Hello,
My name is Catherine Cook-Couton.
Welcome to this meditation or perhaps more a contemplation titled,
How to Slow Time.
Before I start,
Be sure you are seated in a comfortable position and feel well grounded.
Engage your core and support your spine so that you can extend through the crown of your head,
Soften your shoulders,
Soften your jaw and soften your eyes.
Allow your mind to settle and open up to listening,
Open up to the inquiry into the possibility of this meditation for you.
More,
Let go of the need for this meditation or this moment to be any certain way orienting toward a groundedness,
An openness and inquiry.
You are aware of your breath as you breathe,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Really noticing your breaths as they move in and out.
Maybe even deepening and lengthening your breaths a bit,
Being sure to maintain your grounded seat and your extended spine and noticing of the breath.
I know I'm breathing in and I know I'm breathing out.
I know I am breathing in,
I know I am breathing out.
Just being here and now and listening.
I was recently asked by a reporter to give some mindfulness tips on how to slow time and thinking it through,
I said this.
My favorite quote is thought to be said by Viktor Frankl.
However,
I've never been able to find the quote exactly as it said,
Even with the help of our top institutional librarian here at the university.
But it is said that Viktor Frankl has said this.
In stimulus and response,
There is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
When we live in reaction one moment to the next without mindful awareness or intention,
Time feels something quick,
Something fast,
Something that is passing by or we are chasing a fleeting quality that we are not part of constructing,
Perhaps a cosmic conveyor belt,
Taking us somewhere ahead,
Forward,
Toward.
When we pause and notice,
Intentionally breathe deeply with expansion,
With groundedness,
We gain access to this space Frankl speaks of.
Notice that Frankl refers to it as space.
He means time.
Time when slowed is spacious.
Time when contracted,
Ignored,
Is not.
We become pressed for time.
In mindfulness and intention,
We get the space,
The spaciousness,
The depth,
The expansion of the moment into which we can dig our feet into the earth,
Breathe deeply into the moment and see,
See the people who are right there in front of us in a way that expands time.
And sure,
The seconds,
The minutes,
The time goes by,
But we are deep in them.
We take in the depth,
The breadth,
The richness of them with our senses.
A scent in the air,
A tilt of our loved one's head,
The timelessness of knowing eye contact,
Unknowing that this moment is different,
Deeper,
Something more than time.
Mary Oliver,
The poet,
Said this,
I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us.
If you want the freedom that Frankl speaks of,
The notion of space,
More time,
Make more of the time,
The minutes and the hours of your life.
Not chasing,
Not reacting,
But intentionally diving into it and being in and of it.
Each day,
Two day,
Pause,
Press your feet into the floor toward the earth,
Soften your body and take a few big,
Deep breaths.
And then see,
Really see what you see.
And then even better,
Feel and sense the air on your skin,
A mood or emotion as it moves through your body.
The presence of others around you,
The hum of the building,
The sirens moving down the street or the wind through the leaves.
And perhaps most importantly,
The beating of your own heart.
And then after the breaths,
After the sensing,
After the feeling,
After the knowing,
After the depth,
If you want to,
Go ahead and step back on the conveyor belt of time.
Take a few breaths here and allow this contemplation to settle.
Perhaps even deepen,
Lengthen your breaths,
Letting the notions,
The words,
The sensations melt into your body.
You might add that noticing of breath from before,
The breathing in,
I know I am breathing in,
I'm breathing out,
I know I am breathing out.
You might want to take a few moments just breathing,
Considering how you might take this contemplation,
These notions with you as you leave your meditation cushion,
Perhaps to an informal practice out there in the world.
Consider here what this contemplation means to you and for you.
You might even want to journal about it and what you might notice or consider for yourself.
For now,
Thank yourself for taking a few moments to listen,
To wonder and to center.
I thank you so much for listening.
