Jordan Stones Blog

Place one hand in the middle of your abdomen. Place the other at your heart. Take an easy seat that allows you to be comfortable and supported without striving.  You can sit up with a lengthened spine or lie back on the floor.  Fill your belly with air and feel your hands gently rise and as you exhale feel them soften down. You should feel all sides of your container expand with air, especially focusing on filling the belly and flaring the rib cage open with air under your palms You can use any breathing technique that you like or just let your natural breath be observed. If distracting thoughts come into play, simply use one of the metaphors offered to non-judgmentally set that thought aside and bring your focus back to your breath.   If a concern comes to mind, gently set it aside for later, and come back to your breath. Do this for 1-2 minutes.

A.K.A. “Begin Again” Metaphors Consider which metaphor below you are drawn to.   Imagine, for example, that as you are trying to pray, your grocery list comes to mind.   Simply place that thought on the cloud, wave, train, leaf passing by and bring your attention back to your breath or your word phrase you use to collect your attention back on the Lord.   This is where resolutely rely on the wisdom of St. Benedict’s encouragement: “Begin again.”     ·        Clouds floating, or birds flying, across the sky.     ·        Waves arising from the sea, then falling back in. You can watch the waves from the shore, without being swept away.    ·        Leaves and sticks floating down a stream. You don’t have to dive in. You can watch from a bridge.    ·        A passing parade. You can watch th...

Let’s do this from the bottom up.   Bottom line: Mindfulness should take you into the present moment, not away from it. Mindfulness can be used to ground yourself in the middle of a wave of anxiety or a douse of depression   or a slice of your personal chaos– it can dig your tent stakes  deep into the middle of the dry, uncomfortable desert floor.  Through mindfulness practices, you slow your breath, then your body, then your thoughts, then your feelings, then your behaviors. Following this chain, you will find yourself engaging with life in the way you would CHOSE to, in the way that serves you best and brings you more in line with your authentic self, connected to your “Fount of Living Water” right in the middle of the deser t.   Otherwise we are victims of autopilot self-preservation instincts…that path you have been down enough times to know it doesn’t lead where you want to be. The problem is, we don’t like being in the desert. We don...

Legs Up the Wall Pose   Begin by  sitting on the floor with a wall next to your side. Your legs should be stretched out straight in front of you. Exhale and gently lie down on your back, engage your core and hip muscles to bring your legs up into the air with the bottoms of your feet pointing to the ceiling. Pivot your body so the backs of your legs are now touching the wall. Bring your sitting bones flush to the ground and as close to the wall as possible so your torso and legs create a 90-degree angle. Relax your neck and place your hands on your belly or to your sides with palms facing up. Focus on your breathing and with each breath release any stress or anxiety, starting from your feet and down through your body. Stay in the Legs Up the Wall Pose for five to 20 minutes. To come out of the pose, gently press the bottoms of your feet into the wall and roll to one side, making sure you support your legs until they reach the ground. Stay on the ground for a few sec...

Mandi on Mindfulness Part 2: Paying Attention and Mindfulness – A Pep-Talk Have you tried any mindfulness or contemplative prayer practices yet?   If so I would love for you to comment in the blog stream below.   I am hoping the following will be a pep-talk to further your thirst for this practice in your life. I would love to know both your positive experience, and your frustrating experiences. We know the desert fathers practiced silence and solitude in the un-institutionalized desert communities of pure devotion and removed from religion.   Religion becomes toxic when it becomes hollow “form without power”, or structure without Spirit. Religion was growing less intimate and authentic as Rome integrated and infiltrated the Christian faith into government. But, what in the world did they do out there that would cultivate such deep soul-stirring testimony, writings, and tradition? You have to be a special sort of person to read their works direct...

Usually “buzz word” trends make me roll my eyes.   But I drank the Kool Aid before it was even a thing…and fell forever in love and define myself by what we now hear called ‘mindfulness’.   It’s because it is what I stumbled upon 20 some years ago when I started doing yoga to save my body and realized it totally cleared my attention to swipe clear a sight-line between the Lord and I. But the truth is…this is one of the most ancient of ancient practices that people have used for thousands of years to hone their focus on what serves them best. We see this in church fathers and mothers, many from the contemplative stream like Thomas Merton, St. Teresa of Availa, and more recently Henry Nouwen and others in his tribe…but the tradition goes back even further: “As the Christian church moved from bottom to top, protected and pampered by the Roman Empire, people like Anthony of the Desert, John Cassian, Evagrius Ponticus, and the early monks went off to the deserts of Egypt, P...