Subtle mind power

I am truly enjoying these practices prescribed to us. The Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise were very different in my opinion. I enjoyed the Loving Kindness exercise because the guide gave you cues to guide you through the entire practice. I enjoyed the Subtle mind exercise because the guide provide less cues and it gave me a greater opportunity to witness my thoughts and I felt like I had more freedom. I truly enjoyed the sound of the waves in the Subtle mind practice and it provided more relaxation, to the point of dosing off for a minute or two. I feel as though one of the benefits of the Loving Kindness exercise is giving more of me to others which makes me feel a part of a bigger movement to build unity among mankind. Practicing the Subtle mind exercise this week make me feel more mature in my practice because I felt like I was truly witnessing my thoughts and not running with each random thought that appeared. It was as if I was watching each thought roll out of my mind like drops of water.

I practiced the Subtle mind exercise today while we were out on our fishing trip to the Thousand Islands. It was so peaceful and initially I felt frustrated because of the challenge of blocking out the distractions of boats going by and the birds chirping but then I shifted my mind to allow me to witness those thoughts instead of allowing them to distract me. I was proud of myself after the practice was over.

The connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is an interesting one that the average people I come in contact cannot even begin to understand. I thoroughly believe that we have to be healthy mind body and spirit. Some people strive simply for the physical transformation which makes me sad because I believe they will never truly be happy if they don’t attempt to also work on their mental and spiritual wellness as well. I learned this week that simultaneously working your mind by visualizing during a physical workout is more beneficial. I was a somewhat confused on the explanation of spiritual wellness in our text. What I understood was, for some, this connection is like an out of body experience into worlds unknown. I think my untrained mind at this point can’t fully grasp the entire concept but I am hopeful that I will continue to grow in that area.