Meditation with Stephanie

I love the word "ease." I am aware I use it often in my teachings, but that's because the word ease somehow invites ease into the body/mind!!! 

Anywho, this practice is for those who seem to feel tension in their being and require a little assistance when it comes to relaxing. The first step to softening is to bring awareness to the areas of tension in the first place. I invite you to be open, and to address your tensions with a kind heart. We all have them. 

Namaste and see you soon <3

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Your body can tell you so much about your inner world. While it's important to listen to those contractions, we must also consistently check in with our bodies. When left unchecked, we lose the connection with our bodies and all that accumulated tension gets buried and pushed down. And we all know what happens when too much pressure builds with no outlet right?

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You may be familiar with using hand mudras from your yoga practice, but did you know that according to yogic tradition, mudras help balance the elemental energies in our bodies and minds? Mudra means "gesture" in sanskrit, and while we can use mudras with our whole bodies (as illustrated in prostration), most often we use mudras with our hands. When we connect the mudras we use in accordance to the breath, we feel more at ease, not to mention our quality of presence is heightened.

In this meditation, we use the 3 compartments of each finger (Top, middle and bottom) to assign each breath to. We start with thumb to pinky on the right hand, and after 3 breaths assigned to the pinky finger, we move onto the fourth finger (3 breaths), then middle finger (3 breaths), and so on before moving onto the left hand.

Enjoy this special practice!

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Assigning a value to the compartments of the breath can be so useful for instilling focus in our practice. For example, counting numbers as you breathe (inhale "1", exhale "1", inhale "2", exhale "2" and so forth), or assigning a phrase with each in-breath and out-breath as we did in this practice, we allow the mind to still be in thought, but with an intention behind it. Depending on each day, we decide to label the breath in different ways. In this particular meditation, we use the words "calm" and "ease" to not only soothe our minds, but also allow the level of attending to be more potent. 

Enjoy this soothing, relaxing practice! 

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We all have our Gratitude Journals. Or our 5-Minute Journals that ask us to write the three things today that we are grateful for. It's a powerful practice that is proven to increase our happiness levels and generally allows us to move through life with more appreciation. Not to mention it allows for a little positivity to enter our hearts, especially during a time where I would say negativity pervades the hearts and minds of most people. As Singapore goes into yet another Heightened Alert phase, we need to cultivate and really FEEL gratitude by bringing to mind the people/things/circumstances that make us so lucky. To acknowledge that for every yucky situation we have 100 blessings. Enjoy!

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Ahhhh the power of a smile. When you really find stillness, and feel the effects of an intentional smile, you cannot deny it's power. I often close my yoga practice with an image of a smile across the heart and even belly. This meditation was inspired by my teacher Tara Brach, who herself was inspired by the teaching of Thich Naht Hanh. He quotes: "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."

It's true, we smile when we are happy, yes. But when we aren't feeling so snazzy we can use a smile/imagining an image of a smile to make ourselves feel a bit better. 

This meditation is for you if you wish for a little more joy in your being. Sit back, relax, and enjoy :)

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"Energy flows to where attention goes." A now overused expression but one that still holds so much truth. When we scan through the body, the attention we bring to that body part coupled with our intention to let go allows us to relax. You'll realise just how much tension you hold in your body on the most subtle of levels! 

We live in a society so consumed in our heads that we often forget to ground ourselves by coming into the body. Do your basic stretches to become limber and loose in the body before we begin, and enjoy a grounding, nourishing body scan.

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I believe these three words can be important when we are caught in a state of reactivity, or as I describe in the recording, "when the inner demon comes out." How many times have you blurted something out with the intention to hurt someone? With the need to blame others? This defense mechanism we all possess seems to be universal, and often times can cause so much pain and suffering to not only another person, but inevitably ourselves. 

This meditation asks that we take a moment to settle, so that we can detect sensations and movement that are there. We move from inner observation, to an outer observation of our environment. You should leave feeling rejuvenated, and ready to tackle your day.

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This meditation was tough to share. A bit delayed in the upload, I shared this meditation when the Afghanistan situation was at the peak of its flurry. The whole world seemed to be bleeding. I don't share this meditation often, but it seemed a fitting one to help cultivate selfless compassion and to give back to the world with heartfelt intention. Tonglen means "taking and giving," where we inhale the dark smoke of suffering, and exhale a weightless white light back to the object in our mind that requires care. While we should of course contribute to the cause and donate where we can, we can also give back to the world through our good intentions. 

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It's been a while since I've shared RAIN, but it is one of the practices I confide in regularly for when I encounter difficult moments in my life. Whether you are feeling "stuck" in a work or personal relationship, be it through communication issues or other, RAIN is a great technique to help transform the attitude of stuckness into one that feels more forgiving and understanding. 

I remind you again that this is not a practice to unearth pre-existing traumas, or ones that generate intense emotion. Instead, we scan our life to notice the triggers that are there, and work to unravel those sticky situations. 

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