Meditation - Day 28

Monday was a day of meditation experimentation. Because I've been doing yoga for a few years and each meditation experience, prior to my experiment, was done in a yoga class, I've always meditated with my eyes closed. Yesterday, I tried meditating with my eyes open, a soft gaze.

My experience Monday: I sat in my yoga space, in the early afternoon, knowing I had to get my meditation in before heading to my eye Dr. Appt and before the baseball game I was going to with a friend. I had read a few nights before that you could meditate with your eyes open, a soft gaze on something. I set myself up gazing into the garden, gently watching the bees flit about and the breeze blow the leaves. I found that I only had my eyes open about 50% of the time during my 8 minute meditation. I was able to be present, even while looking at something else. I was acutely aware of my surroundings, the temperature, the breeze from the ceiling fan, and the hardness of the floor beneath me. I was quite refreshed after 8 minutes.

Lessons learned: It was nice having something to gaze upon. It gave me something to contemplate without deep thought and kept some of the other normal thoughts out of my mind. I will definitely try this again, I think the key for me is to have the "something" that I gaze upon be outdoors as I truly enjoy nature. I don't think staring at a wall would be nearly as lovely.

-Desk Dwelling Yogi