Meditation reduces stress, helps put your thoughts in order, restores energy, and connects you to your higher intentions. The benefits of meditation can be felt in as little as five minutes but for the best results try to set aside thirty minutes to an hour for this practice.
Find a quiet place where you can practice undisturbed, somewhere that you can relax. If you would like, stage the meditation area a little. Straighten up, light a candle, whatever you feel will make the space special.
Lets begin...
Sit or stand in a comfortable position on the inside of your hoop. Close your eyes and breath through your nose.
Bring your attention to your breath. Not to change it. Just to observe it.
Make the decision right now to focus fully on your breath.
When your thoughts wander, which they will, gently re-direct them back to your breath.
Over and over again.
Feel the coolness of the air as it enters your nose, flows down your throat, and fills your lungs.
Feel the warmth of the breath as it leaves.
Listen to the rhythm of your breath, how long it takes. Is it smooth and strong, or broken?
What part of your lungs are receiving the breath? Do you feel the upper lungs filling? Maybe you feel the breath
draw all the way down into the belly?
Now a simple breathing practice; Three part breathing.
Inhale one third of your breath into your abdomen feeling it rise.
Pause and hold.
Continue the next third of the breath by drawing air into your rib cage expanding the ribs out in all four directions.
Pause and hold.
Draw the last third of your breath into the clavicle area/ the upper lobes of your lungs until you are completely full of air..
Pause and hold. RELAX around the sensation of being full. Relax your face, your neck, and your shoulders. FEEL the muscles between your ribs stretching, increasing your lung capacity.
Exhale slowly and evenly.
First from the top of the chest.
Continue to empty the chest feeling the ribs draw back together.
Finally feeling the lower lobes of the lungs empty as the belly button draws inwards and up towards the spine.
Exhale completely, push the remainder of the air out of your lungs.
Pause and hold. RELAX around the sensation of being empty.
Continue this practice for at least three more rounds.
YOUR LIFE BREATH. CONSIDER THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BREATHING. IF YOU WERE UNDER WATER, IT WOULD REALLY MATTER TO YOU.
At the end of your last round, let the practice drop off.
Just observe the natural rhythm of your breath without trying to control it.
( At this point in the practice, whether you keep your eyes closed or open, but focused on the hoop. is up to you. )
Begin to hoop, Something simple...
Next, bring your attention to your senses. Taste, Touch, Feel, Hear, and See. Picture your senses as mirrors, a
way to perceive the wold around you.
Take these mirrors and turn them inward.
Allow the hoop to be included, as an extension of yourself.
As the mirrors (senses) turn inward you will Taste, Touch, Feel, Hear, and See what is inside YOU. Set an intention for your practice...
It could be anything... A good example is to focus on LOVE..... When you inhale, imagine the qualities
associated with receiving love.... When you exhale, focus on the qualities of giving or being love, etc.
Continue the breath/intention practice.
Allow yourself to be completely present with the practice.
Again, each time your mind wanders, return you're attention to your breath. Continue to link your intention to
the natural rhythm of your breath.
Feel the movement of the hoop against your body and freely follow the directions of the hoop.
Notice how the breath supports your movements.
As you inhale, the breath helps you feel lighter and expand.
As you exhale, you will feel added strength and support.
Inhale as you reach up or out.
Exhale as you contract.
Continue this for some time....
NAMASTE
Eventually, with practice you're mind will be silent. This is the goal. To be fully present in the moment without
latent impressions. You are no longer judging or creating agreements with yourself. The cessation of the fluctuations of the mind opens you up to infinite possibilities.
As with all things, find your balance between what we create and what we experience. When we meditate, our minds are still. Residing in a peaceful and universal nature. It binds us together. When we are thinking; we are creating our experience through our individual body.
Focusing on a particular task is what evolves us and strengthens our minds. Take the time to refine both dynamics of awareness separately so that together, they can be stronger. (Thinking, and creating versus simply witnessing.)
Sarah Ann Hurwitz
Certified Yoga Instructor and Professional Hooper
*Please consider proper citation for any use of this and any entry. The Karmic Universe frowns upon plagiarism.