Spring foods
Spring is the time of the year when your body naturally wants to cleanse itself. So it is a good time to allow your body to let go of all the stuff that it doesn’t want including toxins, bad habits and old aches and pains. It is a good time to allow the body to cleanse by eliminating toxins including dairy, sugar, bread, fats and oils, alcohol, coffee, tea and other stimulants including spices. Ten days is enough time to allow the liver to cleanse and rejuvenate.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Liver and Gall Bladder meridians are most prominent at this time of the year. The best foods to support the Liver and Gall Bladder are leafy greens and lightly cooked foods (steaming, light frying and par-boiling).

 Have lots of:                                                                                                            

• Leafy greens and sprouts
• Asian greens – Bok Choy, Chinese Cabbage                                                     
• Spring veges – broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, parsley, daikon (white raddish)
• Barley, quinoa, wheat, rye
• Wakame (seaweed), umeboshi, lemon, sauerkraut (occasionally)

Try to avoid:

• Overeating – especially eggs, meat, cheese and icecream
• Alcohol and drugs
• Chemicalized foods (preservatives, additives)
• Coffee and chocolate
• Sugar and honey

I asked Zen Shiatsu practitioner and fabulous macrobiotic cook, Linden Brooks to offer some of is favourite Spring recipes. Here’s three yummy Spring side dishes to serve up with grains or vegetables. Enjoy!

Soybean sprouts – Boil sprouts in salted water for 2-3 minutes, then rinse & drain.
Slice a young leek thinly.
Heat a wok or pan and add a little vegetable oil.
Sauté sprouts and leek for 30 seconds.
Serve with a drizzle of dark sesame oil. 

Spinach (or greens) – destalk a bunch of spinach and blanch for 30 seconds in hot water, drain and rinse in cold water.
Mix some soy sauce and sesame oil with a dash of mirin (3:2:1/2) and coat the spinach leaves in the mixture.
Heat a wok or pan and add a little oil, sauté spinach for 20 – 30 seconds on high, then serve. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds.

Daikon / Radish – slice a small young daikon into matchsticks and blanch in hot water for 30 seconds.
Finely slice a young leek and mix with a little sesame oil and pinch of salt, just enough to lightly coat.
Heat a wok or pan and add a little oil, sauté radish 1 minute, add leek and sauté 2 more minutes. Serve with a drizzle of dark sesame oil.

Creating the space for meditation is a process of preparation. Creating a physical space is just one part of the equation. Other factors include allowing the space in your daily life, creating the headspace and being prepared physically and emotionally to ‘sit’. 

Chris Dorje Walker teaches meditation as a living. Walker has spent the past seventeen years, including five years as a Buddhist monk, studying varies forms of meditation including Tibetan Buddhism, ancient esoteric wisdom, Qi Qong, Taoism, Vipassana and somatic psychotherapy. He now teaches busy, stressed-out people how to meditate. Drawing on his experience in the east combined with the reality of being a Westerner, Walker’s approach is simple and practical.

Step 1: Create the space in your day
Putting aside the time to meditate can be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome, but dedicating a special time each day helps build the habit. According to Walker, just ten minutes in the morning and at the end of the day will yield results. 

Facilitator of ‘Meditation for Mums’ workshops, Lyndal Edwards, says that for many women even just grabbing a moment, whenever, wherever is enough. In her experience the sheer exhaustion, sleep deprivation and 24/7 nature of the job that comes with motherhood overwhelms most women and allowing the space for meditation is their sanity.

Step 2: Claim and clear the space
We are creatures of habit so having a dedicated space enables us to make meditation a regular part of daily life. There is no right or wrong way to set up the space. Just like when decorating a home, our resources and personal tastes will dictate how we set up our sanctuary. 

Firstly, decide where you want your space to be. It doesn’t have to be a space solely for the purpose of meditation, but you must be able to claim it as ‘yours’ for the time dedicated to your practice. It could be a quiet room in your house, a particular chair or a special place in your garden.  It could be a park bench at lunchtime or an unused meeting room.  Even the toilet offers a quiet haven. ‘There’s a perfect seat there,’ says Walker, ‘and nobody’s going to interrupt you.’

Most importantly, the space we choose to meditate in needs to reflect the state we are intending, so it needs to be quiet, comfortable, clean and clear. ‘It’s the basic principles of Feng Shui,’ says Walker, ‘if the space around you is cluttered and disorderly, your mind will be the same. If the area is clean and orderly then there’s the potential space for clear thought and a still mind.’

Step 3: Create a focal point
One of the other stumbling blocks for many people learning to meditate is that they find it impossible to empty their minds. According to Walker, this is a common mistake people make. ‘You need a focus for your meditation. The point is to develop a trained mind, not an empty one’, he says. 

Creating a shrine within your meditation sanctuary is one way of creating a visual focal point for the mind. A shrine can also bring a sense of the ‘sacred’ to your space with objects such as candles, flowers, mandalas, crystals, statues of deities and images of nature. As your habit develops, the items on your shrine become visual triggers for your mind to focus. If you can’t leave your shrine set up permanently, Edwards recommends creating a meditation tray that you can pick up and move easily.

Step 4: Minimise distractions
Minimise as many distractions from noise, interruptions and the people around you as possible. Air the room, shut the door and turn your phone off. Let others know that you need some time without any interruptions. 

A tall order for mums with young children perhaps, but author of ‘Recipes for Everyday Life’, Alison Nancye, says if you can’t beat them, let them join you.  Nancye learnt how to meditate in her teens, but it was in her mid-30s that she learnt the power of meditation. After a traumatic childbirth with her first child, Nancye was determined to have a better experience the second time round. She practiced meditation daily during her pregnancy and during the birth, was able to recreate the space to stay calm and focused.

She now invites her two young children to sit in meditation with her. ‘Kids learn through mimicking. Sharing my meditation space helps my children understand ‘mummy time’ and teaches them how to listen and be still.’

Step 5: Get comfortable
Just as important as the surrounds is the space within your body. If you are not physically comfortable your mind will be distracted and meditation will be an uphill battle.

Part of the physical preparation for meditation is getting rid of any excess physical energy in the body. Many eastern and mystical traditions such as yoga, Sufism and Kabbalah often include dynamic movement, as part of, or in preparation for, meditation practice. Yoga postures, whirling, even walking around the meditation space, will help to settle the body before you sit. 

Wear loose comfortable clothing, remove distracting jewellery and have a shawl or blanket around you as metabolism slows during meditation and you might become cool.

There are traditional postures for sitting in meditation, but you don’t need to twist yourself into a pretzel. Sit comfortably with a straight spine, either sitting in a chair with both feet on the floor, or cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. Whilst it is okay to lie down for your relaxation, it is best to be sitting for meditation and to avoid falling to sleep.

Step 6: Stay put
In Buddhist traditions this is referred to as ‘taking the one seat’ and according to Walker, this may be the hardest part of all in creating a meditation space. ‘When you sit down, that’s it. Stay put,’ he says. 

Sensations, feelings, thoughts will come up. Don’t try to block them out, but observe them without attachment. Watch the breath, if your mind wanders, allow it to come back to your point of focus, but don’t force anything.

‘It’s about being able to create the space to sit and make peace within yourself,’ Walker said. ‘For so many people, our lives are so polarised that we are unable to live in between the extremes. We think that if we can learn to meditate, we’ll be happy. But it’s not about that. It’s about learning to sit with all possibilities, to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and learning to accept with patience.’

‘Integration is my big thing’ Walker says. ‘That’s why I’m not a monk any more. It’s very special being in a monastery. But being able to bring what I learnt there in to the ordinary world is more powerful and somehow extraordinary.’

There’s the real gift. Eventually, as meditation becomes a regular habit a meditation space can be anywhere, any time whether it’s at home, in the office, a hotel room, on a plane, in a traffic jam or in the birthing suite.

TYPES OF MEDITATION
Finding a good teacher or joining a meditation group to share your experiences with will enhance your practice. There are also many different types of meditation ranging from secular practices to religious and spiritual traditions so it is worthwhile experimenting to find a style that suits you.

Religious and spiritual – Most religions and spiritual practices, both eastern and west, have some form of meditation or prayer attached to them. Enquire with your local yoga school, spiritual study group or church for information about meditation classes and retreats. 
Secular – common types of non-spiritual meditation include focusing on the breath or an object, guided visualisations or contemplative questioning such as ‘who am I?’ There are a number of companies and individuals that offer personal and corporate meditation training.
Mantra-style meditation – repetition of a word, sound or ‘mantra’ is a common meditation technique, practised in particular by the Transcendental Meditation (TM).
Mindfulness meditation involves being able to observe bodily sensations without attachment or reaction. Vipassana is a popular form of this style of meditation. Visit www.dhamma.org for more information about 10-day silent retreats held in Australia and around the world. 

RESOURCES
There are many good books, audio tapes, DVDs and websites about meditation.

Visit www.meditation.org.au  – a comprehensive site with a listing of organisations (both secular and religious) throughout Australia offering meditation classes for adults and children with ratings by users. The site also includes meditation tips, online classes, daily contemplations, downloads and podcasts including guided meditations, music and an online shop with books, CDs, incense and candles.

www.adyar.com.au – Adyar Bookshop specialises in health, wellbeing, spirituality and the esoteric.  Search their website for meditation titles and sign up for their regular free talks.

 ‘Buddhism for Mothers’ by Sarah Napthali Offers Buddhism at its most accessible with ways of coping with the day-to-day challenges of motherhood.

‘Meditation – Exercises and Inspirations for Well-being’ by Bill Anderton is a simple, easy-to-read introductory guide to meditation for beginners.

RELAXATION TIPS
 “Unless you can relax, you can’t meditate”, says meditation teacher, Chris Dorje Walker. He uses the following easy relaxation technique to guide his clients into a relaxed state.

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Draw your awareness closer and closer to your body. Become aware of the sensations on the skin. Feel the breath flowing in and out of your body.
4. Imagine as you breath out, black smoke is leaving the body. This can represent tension, rigidity, stress, worry, anything you don’t want.
5. Keep breathing out in this way and letting go. Continue until your breath becomes lighter, your breath becomes clear, smooth and comfortable. 

MOTHER NURTURE TIP:  Facilitator of Meditation for Mums workshops, Lyndal Edwards suggests using calming aromatherapy oils or bush essences, such as ‘Calm & Clear’ or ‘Emergency’ essences to help you relax before meditating.

Chris Dorje Walker teaches private, group and corporate meditation classes. He also runs meditation conferences and retreats and sells guided meditation CDs. www.dorje.com.au

Lyndal Edwards runs regular Meditation for Mums workshops in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and the Blue Mountains.  www.mothernurture.net.au

Alison Nancye runs regular lifestyle workshops. Visit www.thelifekitchen.com for her meditation ‘recipes’.

© Kris McIntyre 2008, first published in Spa Life Magazine Australia. 

In a research paper modern day Portugese Philosopher, Robert Carneiro, wrote that, ‘The creation of meaning is part of the human adventure. To be human – in its inner essence– means seeking to understand and to find meaning in life. Our untiring search for happiness is, without doubt, the search for a lasting meaning for human existence.’ 

Carneiro went on to cite Professor Martin Seligman, a renowned specialist who in his book, ‘Authentic Happiness’ (2002), stated there are three main components of happiness: pleasure, commitment, and meaning. According to Seligman, the first (hedonism) is the least important or lasting, but that ‘the use of personal efforts to serve greater ends or purposes’ is what drives us and essentially makes us happy.

The Dalai Lama says ‘the purpose of our lives is to be happy.’ He’s also pointed out that, ‘happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.’ Buddhist philosophy dictates that is not what we have that makes us happy, but what we think about our circumstance that makes the difference. In other words, external factors are inconsequential.

Proof that it is the inner world not external circumstances that creates our sense of happiness is found in ‘Man and the Search for Meaning’ (1946) by neurologist and psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl. The book chronicles Frankl’s experience as a prisoner in a World War II concentration camp and describes his psychotherapeutic method of logotherapy . A kind of existential analysis, logotherapy focuses on man’s “will to meaning” and the basic premises that:

-        Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
-        Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
-        We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering. 

In his bestselling book ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’ (1990), Dr Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, explores the concept of “flow”—as in “in the flow” as our experience of optimal fulfillment and engagement. Flow, whether in creative arts, athletic competition, engaging work, or spiritual practice, is a deep and uniquely human motivation to excel, exceed, and triumph over limitation. To Csikszentmihaly, happiness is not simply flow or an emotional state, or even the experience of pleasure but the continual challenge to go beyond ourself as part of something greater than one’s own self-interest.

 So perhaps happiness, like beauty, is really in the eyes and heart of the beholder. 

This article was first published in dumbo feather magazine.