Whose is the face of Meditation Oasis?

When we were looking for an icon for our Meditation Oasis podcast in the fall of 2006, we kept coming back to the face which not only became our icon, but part of our website banner. We found the picture in an image library of software we were using. The expression is so compelling. It captures meditation so perfectly. None of the other images we considered came close to the power of this image. It's intriguing to think about how once upon a time a young woman posed for a photo, and the picture ended up in an image library and then became the now familiar face associated with Meditation Oasis. Who is the woman who posed? Who took her picture? What was the intention of the picture? How did it end up in the image library?

Just recently someone on Facebook asked if the woman in the picture is me. When we chose the photo, we realized that some people might think that, but decided it didn't matter. It was the expression, the feeling of the picture that mattered, not the features of the face. And besides, we have never wanted to put a lot of attention on ourselves as individuals. What we are interested in is an inner experience, a universal human experience. We are also most interested in YOUR experience, in your discovery through meditation.

Whose is the face of Meditation Oasis? The face of Meditation Oasis is all of us. The icon could easily be a picture of any one of us deep in meditation. The picture could easily be you. When we are at peace, it shines through. No matter how we look, when a person is at peace, that is what everyone sees. It's unmistakable. It's a gift to everyone around. We are thankful for the gift of this photo that came in such a serendipitous way. It's been a gift to all of us who feel the peace that comes through the image.

Sleep Meditation for Children

Getting me to bed was a long routine for my mother. She'd have me all tucked in and start to leave my room and then I'd say, "Mommy, I want some water". Off she'd go for water, and once I'd had that, she'd be on her way again. My next ploy for keeping her near was -- "leave a crack in the door". She'd leave the door a little open and I'd say "bigger", and she'd open it a bit further and start to step away. "It's too big, make it smaller", I'd say. You can see where this is going! I'm not sure how she would finally make an exit, but I do remember what was going on inside me. I was anxious! I haven't thought about this for years, not until I started recording this new podcast (Sleep Meditation for Children). I wanted to go back and remember and get into my child world. What would have helped me if I could have had a guided meditation back then? I tried to speak to the child that I was, and this new podcast offering is what resulted. It is designed to help a child settle into bed and relax into sleep. For children who are fearful at bedtime, there is an added element of a "make believe friend" to help them feel reassured.

Please listen to the meditation first and see if you feel it will be suitable for your child. It's for fairly young children. I'm sure you'll check to see if your child liked it after the first time they hear it, and see if he or she has a question about what something means. Like all guided meditations, this will work for some and not others. I do hope, though, that it will send lots of children off to sleepyland feeling relaxed, safe and loved.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with it here. And it's fine if you use it as an adult. We've all still got the child we were within us!

Guided Meditation for Anger

Is anger a difficult emotion for you? If yes, why? In my family, anger simply wasn't expressed. Being angry wasn't allowed, the obvious conclusion being that it was a bad thing to feel. I wasn't a child who could say "I hate you mommy!", a perfectly normal thing for a young child to say. It's taken a long, long time for me to find a healthy relationship with anger.

For others, the challenge with anger may be a different one, but I've had so many requests for a meditation for anger, that I know it's a challenge for many people. I do hope this latest podcast meditation will help with some of the issues with anger, and would love to hear about your experience with it. I've thought about some reasons why anger can be so challenging and am sharing some of my thoughts as a background for the meditation.

Anger can be a very useful emotion. It can show us where we need to take action and gives us energy to do so. If the barking of a neighborhood dog or someone's loud music is disturbing your sleep night after night, anger is a natural response. As part of the fight of flight response, it gets you to take action. Hopefully you can find a constructive way to confront the situation and resolve it.

Like every emotion anger is a natural flow of life energy. When allowed to flow freely, it passes through us. All too often, however, anger gets suppressed and doesn't get released. That energy will then express itself in other ways, or lead to chronically tight muscles and other problems. What you resist persists, and suppressing anger actually keeps it around.

Another way of keeping anger going is to hold onto it by running stories in our minds about whatever it is that makes us angry. We may play something that happened over and over in our minds, thus extending the anger and not allowing it to resolve. Both strategies, suppressing anger and getting mentally involved with it, can cause it to continue longer than it needs to. It's the ability to allow the anger to be felt fully that allows it to release.

Why would we hang onto anger? Sometimes anger is a reaction to another emotion, and covers up the original emotion. For example, if you feel hurt by someone, it may seem easier to feel the anger than the hurt. But unless you feel the underlying hurt, the anger will never resolve.

Anger can be difficult when it is accompanied by destructive thoughts. The thoughts themselves may seem unacceptable, or there may be a fear that they will be translated into action. The more we can feel the anger fully and allow whatever thought comes to come, the more choice we actually have about when and how to act. The ability to stay centered in ourselves as the observer of our anger gives us greater mastery over our behavior.

When to get help: Sometimes, of course, it's important to get help with anger. If we are very angry a lot of the time or angry way out of proportion to the situation, counseling can help us work on unresolved issues causing the anger. And certainly if our expression of anger is interfering with our relationships, daily functioning or is destructive to others, professional help is needed.

I'd love to hear from you about your experiences with anger and what you've learned. I'd also love to hear about your experiences with this meditation.

Labyrinth Walking Meditation

Walking a labyrinth can be a profound experience. In our town, we have a simple labyrinth, marked on the earth with stones in a circle of redwoods. I love to walk it, using it as a moving meditation. There are many ways to walk a labyrinth. You can find very specific instructions for what to do as you walk one - even eHow has a page on how to walk one.

I like to approach labyrinth walking more casually, without a set procedure. Sometimes I set an intention, but more often I simply start to walk and see what experiences it brings. It always takes me out of linearity. We are so accustomed to seeing life - our hours, days, years - as a line that progresses from one place to another. The latter place is usually a goal. We try to find the straightest way to the goal. We measure the distance in our minds. If it's a car trip, we watch our progress on a map. But getting to the center of a labyrinth is like the "long and winding road". You come closer to the center and your mind may start to try to measure how close you are to the "end". Just then, you find yourself taking a turn that leads you back out toward the edge.

For me, the labyrinth mirrors life, which isn't really linear. Walking it is a great way to relax into the twists and turns of life, to let go of the constant focus on future goals and the tendency to try to see how everything leads to something else. It's a way of being in the Now. Martha Cuffy, who is seen in the photo walking a labyrinth with friends, expressed similar sentiments in a lovely post with a perfect title - Walk your Life in a Labyrinth.

I was inspired to write this post by Eleanor, a seminary student in Hong Kong, who left a beautiful comment on the website about her experience walking the labyrinth. It's moving and inspiring to read how she uses her walk in the labyrinth to process emotions and gain insights into herself and her life. She has quite an inner journey, and comes out of it with beautiful observations on the nature of silence. This is a beautiful example of the power of walking the labyrinth. Not every walk will be this profound - one needs to let go of expectations and see what special gifts the labyrinth holds each time it is walked.

Have you walked a labyrinth? What was the experience like for you?

Present Moment Awareness Meditation

"Present moment awareness" isn't something that can be captured in words. It is a holistic awareness of "what is". This short meditation is an opportunity to explore what is "here and now". This is a more advanced meditation in that the instructions are very subtle. The words I say in meditations are never meant as instructions to be followed precisely, and that is even more true for this meditation. Since there's so much interest in the idea of the "present moment", it might be easy to get caught up in concepts about it and what it is. Any idea we have about the present moment, however, is not what it is. As you listen to this meditation, listen easily. Treat it more like poetry than prose, allowing it to reveal something to you that can't be named. Let go of the need to understand!

We'd love to hear your experiences with this meditation!