Instructional &
Informational Posts
Those people in the yoga advertisements looking perfectly zen sitting in lotus position next to a lotus flower? Good for them, but that’s not your life, is it? You have a cell phone, you have kids, you have noise in your life. But you also (we swear) have time to meditate. Join us for a weekly meditation you can incorporate into your life, anytime, anywhere.
It’s hard to find time to add one more thing to our jam-packed schedules. When meditation is on the list of things to do, it’s often prioritized as last. Therefore, we must build mindfulness into activities that we do anyways.
One of these activities for many of us is drinking tea or coffee. In fact, anything we do repetitively can be looked as the physical representation of meditation, as long as we guide the ritual with presence.
The next time you find yourself with a toasty beverage, try not to rush the process. For once, do not slurp it back while filing through your emails.
Feel the weight and temperature of the cup that you hold.
Smell the aroma of the tea, several times. Let each deep breath through the nostrils be filled with wonderful fragrance. Let yourself feel like a sommelier of this cup as you let the rest of the world melt away.
Feel the way your mouth and tongue anticipates the taste. Let your lips curl over the mouth of the cup and feel the gentle tilt of the head as you take your first sip.
Feel where on your tongue and in your mouth you have the most flavour. Let the liquid cool in your mouth and hear the sound of your swallow.
Whether you continue this meditation through the whole cup or just a few sips, this will anchor your day and help you to become more aware.
--
Courtney Sunday is a writer, yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, spinning instructor and Thai massage practitioner. She teaches corporations in Toronto the fine art of breathing deeply, and travels too much for her own good. She likes to cook meals from scratch using ingredients from her garden, and would mill her own flour and make her own butter if she had more hours in the day. You can find out more about her at www.courtneysunday.com.
