The Beauty of the Bowl

Visualize your favorite mixing bowl.  Chances are it is fairly utilitarian and is your go-to when you stir together ingredients for your favorite brownies or salad.

Lets explore the main properties of the bowl:

1. The bowl’s purpose is to contain things.
2. To put something in the bowl, you have to remove whatever you put in it the last time.
3. The bowl has no preference for what you put in it.

Seems pretty obvious, I know, but stay with me.

Now lets visualize YOU.  You are a beautiful extension of the divine walking around in human form.  You are not the physical body, that trusted vehicle in which you travel.  You are not the emotions that you experience.  You are certainly not the chatter of the mind.  You are a divine presence experiencing all that life and humanity have to offer.  So let’s consider YOU as a bowl, having the same properties as the bowl.

The bowl’s purpose is to contain things…

You are the seer, the witness to all the things you do, think and feel.  You were designed to experience these things, but YOU are NOT these things.  You can see thoughts, images and emotions as they arise, are experienced and dissolve.  You can even see your body in the mirror and witness its aging.  But you are not your body, your experiences, your thoughts or your emotions.

To put something in the bowl, you have to remove whatever you put in it the last time.

You can’t carry around all the emotions, stories and baggage that pass through.  You need to put them down and let them go, so that you can be a container for/experience the new things coming your way.

The bowl has no preference for what you put in it.

Let thoughts, emotions and experiences come as they will, without preference or aversion.  None of it is YOU, its the beautiful human life you are here to experience in all its forms.  Joy cannot be known without sorrow, love without hate.  If you have fears or past hurts that are limiting what you are willing to experience, begin to notice and identify them.

This month, endeavor to do the following:

Empty your bowl each day.  Find a consistent time each day to sit for a few minutes in solitude.  Start by simply slowing the breath and drawing inward.

• Establish yourself as the bowl.  Become aware of yourself as the seer, separate from the brain, emotions or body.
• Empty your bowl – reflect on stories or emotions that need to be cleaned out.  With each exhale, let them go.
• Notice preferences and aversions.  If you feel fear, old routines or compulsions affecting your preferences for what you are willing to experience, let them go with your exhales.  We’ll also address this with our yoga nidra meditations.

Listen to your short yoga nidra recording every other day

Listen to your long yoga nidra recording once a week

Relax and enjoy your daily ‘The Beauty of the Bowl’ yoga nidra recording.  This meditation is 19 minutes in length.

Start Meditation

Relax and enjoy your weekly ‘The Beauty of the Bowl’ yoga nidra recording.  This meditation is 37:14 minutes in length and plants the affirmation “I am divine time-transcendent energy.  I am perfect and whole.”

Start Meditation

Reminder: Any poses or breath practices I cue in an asana practice are merely suggestions.  Your body and your doctor know more than I do, so only do what makes sense, and is recommended for you.

Your first asana practice is intended to ready the body for meditation.  This practice is about 8 minutes long — once you are done, listen to your guided yoga nidra meditation.

Props:  Anything you need to be supremely comfortable during yoga nidra.

Your second asana practice is slow flow vinyasa practice.  We’ll do a little movement and wake our body up during this typically cold and indoor season.  Remember to enjoy a 5 – 10 minute savasana when its done, or listen to your guided yoga nidra meditation.  The practice is 35 minutes + savasana.

Props:  Mat + anything you’d like during savasana.

Start Practice 1

Start Practice 2

Crystals contain energetic properties that can affect the energy in your body.  The beautiful amethyst crystal is useful for your Ajna, or third eye, chakra.  This place in your body is the home to your pineal and pituitary glands.  It is also felt to be the location where your conscious and unconscious minds meet, thus it is often a focus during meditation.

Amethyst can help open and balance this critical energy point in the body.  It can also strengthen your intuition, which is really the voice of your true Self.  This voice is soft and subtle, like that of a wise sage, as opposed to the loud, repetitious voice of the brain, who is often not so wise.  Focusing here helps remind you that you are NOT the thoughts in the brain; they are simply contents in your bowl.  Listen to the true Self through your intuition.

Try placing a small amethyst crystal on your forehead during meditation, savasana or when you are simply lying at rest.  If you have amethyst jewelry, wear it!  You can even put an amethyst crystal in your pocket.