve on the runway of Fall and Autumn's Edge several additional podcasts as I make my way to the East Coast.
And I do believe I'm gonna see a few of you, soul siblings, in person at Laura McCowan's retreat at Kripalu, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Can't wait for that. Thank you for being here. Thank you for practicing. And, oh, Pema Chodron, let's finish with Pema.
She has inspired these short meditations about touching the present moment. So she says, meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquility, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply, and I'll add, powerful, potent, revolutionary. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self deception, our hidden fears and hopes, and truly so many other things like your grief. I feel like sitting in practice, holding steady, holding your post, holding the meditation seat is a revolutionary way to allow for all of your thoughts, your feelings, your experiences, your grief, your loss, your pain, to have a home to come home to maybe for the first time.
And the final one here is from Pema. When we sit down to medicate, medicate. When we sit down to medicate, meditate, we connect with something unconditional. A state of mind, a basic environment that does not grasp or reject anything. See, and then there there's that in another beautiful prose.
It's a state of mind and your basic environment is you're not grasping now or rejecting, you're allowing them to flow. And they move fast people, those thoughts, the sensations of the body. Meditation going on, Pema Chodron, meditation is probably the only activity that doesn't add anything to the picture. Everything is allowed to come and go without further embellishment. Meditation is a totally non violent, non aggressive occupation.
Not filling the space, allowing for the possibility of connecting with unconditional openness. This provides the basis for real change. From my hearts in palm and my heart towards your being. May you be gentle. May you be easy.
May you be at ease in both body and mind.
