The Aesclepius exercise was very relaxing, as guided meditations usually are for me. Although I think that involving a real person into visualization is always a challenge. There are a lot of thoughts and emotions tied to a person who means a lot to you, so the exercise is more complicated than it seems. I pictured my grandfather, who died in 2003. I was very close to him, especially after my grandmother died in 1999 and he started living near my parents. My mother's relationship with him (he was her father) was complicated, since he had not been a wonderful father when she was growing up. He was a WWII POW who was never diagnosed or treated for PTSD, but in hindsight, he was likely affected. After spending a year as a prisoner in France, he was finally liberated, came home, got his GED (he had not yet finished high school when he was drafted), settled into a job with the Federal Reserve, married and had two children. But he often drank and had a short temper with his two daughters. It never escalated dangerously, but my mother remembers his outbursts and occasionally being hit. Unfortunately this was probably not too far outside of the norm for discipline in the 1950s and 60s. He changed dramatically with age, stopped drinking and became a very loving grandfather, so I could not picture the person my mother told me about when I got older. He eventually, only years before his death, talked about his time in the war and in the prison hospital. It made me wish he had been able to talk about those things sooner, but I think in the 1940s, it was expected that a man just move on and deal with things on his own. I am sad that it caused him and his family so much pain.
When I pictured him during the meditation, I pictured the man I knew before his death, who was loving and kind and happy. But it is hard not to remember everything else too. I know he was not perfect and that his wisdom came from that. Although he didn't have all the answers or all the support he should have had, he showed a lot of strength in living as long as he did.
Natalie
ReplyDeleteI pictured my grandmom who passed away beginning of this year. I became closer to my grandmom more so after my grandpop passed in 2008. She was so lost without him and she was always the strong one. This exercise kinda made me sad in the middle of it but it was easy to concentrate on just her. The only thing I didn't like about the exercise was the beams of light I had to envision because I was trying hard enough to concentrate on picturing her so it was to much going on. lol i did feel relaxed and the love I have for her. It was definitely an exercise I would do again and maybe picture my grandpop next time. He was the first person I ever lost in my life and it affected me alot so I am curious to see how that meditation exercise with him works out.
Hi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed this exercise too. I felt so relaxed and chilled out. The person that I envisioned was Mother Teresa. I felt her peacefulness. This was such a great exercise and I plan to incorporate this exeercise in my daily practices. By the way, I love your blog page. Keep up the good work!
Peace and Love,
Yahimba (Ursula)
Hi Natalia
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting what you brought out from listening to this exercise. I tried focusing on someone and that imnage was my mother and her and I are close, but for some reason I would image a male figure, but was having a difficult time trying to figure out who that was, it could have been my deceased father, however, I'm not sure, however, I find it neat that each of us experience something different.