Meditate with Monkey and Me

It all begins with an idea. Meditate with Monkey and Me

How are we finding calm in the chaos everyday, especially in the mornings? So, Tanav and I have been practicing to meditate together first thing in the morning for over 2 years now. We play the navkar mantra and sit for up to 5 minutes. 

We noticed how this helps us build this amazing, valuable and vital habit to find a moment of peace and set our positive intentions for the day ahead. The subconscious mind is most alert and receptive to transformation before the day begins as soon as we awaken. 

It would be great if our schools offered a meditation practice to all children, every day. But as that's not yet in place, we thought why wait? Let's start now, with ourselves. 

I'm going to use the analogy of a tree to articulate the inspiration behind 'Meditate with Monkey and Me'! We've been going live on Factbook at 8am every day to share some body and breath awareness practices and mini meditations. This is real time, no editing or filtering. What you see is what happens, the energetic shift, creative flow, complete transparency and honesty from Tanav.

This idea stemmed from the roots of the importance of meditation. One of the main benefits of meditation is that it helps you find connection to your true self. So if we already know as adults the theory that meditation really does provide rooted connection then why wait to give this gift to our children? Children naturally have better awareness, mindfulness, live in the moment and are less distracted in some ways. So if these innate qualities can be harnessed from a younger age, children would have the essential tools to be able to navigate this life with far greater ease and resilience.

As we weave through our day to day, like the trunk of the tree: growing, learning, adapting, taking on the world, the weather, the elements, we face challenges and we can do often become lost in the monkey mind, in thoughts, emotions, expectations, negative vibrations etc. Our aim would be to grow tall, confident, empowered, strong but can get caught off guard and take different directions.

We explore tools and techniques towards attaining a meditative state. These are like the beaches of the tree. Reaching upwards towards the sun, the light, energy, wisdom. 

Each person resonates with different elements:

- For the first week, we investigated sound, what we hear with awareness, the vibrations we create and the effect they have on ourselves and others around us. Through positive sounds we attain states to higher awareness and provide soothing for the mind. 

- The second week we looked at breath and how key and crucial that is to our mind control. We are learning to create breathing space between the stimulus in our interactions and the reaction. With this space we are more likely to respond calmly than react from our autopilot tendencies and triggers and habitual patterns. We are giving opportunity to rewire and reprogram the mind.

- The third week we focussed on restorative postures. Resting poses for the physical body to enable stillness, comfort, and ease. In turn, when we allow the physical body to re-energise, re-vitalise, recuperate and rejuvenate. We gain access to the parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest mode of being where our innate healing capacity resides. 

- This week we have been sharing beautiful, uplifting songs with positive words and insights. The melodies and affirmations are so integral to connecting with our energy centres and rebalancing from the inside out. For me, personally bhakti and devotional verses are most profound. Tanav had also already connected deeply and felt the most stillness, silence and innate energy.

The leaves on the branches represent the beautiful soul qualities we feel and connect with such as energy, happiness, wisdom, peace and love. From those stem even greater blossoming of soul traits, including: harmony, patience, optimism, playfulness, courage, determination, intuition, humility, compassion and selflessness. To name a few.

Children are encouraged to exercise the physical body and most love to regularly. Similarly, the mind is also a muscle which needs to be exercised to keep it at optimal performance! 

"Just as a mighty mango tree is hidden within the stone of a mango, just so, o man, divinity itself is hidden within you, rest not until you uncover it." Bhagwan Mahavir. 

Our hope and vision is to:

- Plant the positive seeds of serenity

- Grow and build a positive daily habit

- Cultivate an experience of calm

- Create a catalyst for compassionate change

For young ones are those young at heart!

We'll continue sharing...

From our hearts to your hearts ❤️ 🙏

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