The leader

             Note: Not the actual leader.

             The leader was young and passionate about meditation. She often told stories about her life before meditation and her difficulty early on when she couldn't still her mind for more than a few minutes. Now she was trying to meet the 5 precepts at a minimum if not more. And she had opened her mind to the possibilities of alternate realms. Still she was very good about reminding the group that meditation was not meant to replace our own religious beliefs. 

Join

    

     Over time I tentatively talked with a few friends about my new activitiy. Testing the waters. For the most part, people were receptive and sounded interested in giving it a try. My kids on the other hand branded me a "hippie" and rolled their eyes. I did get one couple to join for a class. It was also my first class where the instructor called on me to describe my meditation technique or experience. I was excited to talk, but for some reason I decided to focus on pain and difficulty. The trouble focusing the mind, my aching limbs in the half lotus position. Luckily I snapped out of it and mentioned that these go away, "it gets easier," and topped it off with a note about how group meditation was so much better than trying to go it alone. Not yet the spokesman for the group.

The meditation crowd

          You know someone is dedicated when they choose to come to class and meditate on their birthday.  I didn't ask why she chose to come, but she seemed in high spirits and excited to meditate. Apparently a lot of other people decided to meditate on this day. The class was double its normal size. The core group represented well, along with returning old members and a  lot of "first timers" and yoga girls. The class was noisy, hot and in my opinion not very conducive to meditation. I chided myself for such negative thoughts. I had formed an opinion that meditation was good for anyone (assuming we left out the reincarnation topics) and yet here I was complaining about too many people. Obviously I needed to work on my level of meditation to eliminate such thoughts. Maybe next time.