Storm Alfred descended upon us over a week ago and left most of us powerless, literally and figuratively, for over a week with many of our beautiful autumnal trees fallen or dismembered.  For that reason, I did not have access to this blog, and I assume many who view it also did not have access.  But I am back in the saddle again... YAY!!!
The second class for the meditation series has been rescheduled to this Friday, 11/11/11 at 6-7:30pm.  The evening will begin with sharing of experiences with meditation.  We will then do some restorative yoga poses followed by Yoga Nidra (a guided meditation).
Even if you did not register for the meditation challenge, you are welcome to join the class this Friday for the Yoga Nidra.  Please let me know if you are interested in joining the group.
Keep meditating, and remember to breathe...
:-)

Most days I can sit calmly while I meditate, but other days, I either feel physically or mentally agitated.  I keep going back to it, hoping that at some point I won't feel that way. 

But I know that challenges will always surface, so I am learning to be calm in the midst of the storm, like the eye of a hurricane.  But I have a sneaking suspicion it may take years and years before I am there 100% of the time. 

We are more than half way through the 21 days!!  Hope it is working well for each of you.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me either by posting a comment here, or sending me an email.  :-)

When we meditate regularly, we begin to move away from fear and into a loving place, a sometimes vulnerable place.  One of my dearest friends recently sent me a link to a great video on vulnerability.  It starts off a little slow, but it has a very poignant message.  Copy and paste the following line into your browser so you can view it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

And let me know what you think.  :-)

I am really relieved that I meditated this morning.  I may have mentioned that my car broke down last week.  Today I got the phone call from the repair shop saying the cost to repair it is almost the same as what the car is worth. 
So guess who is now scoping out cars?  But I do truly believe I am handling this whole car situation much better than I would have if I hadn't meditated.  It doesn't hurt that I am getting input from both my beau and my brother as well.  :-)

I taught at a retreat yesterday and didn't get a chance to write on the blog until now.  My apologies.  I really appreciate those of you who have been touching base with me, letting me know how you are doing.  I think of you every day and hope that you are able to do what you can each day.  Feel free to write here or contact me directly if you need to reach me.
Thank you!!

I hope each of you has been having success with your meditation.  Thank you Karen and Liz for sharing your experiences.  Karen, I will try to email you again... I hope I have the correct email... If you don't get anything from me, then please email me directly at info@journeyofyoga.com so I have your email, and I will resend what I sent out last Saturday.
The universe put me to the test with a challenge this week... my car broke down on Wednesday night (after my last class was over and I was heading to pick up my son).  I was amazed at how calm I remained during the entire process... even the next day when I spoke with the repair shop and was informed that it was probably the timing belt (not inexpensive to repair), but that it might have also damaged the engine (what the ??), and then I was informed I should just rent a car because they would have my car for at least a week.  Oh, man.  Okay, it isn't the end of the world.  Things could be much, much worse.
If any of you had known me before I meditated regularly, you would know that I would have had a much, much different reaction to the situation... a very pitta reaction...  I'm just sayin'... :-)

Hope this is going well for you at the end of week one!!  I have received very few questions/comments so I hope that means it is working for each of you.  If not, feel free to blog here or email me. 

I awakened this morning to meditate and afterwards went back to bed for another hour of shut-eye... Anyone do that yet?

Also, wanted to let you know that if you comment here, it won't show up until I log in as Administrator and approve it.  Just a rule with blogs I guess, in case one of you says something really mean or crude.  :-)  But I know you wouldn't do that because you are meditating and dealing with stress very well these days, yes?   

Here is a great quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh that might be meaningful to you as you are embarking on this journey...
"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient.  To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith.  Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches.  Patience and faith.  One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea."

I put the title of today's entry but couldn't figure out how to modify the body of the blog from my iPhone when I added it this morning.  Anyway, I hope meditation is working for each of you.  If it isn't, please let me know so I can help you.  :-)

It's Day 3 and hopefully you are still feeling the excitement of trying something new to change your life for the better.  Days 4 through 6 may prove to be more challenging for many of you but perhaps you can think of it as "just for today" when you are taking five minutes of time for yourself. 

Just for today I will sit quietly and meditate for five minutes so I can begin to feel better.  Just for today I will sit quietly and meditate because if I don't take care of my own needs, I can't take care of anyone else.  Just for today I will sit quietly and meditate because nobody is going to tell me to take time for myself... I know intuitively that I need to do it for myself.  

While meditating this morning, I was thinking of each of the others in our little group, hoping you were having a good experience.  I will try to post the header for each day earlier than I did today... probably the night before.  :-)

We had a great class this morning... everyone began their first day of the challenge.  I sent each of you via email my notes from the class.  If you didn't receive them, please let me know as I may not have your correct email address.

Please use this blog for the 21 Day Meditation Challenge.  Feel free to write your thoughts questions, comments, feedback, whatever here.  I will check it once a day. Happy Blogging!