On Memorial Day of 2015, my husband and I loaded ourselves and our almost-three-year-old daughter up in our SUV pulling a tiny U-Haul trailer filled with what was left of our worldly possessions and drove 1,000 miles across the Southwest USA to our new temporary home in Durango, Colorado. After nine months of planning, researching and selling our things, we officially began a life of full-time slow-travel and willingly flung ourselves into the Great Unknown.
Simply put, meditation is the quieting of the mind that allows the body deep, cleansing rest. When the body is allowed to slip into this state of rest, amazing things begin to happen. Stress releases. Cells rebuild. Energy moves. Healing occurs. Even five minutes a day can have a tremendous impact on your health and wellbeing. These days most of us live in a perpetual state of stress, yet we don't quite understand how this is physically impacting our health. How are our thoughts and day-to-day stressors creating such tangible effects in our bodies? And how can meditation reverse this?
Monday was Brian's 33rd birthday, and in honor of the changes brewing in our life (more on that soon), we decided to climb Enchanted Rock as a family. It felt a bit ambitious with a 2-year-old, but we've both been craving a little adventure. And at just under two hours from our house, it is close enough to feel semi-convenient and far enough to feel like travel.
My house is quiet with the sounds of slumber. Chloe’s noise machine purrs with the gentle hum of the ocean. Brian’s slow, restful breaths fill the air of our bedroom. And I am completely still within my grateful heart. Just before I put Chloe down for her nap, she and I juiced together; she on her learning tower, me standing over the juicer chuckling as she handed me the produce piece by piece after sampling each one. Little nibble marks here, chunks missing there; each filling my heart with more and more love and appreciation.
Compete darkness. Total silence. Zero gravity. What if you faced your biggest fear?
Since I began this wildly passionate love affair with meditation just three short months ago, I have found myself toe-to-toe with many beliefs I have held true for my entire life. Each morning I rise before the sun and challenge my monkey mind to surrender to Truth as I purposefully reshape the programs that have been unconsciously running for decades.
