A Different Kind of Poetry Book

     Before the pandemic, when I could go out to shop just for fun, I found a lovely store filled with books of all kinds along with artwork from local artists.  Just my kind of place.  I spent a long time there, head tilted sideways as I was looking at all the books being offered, when I picked up one that practically yelled at me to get.  And being the obliging sort, of course I bought it.  I mean, what's one more book?

     I've spent the last several months since savoring the poems in this most unusual book of poetry.  Written and/or compiled by Daniel Ladinsky, Love Poems from God features poetry that he created out the writings of twelve mystic writers from various traditions.  Which mystic writers? you ask.  Let me tell you:  Rabia, St. Francis of Assisi, Rumi, Meister Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Hafiz, St. Catherine of Siena, Kabir, Mira, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and Tukaram.  Both Eastern and Western traditions are featured, although it's interesting to see, when comparing the poems, how the poets often come to similar conclusions or dwell on similar themes.

     Daniel Ladinsky is the first to admit that he had fun taking liberties in his translations/adaptations.  Some of the poems are earthy, some are cheeky, some are downright naughty.  But they all point to the mystic's efforts to describe the sense of unity with the divine within.  This is a wonderful book to read and savor as long as you don't read some of the poems in church.  Recommended.

A Couple of Quotes for Today

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals.

To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement,

and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity.

(Marie Curie)

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself,

a society that can live with its conscience.

(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Yin and Yang Breathing

     While I was reading Richard Wolf's book In Tune: Music as the Bridge to Mindfulness, I was noticing that the majority of his exercises described breaths which are controlled and regulated by the mind.  I know there are schools of thought in which controlling the breath can produce certain mental states and that can be very useful for many people.

     For someone like me, however, I find that I need to let go of controlled, "yang" breathing techniques at times because I have control-freak tendencies to begin with and these techniques just reinforce that, I believe.  I need to balance that with times when I just allow my body to breathe at its own pace and watch that breath.  It's a challenge for someone like me to be "yin" and just allow the body to breathe without my interference!  Once I start observing my breath, I find that I have to be very careful not to start controlling when the next breath comes.  It's a good challenge, though.

(photo courtesy of pixabay.com)

An Unusual Book on Meditation, Part 3

     Last week I was describing a meditation technique from Richard Wolf's book In Tune: Music as the Bridge to Mindfulness that I have found useful.  This week I will describe another.

    In this one, you need to divide your breaths into four beats.  One thing that Wolf stresses over and over again is that as you become more relaxed, your breaths will naturally be longer and slower, so your beats will slow down.  That is OK.  It's better to have the beats match your breath than to force your breath to match your beats.

     In this technique, you assign one internally-heard pitch each of the four beats.  Wolf recommends using Pythagorean intervals, so I will describe that here.  One such set of intervals is 1-4-5-1, or do-fa-sol-do.  If you play an instrument, you could play it as C-F-G-C.

     Here's how the technique goes.  Breathe in and hear internally (don't sing this out loud) C-C-C-C in four even beats.  Hold the breath and count four silent beats.  Breathe out and hear internally F-F-F-F in four even beats.  Hold the breath and count four silent beats.  Breathe in and hear internally G-G-G-G in four even beats.  Hold the breath and count four silent beats.  Breathe out and hear internally C-C-C-C in four even beats.  Hold the breath and count four silent beats.  Repeat.

     I don't know why, but I find this just complex enough to keep my mind engaged while producing a deep calm at the same time.  Perhaps it will help you as well.

An Unusual Book on Meditation, Part 2

     Last week I was discussing Richard Wolf's book In Tune: Music as the Bridge to Mindfulness.  This week and next I would like to share a couple of meditation exercises from this book that I find I keep returning to again and again.

     The first combines both simple words and single pitches that one hears in one's head.  That means you must be able to "sing" a single note inside your mind without actually singing it out loud.  If this seems doable to you, then read on.

     With each in-breath, you mentally hold a pitch and sing internally one word, which I will give in a moment.  With each out-breath, you listen to external sounds with detachment.  Got that?  Breathe in and hear a single note in your mind, breathe out and objectively listen to the world around you.  You may keep the same pitch with each in-breath if you want, but I like to change it each time.  You can decide what works best for you.

     Now to add a single word for each in-breath.  They are:  Calm, Relaxed, Peaceful, and Now.

     So, here's how it goes.  Breathe in and mentally sing "calm" on a single note.  Breathe out and listen with detachment.  Breathe in and mentally sing "relaxed" on a single note.  Breathe out and listen with detachment.  Breathe in and mentally sing "peaceful" on a single note.  Breathe out and listen with detachment.  Breathe in a mentally sing "now" on a single note.  Breathe out and listen with detachment.  Repeat.

     I like to create a four-note melody that I repeat with each round of those four words.  I also find that when I am in stressful situations, I can start mentally singing that four-note melody and it helps me to recover a calmer state.  I hope this also helps you as well.

An Unusual Book on Meditation

     I just finished an interesting book on meditation with an unusual twist:  it uses music as a bridge to meditative states.  No, I'm not talking about listening to New Age music while meditating, but rather using certain musical principles to help induce meditative states.  Interested?  Read on.

     Written by Richard Wolf, In Tune: Music as the Bridge to Mindfulness could be a valuable resource for a people who would like new and different methods for their meditative practice.  Richard Wolf, by the way, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, music producer, and professor at UCLA's school of music.

     Of course, I think this book would be best suited for people who have at least some musical training and know what a beat is, what a 4-beat measure is all about, and have some familiarity with intervals (measuring the distance between two pitches).  I've had a bit of musical training, so most of this book made sense to me.

     First, this is not at all like Anthony de Mello's books on meditation, where he gets right to it and describes one method after another, along with helpful hints and caveats.  No.  Wolf gently leads the reader from one concept to another, sometimes offering inside looks at his interactions with various famous musicians over his long career.  This is a gentle, leisurely book.  However, I did find a few of his meditation techniques very helpful and I often come back to them again and again.

     A recommended book, especially if you have a little musical training and want some new and unique techniques for your meditation practice.

To Free Minds

A couple of quotes for today:

"Think for yourself . . . or others will gladly think FOR you."
 (Dana Gore)

"Nothing threatens a corrupt system more than a free mind."  
(Suzy Kassem)

(photo courtesy of pixabay.com)