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Photo: Courtesy of flickr.com/photos/hckyso/3870006964
Sometimes, don’t you just want to stop and tune out? Turn off the TV, put the cell phone down, get off the computer and shut off all the electrical gadgets. Life can sometimes seem like it’s speeding by, faster and faster each day. I find that if I don’t make a conscious decision to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, that each day goes by a little more rapidly.
I was lucky enough to meet this amazing woman a few months back and her name is Sister Jenna. During her 2 hour seminar, she explained a concept to us called “Off the Grid Into the Heart,” which is the title of her newly released CD. Sister Jenna travels all over the world trying to get a message of hope to the people that want to listen. I consider myself to be one of those people; sometimes I just like to listen and be shown a better way to live in this stressful, technology-heavy world. Don’t get me wrong, I love gadgets. But as I am getting a little older (and hopefully wiser) I also like to stop, slow down, look around, and just be.
Sister Jenna is an award-winning spiritual leader, author, radio talk show host, renowned speaker and founder/ director of the Meditation Museum in Silver Spring. Her wisdom, peace, and compassion for humanity are expressed through the variety of initiatives she spearheads for youths, women, and the community. Here is a good simple meditation technique offered by Sister Jenna for busy people.
City people, New Yorkers especially, need a good, simple relaxation and meditation practice to keep focused and happy. Sister Jenna requests that you follow these steps: One easy meditation technique is just to ask yourself once or twice a day: “how do I feel?” and just notice your response. That’s it. Another simple meditation requires you carve out 5 minutes of “you” time. Sister Jenna has devoted more than 20 years to encouraging a natural acceptance of spirituality in the daily life of busy city people. She offers a meditation and relaxation technique you can do anytime of day, when you’re on the bus or train to and from work or just during a break.
For 5 minutes…Sit quietly….breath in and out a few times…… and inside of your mind engage in this dialogue. · Forget your name….and check how you feel·
Forget your gender…check how you feel ·
Forget your role/s and title/s…check how you feel.
Forget your body, check how you feel….
Pause…don’t rush your experience or feeling, but allow yourself to fall into it…Remind yourself, “if I have no name, gender, role, or body, how would I feel?” Meditation is about awareness and you can do it even if you are walking or waiting somewhere.
Why is listening to people like Sister Jenna so important to our daily fitness and health? We can all try to work out and eat healthy and have a fit body; but how do we find the consciousness to have a fit mind? Listening to people like her and following her practices help each one of us get into a different state of consciousness in order to have a calmer mind. So I challenge each and every one of you to take the time to “Get off the Grid” on a daily basis. It doesn’t matter if you go sit in front of the ocean and close your eyes for a few minutes and consider Sister Jenna’s teachings, or sit down with another person and have a nice chat. Please just take the time to get off the couch, the computers, the TV, or cell phone, and spend a little time with yourself in order to calm your mind. You create your thoughts and positive/ peaceful, thoughts will create new experiences. Your perception will change and everything that seems like a challenge will start to fall into place. Until next time please continue to move and breathe and continue to Live in Grace.
-by Michelle Gierst Fitness Editor Downtown New York City Magazine