THANKFUL FRIDAY
Cindy Maddera
"Last night I dreamt of Hanuman. #365"
I've been doing this meditation thing before I lay down for savasana lately. I take a few minutes to sit and focus on all of the chakras. Each chakra has a color associated to it. ROY G BIV. That's how I remember it because it's just like wavelengths in physics. Red for the root. Orange for the belly. Yellow for the solar plexus. Green for the heart. Blue for the throat. Indigo for the forehead (third eye) and violet for the crown of the head. To help me stay focused, I associate certain things or memories to each color.
Violet reminds me of the lilacs that bloomed every year at the old house. When I think of them I can smell them and remember how I always thought that this was the best smell in the whole wide world. Indigo is the color of my yoga blanket which is my favorite yoga prop. Sometimes I just wrap it around me for no reason at all. Blue reminds me of the alien opera singer in Fifth Element. I think this is a good visualization for the throat chakra and sometimes I hum a little of that tune. Green reminds me of lounging in the grass in Central Park on a hot July day. I took off my shoes and felt the soft cool grass tickle my toes. Yellow is always the sun and I can feel it warming me from my center and out through my limbs and head. Orange makes me think of Chris's scooter which in turn makes me think of Michael's scooter and how much fun it is to ride around town together. And red is always Katrina because she loves everything red and that color is forever linked with her.
These are the things I think of while I sit quietly with my eyes gently closed. Sometimes all of those colors flash just behind my closed eyelids. Sometimes the memory or image for that color changes, but it's always something that makes me smile. There have been so many Thankful Friday entries where I express my gratitude for my practice on my mat. The thing is, I'm not sure that I can ever be grateful enough. I think of the person I was before and the person I am today and I see how my practice is grown beyond the poses, beyond the yoga is only exercise idea of yoga. When I picture that sun resting just under my heart, I can feel the warmth of it heating me from the inside out and on days when it's nineteen degrees out, I desperately need that sun. I am grateful for peace of mind and confidence my practice gives me and thankful for the joy it brings to me. But today, I am most thankful for the bright colors of memories that it holds.
What else? I've written about 1400 words since the beginning of Lent (for some reason I feel Lent should be LENT). That's not counting the words I put here. Baby steps. I am thankful for nubby tail wags. I am thankful for peaceful evenings snuggled on the couch. And of course, of course, I am always thankful for you.
Stay warm this weekend and have a super Thankful Friday.