Last night I was able to attend “The Thin Place” at The Intiman Theatre. It pulled me to the theater with its theme of spirituality from the perspective of Seattlites, who are known as a population with less religious affiliation, but as many of us know, plenty of spirituality.

The title refers to the idea that there are times when the veil between the “real world” and what lies beyond (or within) thins. In the thin place, one can feel a direct experience of the expansive quality of spirit (my words), even if for a brief moment. Stories of faith from several voices were shared by one actor, taking on their personas (and many difficult accents) to paint a spectrum of diversity.

What most captured my attention was the physiology of spirituality. The main character Isaac struggles with seizures and hears the voices of the other characters in his head. His atheist uncle realizes that he can’t see patterns and connects this to his lack of belief in a God. He gets that he is not wired for faith, others in the play attest to being born for it.

As we wind come to the close of M(ay) is for Meditation, I wonder if any of you have been drawn into this practice of using concentration or reflection, and how it has affected you, your physiology, your personality. For me, meditation has been an amazing journey that It has prepared me to drop more and more of my patterns of thought and action and has provided me a road map to my thin place. What is your thin place?
Please send me your stories to annephyfe@8limbsyoga.com and let me know if I can post them here in June (they can be anonymous).

See below for my last M(ay) if for Meditation blog post, a practice from my teacher Rod Stryker called Stilling the Lake of the Mind. Try it for the month of June. And meet me at our own lake as we head into summer swimming time!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer
P.S. Several members of the 8 Limbs community contributed to the production. Kudos to Etta Lilienthal for her stunning set design and Sonya Schneider, playwright.

This week’s meditation comes from my teacher Rod Stryker and can be found (along with the Unconditional Healing Meditation posted on May 14) on his CD “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace” in its entirety.
Sit tall, top of your head directly over the base of your spine. Begin to watch the flow of breath through your nostrils. Balance the flow by focusing on the weaker side for until they feel even.
Bring your attention to the brain. See it as the surface of a still lake. Watch the stillness of the lake. If a thought arises, watch the ripples diminish and return to a state of deep tranquility (several minutes).
Now bring your awareness to the back of your head. Meditate on the image of a full moon at the back of your head, which is the Chandra Bindu (moon-dot). Feel its presence imbuing you with the qualities of the moon, see its profound nurturing expansion in your consciousness.
Now see a bright ray of moonlight ray out from the back of your head towards the space between your eyebrows. See the lake of the mind shimmering with moonlight and meditate on that beam, magnetizing the 3rd eye and moving out into the infinite (several minutes).
Slowly bring your attention back to the breath. Feel that the depth of practice is sealed within you. Practice mental alternate breathing to ground yourself, and then ease back into life.

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

I blogged a few weeks ago about M(ay) is for Meditation, the idea for which came from a commitment our Managing Director, Ashley Dahl, made to do 30 days of yoga. We challenged everyone to commit to daily meditation for the month for the month of May, as Ashley had experienced such wonderful benefits (see the glowing smile in this photo!) from sticking with her commitment. Well, tomorrow she hits 60 days of practice and will join me in my Thursday 10am class at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill to complete what ended up being a double commitment. She said that she went to 60 as that is how long it is recommended to create a habit. Ashley enjoyed taking plenty of classes but sprinkled in home practice, yoga nidra (guided relaxation) and meditation to balance her practice.

The interesting thing I noticed is that my blog post actually inspired a few 8 Limbs yoga instructors to recommit to a daily practice, so I am guessing a few of you took the challenge too! We’re not much of the cheerleading type of yoga studio, but we know how great it feels to make that commitment and follow through. So, hey, if you like, want to, you know, sort of, TRY IT!

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

By now all of you know about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And most of you also know that I grew up in New Orleans, just across the bayou from the Gulf. This disaster has been really hard for me to stomach. It frankly breaks my heart. The Gulf of Mexico may not be pristine, but it is a vital body of water that is home to hundreds of species (including a hardy breed of humans called Cajuns) who have already experienced great distress from the gradual erosion of the coastline and the pummeling of Katrina. Read a great book about this area to learn more.

I spent many weekends and vacations with family in the islands and beaches of the Gulf, including a recent trip to Florida (see photo of myself and Coco). It has been devastating enough to see how much of the coast was destroyed by Katrina; this oil spill is a sucker punch to areas that are already struggling.

It has helped me to focus my energy in a positive direction. Want to join me? Here’s what you can do:
1. Send your thoughts to the Gulf and the people affected AND the people trying to help staunch the leak and clean up the spill. They need our mental support. Try the Unconditional Meditation I learned from my teacher Rod Stryker. Brief instructions follow, full guided meditation can be found on “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace”
2. Join us on Monday, May 17 for a Benefit Class. All cash or check drop-in payments (and any additional donations) for the 7:15 and 7:30 classes at all four 8 Limbs Yoga Centers will go directly to the Gulf Response Involvement Team (GRIT). Checks may be made out to GRIT. Class will still be available to members or class pass holders at no extra charge. Please spread the word and bring a friend.
3. Can’t make it? Send your positive thoughts whenever and whenever, but try and join us in spirit on Monday night, especially between 8:15 and 8:30, during meditation. You can make a donation at the GRIT website: http://lagulfresponse.org/aboutus.html

Unconditional Healing Meditation
Preparation: spend a few minutes with attention to your breath. Feel a wave of relaxation through your entire body. Bring your attention to your mouth. Withouth changing your expression, feel the feeling of a smile. Then go through the organs and limbs of your body and feel the feeling of a smile at each location. Feel an open radiant smile in your whole body; every cell is smiling. Now feel rose colored light throughout your being, purifying and cleansing.
Step 1: Bring awareness to the space behind your navel at the spine. Feel life giving energy and awareness move on the inhale up your spine, on the exhale let it spread and expand into the space above the brain, in the skull. Repeat for several minutes with the internal sound AU (ah ooo) on inhale, M on exhale. Then hold your attention a the top of the head, meditate on the infinite and the sound OM.
Step 2: Now move from the space behind your navel up the spine and exhale that awareness into the throat. Repeat with the sound shan (“shun”) on inhale, ti on exhale. After a few minutes, hold attention at the throat, and meditate on peace.
Step 3: You will now share your connection to peace by projecting it to someone else or a situation (ie the oil spill). Whether you wish to help another person or positively affect a situation, you will project unconditaional awarenesss from your third eye.
When you inhale feel consciousness rise up your spine from the navel to the 3rd eye or brain center. Exhale and project unconditional consciousness from the third eye to the heart of another or situation. Add the mantra OM on the inhale and Shanti on the exhale. Continue to repeat, flooding the person or situation with your awareness. Sense that the person or circumstance is absorbing your attention and is filled with unconditional peace. You are empowering this person or situation with the healing power of nature. What they choose to do with it is up to their free will.
Now relax the technique and meditate on the object of your offering. See them/it fully enlivened and connected to the eternal stream of peace. Silently share the spirit of OM Shanti, Universal Peace. Feel that you both bask in the presence of spirit.
Bring your attention back to the space between your eyebrows. Be aware of your own foundation of happiness in your life. Seal it within yourself.
Bring your attention back to your brain, feel it descend all the way down to the navel. Place both palms over the navel. Feel that a presence is moves out of your hands and is absorbed into the navel center and abdomen.
Feel steeped and anchored in a clear sense of centeredness. Open your eyes.
From “Meditations for Inner and Outer Peace” by Rod Stryker

Posted by: Anne Phyfe Palmer

My wife and I recently had our first kid, a baby boy named Octavian. While I am brand new to being a parent, one thing that struck me immediately was how similar in some ways being a parent is to meditation. Both require you to stay with the moment, to simply be present with what is happening, and both require a certain balance of effort and surrender.

While I’ve had a meditation practice for a while now, I will admit that at times, it’s been hard for me to see concrete examples of how I’ve grown through that practice. I might be able to stay with my breath a little longer now than when I started, but I wasn’t sure that my life had changed much as a direct result of the practice. It‘s sometimes easy to think of yoga as something that you do only in a controlled environment – either at the studio or in a meditation corner at home, while the rest of life continues on pretty much as normal.

As a new parent however, I’ve had to call upon my mindfulness practice repeatedly in order to be fully present for my child. A meditation practice has given me a valuable tool in beginning this new journey, and conversely, bringing mindfulness to my every day life allows me to practice yoga wherever I am.

Being a parent has reminded me of why we practice – so that when life calls on us to be present, to deal with a crying child without crying ourselves, to experience the rush of rush hour traffic without losing our sense of calm, or to be there for a friend in need, we are able to call upon our experiences and remind ourselves that “I know how to do this. I know how to stay with this moment and be centered even when other thoughts might be trying to draw me away from that center”

Posted by: Andreas Fetz

Open Meditation Hours in May
Capitol Hill
Mondays: 10:45am-11:45am, 1:15pm-1:30pm, 3:30-3:45pm
Tuesdays: 9:30am-9:45am, 11:15-:11:45am, 3:30-3:45pm
Wednesdays: 10:45am-11:45am, 1:15pm-1:30pm, 3:30-3:45pm
Thursdays: 9:30am-9:45am, 11:30-:11:45am, 3:30-3:45pm
Fridays: 10:45am-11:45am, 1:15pm-1:30pm, 3:30-3:45pm
Sundays: 12:00pm-1:00pm

Open Meditation Hours in May
Phinney Ridge
Mondays: 5:30-7:00pm
Tuesdays: 1-2pm, 4:45-5:45pm
Wednesdays: 11:15-11:45am
Fridays: 10:15-11:15am
Saturdays: 8:30-10:30am
Sundays: 8:30-10:30am

Open Meditation Hours in May
Wedgwood
Mondays 3:30 – 4:00 pm
5:15 – 5:45 pm
Tuesdays 7:45 – 8:00 am
Wednesdays 7:45 – 8:00 am
Thursdays 7:45 – 8:00 am
Fridays 9:15 – 9:30 am
Saturdays 8:45 – 9:00 am
Sundays 8:45 – 9:00 am

Open Meditation Hours in May
West Seattle
Mondays 10:45am – 12:00pm
15 minutes prior to start of all classes that begin after 8am