Breathing and chanting

Thanks to my classmate, Morgan, who brought in this breathing meditation chant. When a small group sings it, several people can take turns sitting out while the other people sing. Take a long breath in on the first phrase and blow a long breath out on the second phrase.
You could also just sing this silently in your head, as phrases to focus your meditation.

It's also very meditative just to sing this repeatedly with a group of people.

Creating: The medium doesn't matter

It really doesn't take too much material to be creative. Mostly it takes letting go and being in touch with your own inner creator. The person who says "I'm not creative" is uttering blasphemy.

Crafts: make a small investment in a packet of pipe cleaners, clay, crayons, construction paper. Create things. Decorate your desk, computer, office, refrigerator.
Do origami--see the earlier post on Forgiveness rituals for links.

Arts: paint, draw, sculpt

In "Saved from Freezing: Spiritual Practice, Art Practice" Zoketsu Norman Fischer makes the case that art practice can be a saving spiritual practice.

Creating can also be temporal and just of the moment. Creating can be a wonderful communal or community spiritual practice.

Dance: do a hand dance—put on a piece of instrumental music, and just moving your hands, interpret what you think the music means. Watch and focus on your hands. Discover all the ways you can move your hands. Do this with a partner, and have your partner watch and at the end, interpret and describe your dance. Then, both of you do a hand dance and see what is different when you create together.

Music:
Ah: in a group, sing an "ah" together, starting on a unison note and then change notes as you like. Continue breathing and singing. Listen to what is happening, and what happens with harmonies, dissonances, and sound.

Tell Stories: share a story, or make up a story by alternating telling each sentence of the story. This is a wonderfully playful exercise with children. You might start with some traditional story, but in dialog you have the power to create an entirely new story.
With a little more structure, I have used a shared group story telling for planning and visioning, or just getting on the same page at the workplace. Start with “once upon a time,” and continue with either “and then” or “but before that.” Tell the story of what is important, what is your shared vision, what are the dependencies, what is your history. [Adapted from Charles M. Olsen's work, found in Transforming Church Boards into communities of spiritual leaders, p. 64.]

Other creative ventures:
Gardening, Cooking without a recipe ...
What are your creative outlets? Post a comment...

Mindfulness: your walking rhythm

Try this Walking rhythm exercise from The Listening Book p. 46-7.
W. A. Mathieu writes:
I learned about rhythm and meter on late-afternoon walks home from school. … Walking gives permission. When you are walking, the lid is off: the ridiculous boils off into the sublime. It's OK to hum, whistle, sing and shout, clap, snap, beat your body, squint your eyes, dance, jive, swing and sway. Dancers need music, but walkers are their own music.

People walk approximately two steps per second, about 120 steps per minute. Music played at this "walking temp" makes you feel as though you are walking even if you are sitting down. It resonates with the shape and function of your body. A little faster tempo, a few more beats per minute—say, 130—feels like a brisk walk, pushing it, maybe. Slightly fewer beats per minute—say, 108—feels like a lazy amble, maybe too slow. We are so sensitive to the precise center of this range that conductors use it as a reference point in memorizing various tempi. Everyone knows the feeling of this center; when you know you know it, magic happens.

Take a walk. Enter the rhythm your body gives you. Sing anything. Make up a tuneless tune, or a new language (Legs-mouth). Listen to what you are saying in this language; it is a key to your own music. Feel how your breathing and your walking and the sounds you are making modulate one another.

Walking wisdom is natural and lets you learn complex things easily. While keeping your stride free and even, start saying "left, right, left, right" in time with your legs. Then, without altering your gait, accent every third word: "left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right." This is a basic way of crossing rhythms that has fascinated us unwaveringly for millennia. You'll never get tired of it. Guaranteed. It gives more energy than it takes. You are waltzing and marching simultaneously, balanced between two qualities.

Music to remind us to breathe, listen, walk

Of course, there are songs and hymns that remind us to breathe as well:
Breathe on me, breath of God

"Let it breathe on me, let it breathe on me, let the breath of the Spirit breathe on me." (See this Bread for the Journey blog entry.)

"Speak, Lord, in the stillness, while I wait on thee. Hushed my heart to listen in expectancy..."

"O Happy Day" that talks about learning to walk... (from one of my favorite movies).

What other songs or hymns can you think of?

Mindfulness: listening to music

Option 1:
Sit and just listen to one CD without multitasking or doing anything else once per week for eight weeks. Listening while commuting does not count. Recommendations: Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company; J.S. Bach, Brandenberg Concertos (pick one); Johannes Brahms, Ein Deutches Requiem; Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Calling; Ella Fitzgerald, The Intimate Ella; your favorite—45 minutes to an hour.

Comment about what new words, music, phrasing, styling, tone, etc. that you notice that you didn't hear the first time.
If you happen to fall asleep while doing this, count it a success as a relaxation technique. :-)

Option 2:
Listen to a short piece of instrumental music (3-6 minutes) twice in a row every day for five days. Classical, jazz, rock, folk, anything you love--just without words. Don't do anything else. As you listen, close your eyes, relax, and "keep coming back to the sound. Grab onto any aural feature, a particular instrument or tone. ... Inhale music and exhale music. ... Scan it high and low. Be starved for it. Let it be starved for you." W. A. Mathieu, The Listening Book, p. 36-7

Comment about what you felt and where in your body you felt it, what shapes, light, colors or textures you "saw" as you listened, or what associations you made.