A Mind Under Wraps
My dog Suzie Taylor is not having the best week. Her left ear was just drained for the fourth time in under a month because of a recurring hematoma (likely caused by itching due to seasonal allergies), and as I write this, she is beside me wearing not one or two but three headbands plus a cone trying to keep her ear flattened against her head. A few sleepless nights ago, she wriggled out of her headgear, and I rewrapped it. She wriggled out; I rewrapped. On and on it went.
In the midst of this, at around 3 a.m., I randomly hit play to one of my mom's unlabeled meditation files, and in a lovely synchronicity, it was about one-pointed focus. Suzie Taylor and I were engaged in the same power struggle that the mind so often experiences with itself in meditation. We try to keep our thoughts under wraps, only for them to pop right out again. Canine ailments aside, this is a season when I'm bombarded with end-of-school year and summer logistics, and it feels hard to stay focused on anything. Which is all the more reason to show up and practice. Today, day four of our back and forth, Suzie Taylor is a bit more comfortable in her headgear than she was earlier in the week, still squirmy but more subdued.
This month you'll find added to the Right Side Up library the file I've retitled MEDITATION One-Pointed Focus. (Free access here.) It is 11 minutes and involves focusing on the space between the eyebrows, the sixth chakra, or intuition center. I hope you enjoy.
Read on for more about chakra balancing. But first: If you haven't already seen the essay I wrote for Business Insider about how I make the best of a painful anniversary each Mother's Day, please check it out.
Whatever your life holds, may you get outside, take a breath and enjoy the transition from spring to summer. Unless, like Suzie Taylor, you too have allergies, in which case I wish you soothing inhales and exhales as you look out a window.
Love,
Sara
A cheat sheet to balancing your energy
I've long been fascinated with the chakras and wanted to share this little primer that I wrote to identifying and working with energetic imbalances. I especially find it useful to recognize where in your life and body there are energetic excesses or deficiencies. Notice the patterns both in yourself and the people around you.
First chakra: all about safety
Location: base of spine
Excess: hoarding, overeating
Deficient: emaciated, trouble focusing, anxious
Balancing exercises: squats, leg strength training, standing barefoot in grass, foot massage
Second chakra: all about pleasure
Location: sacrum
Excess: too much partying, not taking responsibility
Deficient: can’t enjoy life
Balancing exercises: hip circles, dancing
Third chakra: all about power
Location: solar plexus
Excess: ego-centric and power-hungry
Deficient: afraid to step into power
Balancing exercises: core work (to build), guided relaxation (to ease up and be led)
Fourth chakra: all about love
Location: heart
Excess: clingy, can’t be alone
Deficient: heart closed, not letting others in
Balancing exercises: gentle backbends like cobra
Fifth chakra: all about voice
Location: throat
Excess: too much talking
Deficient: too quiet
Balancing exercises: fish pose (to open the channel), plow pose (to quiet down)
Sixth chakra: all about intuition
Location: third eye
Excess: obsession, delusion
Deficient: not listening to your gut
Balancing exercises: alternate nostril breathing, artistic expression
Seventh chakra: all about consciousness
Location: crown of the head
Excess: out of touch with reality
Deficient: stuck in behavioral patterns
Balancing exercises: meditation, mindful walking, breath observation