Radiant Self-Care for Ease-full, Empowered and Awakened Living Radiant Self-Care Guide Session 1 Daily Strategies Supportive of Conscious Self-Care for Living in Balance 1. Meditation and Prayer Foundational Inner Stillness and Cultivating Presence, Truth and Connection to the Unitive Ground of Being. When you start your day with stillness and cultivate a connection to what you truly are, that growing and expansive clarity will stay with you throughout your day and become a reference point of truth for your choices and experiences. How do we cultivate stillness in our lives? Exploring what the most natural inward focusing technique is for you can be a life long journey. Let s share together on our Facebook group or online classroom journal the things we have found to be most useful. (Note: links and instructions provided in the learning portal). This can include breathing practices and prayers or other centering practices, beautiful guided meditations and visualizations or quotes or writings that inspire a deeper opening to stillness. Let s share and inspire each other to move more deeply into stillness on a daily basis. This is a profound gift we can give and receive as we start this journey towards Radiant Self-Care. I love this gem from Rumi... "When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside. Rumi On the next page you will find a description of meditation given by Adyashanti. It has served me on my journey towards stillness and I offer it with love and reverence. I look forward to receiving and exploring the things that have inspired you. 2013 Radiant Self- Care 1
True Meditation! by Adyashanti, adyashanti.org True meditation has no direction, goals, or method. All methods aim at achieving a certain state of mind. All states are limited, impermanent and conditioned. Fascination with states leads only to bondage and dependency. True meditation is abidance as primordial consciousness. True meditation appears in consciousness spontaneously when awareness is not fixated on objects of perception. When you first start to meditate, you notice that awareness is always focused on some object: on thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, memories, sounds, etc. This is because the mind is conditioned to focus and contract upon objects. Then the mind compulsively interprets what it is aware of (the object) in a mechanical and distorted way. It begins to draw conclusions and make assumptions according to past conditioning. In true meditation all objects are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to manipulate or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness (consciousness) is the source in which all objects arise and subside. As you gently relax into awareness, into listening, the mind s compulsive contraction around objects will fade. Silence of being will come more clearly into consciousness as a welcoming to rest and abide. An attitude of open receptivity, free of any goal or anticipation, will facilitate the presence of silence and stillness to be revealed as your natural condition. Silence and stillness are not states and therefore cannot be produced or created. Silence is the non-state in which all states arise and subside. Silence, stillness and awareness are not states and can never be perceived in their totality as objects. Silence is itself the eternal witness without form or attributes. As you rest more profoundly as the witness, all objects take on their natural functionality, and awareness becomes free of the mind s compulsive contractions and identifications. It returns to its natural non-state of Presence. The simple yet profound question Who Am I? can then reveal one s self not to be the endless tyranny of the ego-personality, but objectless Freedom of Being Primordial Consciousness in which all states and all objects come and go as manifestations of the Eternal Unborn Self that YOU ARE. 2013 Radiant Self- Care 2
2. Inspired Exercising and Movement. Daily exercise in some form is an essential part of your Radiant Self-Care. It doesn t really matter what form of exercise you choose. What is important is consistency and the attitude you bring to it. You body, mind and soul all benefit from daily exercise. Walking, running, swimming, stretching, yoga, Chi Gong.... anything that brings more awareness to your breathing and guides your attention to your body and its well-being. Cultivating flexibility, strength, agility, endurance and joy at any scale will enrich your live and is another essential ingredient in your Radiant Self-Care. If you don t yet have a regular exercise practice: Make a commitment to start one now. It can be simple to start.. all that is require is the choice to actually begin. Choose a time each day to engage in some sort of exercise. Perhaps before or after a morning prayer, stillness or journaling practice. Choose a time each day that fits best for your current life flow and your energy level. You may need to get up earlier to fit it in at first or shift something else you have a pattern of doing that isn t supporting your Radiant Self-Care. When you practice something each day at the same time you begin to create an inner willingness that begins to replace any resistance that might arise. To establish this natural self-discipline it may require some effort and conscious commitment initially, yet once you begin building this new daily pattern it will become much easier to stay consistent and you will find after awhile that it takes very little energy to maintain. Note: I have found personally with over 45 years of exploring this, that if you do it early in the day before the world distract you, you can create a continuity of practice more easily. If you have a daily exercise practice: Take a deep look at how it is serving you and make any adjustments or additions to bring it current. You can revive a long-standing practice by bringing greater awareness and joy into it. I love exercise and this is an attitude that I have cultivated consciously. Notice the attitude you bring to your exercise and experiment with it, learn what fuels and nourishes you the most. Let s also share about our daily exercise practices in our Facebook group or online classroom journal. We can continue to guide and inspire each other as we begin to create these foundational conditions for our Radiant Self-Care. Here are some questions we might contemplate, explore and share. 2013 Radiant Self- Care 3
If you currently engage in daily or regular exercise What form does it take? When do you do it? How does it make you feel? What are the benefits? Does it need some updating and new life? If you do not currently engage in a daily or regular practice Note: Don t waste any time judging yourself for not doing it and focus on putting in place what you need to begin. What kind of exercise appeals to you and would be easy to do right now? (Make it simple to start even 5-minutes each day can flower into something more). What obstacle(s) do you face in making some form of exercise part of your life? What kind of support do you feel you need to empower you to make daily exercise an essential part of your Radiant Self-Care. The more we can get current and transparent about our needs - with ourselves and others - the more energy is freed up to focus on generating solutions and baby steps. Self-judgment about what you haven t done is a distraction of the mind. Focus your energy and attention on creating time for stillness and regular exercise. Put these at the top of your priority list. These two simple ingredients consistently engaged in each day for even a short time will begin to change the quality of your life and create a solid foundation for your Radiant Self-Care. And don t forget our 3 Essential Keys and core Breathing Practice: H.E.R.E. - HEARTS EXPERIENCE RESONATES EASE <Inhale> Through inner stillness access connection to the heart s wisdom or the wisdom channel. Breathe into your Heart. L.O.V.E. LOVING OPENS VALUE EVERYWHERE <Hold Breathe> Expand love into yourself, allow, allow and be A lover of what is N.O.W. NON-OPPOSITION WINS <Exhale> Now is the moment of power. Letting everything to be as it is. 2013 Radiant Self- Care 4
Daily Rhythm The following is a Daily Rhythm practice written in the ancient Ayurvedic texts for how to lives our days. I have used these guidelines for 20 years with my self and clients. Try it for a week and see what happens... 1. Wake up before sunrise. 2. Evacuate the bowels completely. 3. Wash eyes, mouth, teeth, gums, face, and body, using neither very cold nor very hot water. Scrape the tongue; using a curved instrument such a tongue scraper or a spoon with no sharp edges, scrape off the chalky or mucus coating that accumulated during the night. 4. Meditate or do regular spiritual practices. Include breathing practices to enhance regulatory function and expand the life energy. 5. Rub the body with oil (or MSM lotion); rub the soles of the feet, forehead, and top of the head. Oil drops can also be applied into the ears and nose; and medicated oil and herbal gargles may be used. Medicated oil gum massages are also beneficial. 6. Exercise or do Chi Gong, yoga postures harmonizing body, breath, and mind. Partake of nature in the open air, experience sunlight, beauty. 7. Take a bath or shower 8. Eat breakfast with a peaceful mind. It is important to eat regular meals. "Eat light, eat less, eat pure and on time!" 9. Do worldly duties - engage in right livelihood. 10. Try to keep the mind positive in all actions throughout the day. Include humor and laughing, unstructured relaxation time, play, and self-respect. 11. Eat light food in the evening with a happy frame of mind, and at least two hours before going to bed. After the meal go for a short walk. 12. At night, wash, change clothes and say prayers or meditate. Go to bed by 10 p.m. It is important to get 6 regularly scheduled hours of deeply restful sleep per night. 2013 Radiant Self- Care 5
2013 Radiant Self- Care 6