Posts In: kindness

guest post by Irene Jones

How does your meditation practice look and feel? We’re highlighting stories of meditation in everyday life to help de-mystify this life-changing practice and share simple meditation techniques with those just getting started. Share your experience in the comments or by email, info@yogaonesandiego.com

These days, my meditation practice is me waking, taking my time, checking in with my emotions, my physical self, and my breath (when I remember, because there is a tendency for the cogs in my brain to start gaining momentum pretty quickly.) I do a little yoga in bed. Nothing strenuous, a few yummy stretches, cat cows and twists and neck attendance to loosen up any stiffness.

I brush my teeth, drink some water, and soon enough I sit comfortably on a cushion facing my window that opens out towards spaciousness and the natural elements. Just before this, I light some incense. I sit nice and tall, roll my shoulders back and lift my heart, starting with a good posture. Of course, it relaxes as I meditate and from time to time, I gently reset the weight in my sitting bones and lift the crown of my head.

Grounding first, I encourage my lower body to be heavy and my pelvic floor to relax. I check in with the Manomaya Kosha, the mind sheath, or how we process our thoughts and emotions. I rest here for a while scanning my entire body head to toe.

I check in with my breath and follow it with my awareness until I get distracted and then I gently bring my awareness back to my breath again.

Most importantly, for me these days, in my meditation practice is opening to my emotional self, so I feel-in. I ask myself, “How am I feeling?” “How am I?” and I patiently wait and open to my experience as it unfolds. I meet myself with kindness and permission for whatever is there and for whatever wants to come to my attention. I hold the sensations of my inner experience in a very sacred and tender embrace. This is my practice.

I rest here for as long as I like. I can then move on to my mental space, check in, honor my mind and all that it does for me and for all its potential. I ask myself, “What would peace feel like in this moment?” I rest in patience for a sense, if it comes to me; if I can cultivate it this morning, if not, no judgement. I rest in the light of my own awareness. Every day is different. 

I especially love when I can get outside early in the morning, when it’s quiet so I can meditate in nature; I’m not sure if there is anything more lovely. Maybe I’ll do some yoga or qigong too. I am blessed to have gained these skills over the years, practicing on and off, making a gradual home for my expanding awareness and my inner peace.

Meditation in itself is not a difficult thing to do – however, to commit to a daily practice, even if just for a few weeks or months can be challenging. Though the rewards are worth it. Meditation can make a huge difference to how we approach ourselves and others; gifting us with opportunities to experience space and patience and self-acceptance while in relationship, it is a fantastic teacher.

Ultimately, we are listening to our own inner teachings and wisdom. I recently heard, that if we can think of it like brushing our teeth, then it will be an easy habit to begin. Five minutes every day is all you need. For me, it depends on how I feel, 20 minutes, sometimes longer, sometimes less, and sometimes I incorporate meditation into my daily activities themselves. Just being present and mindful in each moment is a practice in itself.

To know Michael and Amy Caldwell is to know Yoga One and to know Yoga One is to know Michael and Amy, whether or not you’ve ever attended one of their classes. So much of who they are is expressed in the studio itself. I started out writing a class review for Michael’s mixed level flow on Fridays at noon and found that I couldn’t adequately write about his teaching style without also writing about Yoga One as a living place. But first, more about Michael!

If you subscribe to the idea that doing something well, simply and gracefully, is better than doing something difficult or impressive poorly, then you’ll understand what I mean when I say Michael teaches yoga with simple elegance. This idea has permeated the food world and it’s something San Diegans really understand. Food that comes fresh from the farm, simply and expertly prepared, is so much better than any creation from a fancy restaurant that tries to twist and coerce the ingredients into something more complicated. Michael’s yoga classes follow the same principle. He takes the simple ingredients of asana (the physical postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense withdrawal) and mindfulness and creates a seamless class experience – challenging enough to make you break a sweat and slow enough to focus on alignment and find ease in every posture.

There is a light-heartedness in Michael’s voice that makes you feel as if you were having a conversation with a friend in their living room. He’s not afraid to make a joke or laugh at himself. Kindness emanates from him. As with many great teachers, it’s not the middle of class that you remember the best, but the end. This was especially true on Friday. At the end of class, he had us lie in savasana with our heads towards the center of the room so that, in his words, we could share with each other our highest energy. Somewhere in that skylit room I felt as though there were a small glowing orb, suspended in mid-air, the very heart of Yoga One. While we lay there in that final pose of complete surrender, the floating heart of Yoga One grew bigger, reaching out to everyone in the room.

You see, for me at least, the studio is a living creature and all the teachers that inhabit the space contribute to its life. When they teach from the most authentic part of themselves, the heart grows and fills the room, allowing the yoga to do its work unencumbered. This is perhaps the greatest challenge of any teacher: knowing when to get out of the way and let the yoga speak for itself. Michael is the kind of teacher who understands this and provides that space for his students. Yoga, in this sense, is more than just a series of physical movements, it is the entire experience of class and the wider appreciation for the inter-connectedness of body and breath, mind and spirit that stays with you long after you’ve left the studio.

Some of you will not believe me. Some of you will no doubt think that places having a heart and energy of their own is silly. But to anyone who has ever loved a place – your childhood home or the town where you met your first love – you understand that a place can have a life and character all its own. That the best kind of places take on the life force of the people that inhabit them. If you’ve never taken Michael’s class, treat yourself this Friday at noon, you won’t be disappointed!

Michael also teaches on Tuesday evenings at 6pm. Click here to check out the full schedule online.