Meditation

Michael Fortier now says he didn't want to run in the election and that's why he didn't run. Well then he shouldn't be holding office in cabinet. Can't he just reassure us he'll do a good job and leave it at that? How do you make an obscene gesture online? Something akin to thrusting a fisted forearm at someone.

Okay, I have to get off the subject of Harper's unsuitability as Canada's political head. My disillusionment in the man is causing ill health, the care of which he wants to privatize. Is he still on that? I can't afford private health care. It's our own undoing. My fellow Canadians elected him. Out, out, damn spot.

On a more thoughtful note, I started a meditation course last week. A mindfulness stress reduction program. It's a ten week commitment. Each day, on our own, we have to do a breathing exercise and a full body scan. Each week, when the class meets, we do a group body scan. No, no, we're not checking out each other's bodies.

We lie down together but each on our own mat, five across the room and six deep, kind of like fish mounted on a wall except we're on the floor. We follow the teacher's instructions to focus on and feel our own breathing. The idea is, when we calm down and pay attention to our body, we learn to live in the present moment. Supposedly, that helps us focus on the things that really matter in our lives and let us experience each moment in a more alive way. Or something like that. When I get there, I'll let you know.

The only thing is, most of the people in the class are coming from work. They are tired and stressed people with problems in their lives. That's why they are taking the class. What I know is, within the first five minutes of starting the body scan, different rythms of snoring rise from the floor. I can't help chuckling, which interferes with my concentration.

Yesterday, the woman beside me said, "Make sure you shake me if I fall asleep." But when she started snoring, I just didn't have the heart to wake her. She obviously needed her sleep. The teacher said, When you remove the noise and the busyness and you fall asleep, your body is telling you you are exhausted.

I guess so. But I have a different challenge when I relax. I don't want my body to make embarrassing explosive noises, which I know it wants to do. I wonder what my body is telling me.