One Stone Ten Breaths Silence

29/05

#stress #ease #mentalsilence #rejuvenate

Millie Grenough wrote a book titled, “Oasis in the Overwhelm” and in it she offers a great little experience that can bring us back to center, to become more calm and rejuvenated, in about 20 seconds or so. I want that. How about you?

She says find a small stone. Any kind will do. Roll it between your fingers and look at it. Look at it to find the nuances of colour and texture and shape and keep looking at it with the intention of finding many points of uniqueness in this one stone. Continue to concentrate on this stone for a count of ten breaths.

Ten in and out cycles of the breath, that is your counter for how long to investigate the stone. Do not change the breath at all, just let it be normal breathing… and count ten of those in/out breaths while thoroughly inspecting that stone.

The finding of that stone can be a wonderful introduction to allowing ourselves to take care of us. To invest time, even only 20 minutes, looking for a stone that suits us, that calls to us, well, how woo woo is that? Yes. Woo woo is about getting connected to the internal us. It can be scary, absolutely terrorising. It can be a relaxing investment in ourselves. We just are not used to looking within. The idea of getting a mirror in front of us, well, 90% of the population are already running away. Or not. How willing are you to invest 20 minutes in yourself?

Even though our mind is, by some reports, the greatest computer on the planet, the conscious mind can barely handle these two tasks, such that the gremlin yak yak is silent and such that sounds around us fade away. All thinking beyond , task one, the observation of the stone and task two, the counting of the breath, is quiet. The gremlin’s yak and yak and yak, is absent. Ahhhhh … We emerge completely relaxed, calm in a way that releases, we are refreshed.

Any object will do. The stone is just an example. Use a paper clip from your desk, a pen, any small object, even your thumbnail. All are perfect for this purpose. The key is to surrender to just doing these two things. Investigate the stone (or fingernail or…) and count those breaths (don’t change them, just count them).

Yes…

Millie uses this oh so simple technique to stop the mind, silence the incessant negative gremlin chatter, to release tension and to allow the possibility of peace in the mind. What a gift. Her book is Oasis In The Overwhelm. I recommend it.

Exhale J

Similarly, at the bottom of every exhale you make, yes every one, is this eensie, tiny silence, this touch of peace, quiet, ease, Acceptance. Why not enjoy that in more of your breaths? It is there in every one of them.

Why not?

Joseph Seiler MCC