Dru Inspiration - weekly emails

The Power of Meditation - 6-4-06

Dear Friends,

Have you taken five minutes today to pause, watch your breath and feel waves of inner peace filling you from inside out? If not, you might be missing out!

Scientists have found that meditation helps lower cholesterol and high blood pressure levels as well as slowing the aging process. It helps you relax, concentrate and sleep better – all in all, it’s worth making time for!

Here in Snowdon Lodge, we’ve just finished teaching the third module on one of our Dru Meditation Teaching Training courses. As a tutor, I’ve been so impressed by the inner calm and harmony I’ve felt – I just felt so peaceful yet alert. And the students looked pretty blissed out too!

Darquise, a yoga teacher from Vancouver, makes the 10 hour plane journey twice a year to follow the Dru Meditation teacher training course. I asked Darquise what makes her come so far to learn meditation.

‘I come so far because I know this is the only place where I can find the depth of teaching that I’m looking for. I did other forms of meditation for years and it was so difficult to do, although it was beneficial at the time. But with Dru Meditation, you don’t need to suffer! You do movement and relaxation first so you can enter a deeper, blissful state, so much more easily than I did before. Dru meditation is so practical – it gives me ways to bring stillness into everything I do. Taking time to meditate daily enables me to put everything into perspective and helps me to cope with my busy life as a mum and school teacher.'

Dru Inner Stillness meditation technique

Today, just give yourself five to ten minutes of uninterrupted time to rediscover your inner calm. Take a few moments to stretch your body, using one of Dru Yoga’s Energy Block Release movements. Then turn off your phones and sit in an upright, comfortable chair, or sit on the floor using cushions in a relaxed yet alert posture. Allow your body to relax on the out-breath, while keeping your back alert and upright on each in-breath. Keep focusing gently on your breath, feeling waves of peace and stillness washing over your body with each breath. Continue this process for five to ten minutes, then bring your attention back to your posture, feeling the contact your body makes with the floor. Take a moment to stretch then gently open your eyes.

If you’re interested in Dru Meditation, come and try it at our events around the country this spring (details on our website - www.druyoga.org). Our Dru Quest course in North Wales will cover spiritual self-development, including meditation as an important tool, between May 15th and 20th. Or come to the ‘blissful meditation’ strand at the Dru Congress in August, or September Meditation retreat at Snowdon Lodge.

We are also taking applications for the Dru Meditation Teacher Training course starting in 2007– which consists of two five day modules twice a year for three years. Let me know if you’d like any information about any of these courses.

We look forward to seeing you soon. Have a wonderful week!

Jane Saraswati Clapham