Evening 8/23/07

I did something different tonight. I chanted for ten minutes before beginning meditation, an Indian bhajan, Radhe. I thought it might help release some of the tensions of the day and serve as a transition between the working day and meditation. So I sat down at the harmonium, played and sang the bhajan with eyes closed, in a meditative way as thoughts were coming and going. After ten minutes I lay down on the cushion and covered myself with a blanket and meditated for 30 minutes. I took some time in the beginning to adjust my posture so I was comfortable and then rested my attention on my breath. My mind touched on many things: conversations from the day, thoughts of various people, plans for the weekend, all coming and going. And as I become aware of mind wandering, I return to the breath, sometimes easy and natural and sometimes controlled and ragged. A few times, snores brought me back from a sleepy state. I felt chilly a couple of times. Before I knew it, the timer went off.