Fractal: (n.)
.....a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures (such as eroded coastlines or snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation.
Meditation: (n.)
......continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation.
.....a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures (such as eroded coastlines or snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation.
Meditation: (n.)
......continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation.
"You can focus on your breathing, like in traditional meditation, or on your pulse as a 'pattern'. But you can also draw using a fractal shape to create smaller and smaller shapes that comprise the larger shape. This is also a form of meditation," our instructor says.
Kripalu is a yoga center for those wanting retreats as well as those studying Yoga Teacher Training. My best friend takes me there to join her for a three day retreat. I don't learn much yoga since they are not offering beginning sessions, but we take in other sessions, like the one on "Fractal Meditation". I use an oval to create a flower petal image, and allow my focus to be with each line drawn on the paper.
Our last "meditation" is to use a "question" in our thoughts and build repetitively throughout the meditation and see where it goes.
"Who am I experiencing this meditation?"
This turns into a dialogue between one and the self in witness.
"I am feeling a pull along my leg." Then, "Who am I experiencing a pull along my leg?" And so on. Quite interesting.
I end up in communion with a greater consciousness, having let go of the "I". But then, I get pulled back to the "I" in juxtaposition with the "anti-I". They coexist. I would think, that if the meditation continued on for longer, I would have circled around again. Not what I expected.
My friend has a different outcome. She finds acceptance of being only where she is and who she is in the moment.
The idea of repetition as meditation is not new. Walking meditation is common. I feel "in meditation" while dancing..(.think "Sufi Whirling Dervishes"). Or hiking. Or playing music. Rhythm cradles us. Lulls us. Calms us. Centers us.
"Who am I experiencing this meditation?"
This turns into a dialogue between one and the self in witness.
"I am feeling a pull along my leg." Then, "Who am I experiencing a pull along my leg?" And so on. Quite interesting.
I end up in communion with a greater consciousness, having let go of the "I". But then, I get pulled back to the "I" in juxtaposition with the "anti-I". They coexist. I would think, that if the meditation continued on for longer, I would have circled around again. Not what I expected.
My friend has a different outcome. She finds acceptance of being only where she is and who she is in the moment.
The idea of repetition as meditation is not new. Walking meditation is common. I feel "in meditation" while dancing..(.think "Sufi Whirling Dervishes"). Or hiking. Or playing music. Rhythm cradles us. Lulls us. Calms us. Centers us.
It is only now during this winter of 2016 that I feel the road rhythms catching up with me. I couldn't have spoken to specific transformations even a couple of months ago. But I start to see them now.
"Who am I experiencing transformation?"
I speak more clearly, less apologetically.
"Who am I experiencing less apologetic speaking?"
I feel more fully all that I am now in life.
"Who am I experiencing transformation?"
I speak more clearly, less apologetically.
"Who am I experiencing less apologetic speaking?"
I feel more fully all that I am now in life.
I recently visited my long time friend C....whom I haven't seen in person for a few years. As I talked about the year on the road, and a different kind of "strength" and "clarity" that I came back with, he nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I felt it right away and it makes you even more beautiful," he said. "Last time I saw you, we wouldn't be having this type of conversation. It's subtle, but clear."
Is that what "beauty" is to some? A centered strength? Vibrancy from somewhere within? Does it build on itself, the smaller strengths adding up to a larger fractal version of themselves?
I think so. Behaviors, attitudes, beliefs that transform slowly as one conviction expands onto itself like fractal images until the larger version holds a seeming complexity, but really, is comprised of step by step simplicity.
Is this where I am now, no going back? Building clarity, in full view? Speaking without apology? Feeling without apology? Choosing without apology?
Yes.
"Yes, I felt it right away and it makes you even more beautiful," he said. "Last time I saw you, we wouldn't be having this type of conversation. It's subtle, but clear."
Is that what "beauty" is to some? A centered strength? Vibrancy from somewhere within? Does it build on itself, the smaller strengths adding up to a larger fractal version of themselves?
I think so. Behaviors, attitudes, beliefs that transform slowly as one conviction expands onto itself like fractal images until the larger version holds a seeming complexity, but really, is comprised of step by step simplicity.
Is this where I am now, no going back? Building clarity, in full view? Speaking without apology? Feeling without apology? Choosing without apology?
Yes.