Today’s guest blogger is Bob Burns, a 56 year old middle age man fitness dude from a small rural town in Pennsylvania whose workouts can best be described as eclectic style. I’ve known Bob in cyberspace for over five years. His workouts consist of bodyweight exercises, dumbbells or kettlebells, power wheel, peg board, jump rope and anything else that make him feel like he is still a kid.
Bob enjoys backpacking, kayaking and mountain biking. He's been married for 32 years to his wonderful wife and has 3 adult daughters. What follows is Bob Burns’ guest blogflection.
A couple of months ago our church started a health and wellness ministry. I felt a passion to get involve with this ministry. Some of the different areas this ministry will have are: physical exercise, nutrition, spiritual-mental-emotional-social health and knowledge of personal health indicators and tests. One conclusion is that health and wellness will not look the same for each person. It will have to be defined based on the individual’s unique characteristics.
One of the topics under spiritual-mental-emotional-social health is meditation or being still. This topic has a different interpretation for each person. For me, this means simply being still and taking time for a few minutes to quiet my mind and body without distractions. This might be a good time to say that I am lousy at doing this. I am one of those people that comes into my house and either turns on the TV, computer (surf the internet) or radio and look for some type of distraction. This is an area that I plan to begin practicing again not something that I have any expertise.
These are two books that I have and I found helpful: "Flip the Switch" by Eric Harrison, the cover says 40 anytime, anywhere meditations in 5 minutes or less, and "8 Minute Meditation" by Victor Davich. His cover says 8 minutes to greater peace, lower stress, improved focus and a happier life. Both books are easy reads and written in a how to style. Both have lots of examples of ways to meditate and simple to follow instructions.
My reason for starting up this practice again is to quiet my mind and bring stillness to my body. There is a verse in the bible ‘Be still and know that I am God’. The act of being still in both body and mind and being able to listen to the still small voice of God is another benefit of this practice. But regardless of your belief system, being still has benefits just by allowing the mind and body to be relaxed and still. Here is a quick set of instructions to get started.
How to get started
A couple of months ago our church started a health and wellness ministry. I felt a passion to get involve with this ministry. Some of the different areas this ministry will have are: physical exercise, nutrition, spiritual-mental-emotional-social health and knowledge of personal health indicators and tests. One conclusion is that health and wellness will not look the same for each person. It will have to be defined based on the individual’s unique characteristics.
One of the topics under spiritual-mental-emotional-social health is meditation or being still. This topic has a different interpretation for each person. For me, this means simply being still and taking time for a few minutes to quiet my mind and body without distractions. This might be a good time to say that I am lousy at doing this. I am one of those people that comes into my house and either turns on the TV, computer (surf the internet) or radio and look for some type of distraction. This is an area that I plan to begin practicing again not something that I have any expertise.
These are two books that I have and I found helpful: "Flip the Switch" by Eric Harrison, the cover says 40 anytime, anywhere meditations in 5 minutes or less, and "8 Minute Meditation" by Victor Davich. His cover says 8 minutes to greater peace, lower stress, improved focus and a happier life. Both books are easy reads and written in a how to style. Both have lots of examples of ways to meditate and simple to follow instructions.
My reason for starting up this practice again is to quiet my mind and bring stillness to my body. There is a verse in the bible ‘Be still and know that I am God’. The act of being still in both body and mind and being able to listen to the still small voice of God is another benefit of this practice. But regardless of your belief system, being still has benefits just by allowing the mind and body to be relaxed and still. Here is a quick set of instructions to get started.
How to get started
Grab a digital timer (a GYMBOSS will work) and set it for 4 – 8 minutes (start low).
Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted, take a few breaths, sit down and start the timer.
Close your eyes and breathe in and out. Your nose is preferred.
Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted, take a few breaths, sit down and start the timer.
Close your eyes and breathe in and out. Your nose is preferred.
Continue to focus on your breath.
When you notice your focus has gone to your thoughts, smile internally and allow your focus to go back to your breath.
Continue until the timer says you are done.
I am going to try and start the practice of being still daily. The practice is simple and it requires almost no time commitment. If this is a practice that grabs your interest, I encourage you to join me for daily practice of being still.
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum
3 comments:
Nice, Bob. 'Tsall good. I'm going to look up those books. I like Tohei Koichi's books on the subject, but they are not easy reads and they contain other stuff. I bet I am worse at it than you because uh hey look
Not many churches have a health and wellness ministry. What church do you got to?
Tom,
Either of these books could have been title meditation made easy.
Charles,
A small rural church in PA. www.millvilleumc.org is the web page.
Thanks for the visit to my first blog. Bob
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