Afternoon, 8/10/07

I slept in this morning partly because I felt like it and partly because my sleepiness during meditation practice seems to be telling me that I'm not getting enough sleep. I didn't have to go in to work this morning, have the day off because I'm working on Sunday. I invited the cat into the room with me. He wouldn't come in until I had invited him. He got up on the ottoman. When I sat down, I just scootched him over a little bit. But, my seat seemed unbalanced, so I tried scootching him over a little more. Then he got down. During meditation I am able to attend to my breath; breath comes even and natural. I feel small areas of tension in my body and consciously relax them one by one. Small slumpings occur, and I make small adjustments, straighten up slightly. Thoughts arise about what I can do to allow both the cat and I our own space in the meditation room. Now, it is a meditation/storage room. So, if I move out the extraneous stuff and make it just a meditation room, a little nest with cushions, two chairs, pillows, blankets, that should allow both of us enough space to meditate without feeling crowded. I could also do asana and mantra in this room. These thoughts arise; meditation continues. I feel itching in my ear canals. I hear the water running on the lawn, feel the connection of my hands nested together, my ankles crossed. And, I didn't fall asleep once.