This weekend was my first meditation class. We(boy, coworker and I) ended up going to a different temple than originally planned. The first temple we looked into increased the price for the meditation class the day of the first class. Spending an extra $30 to meditate does not help my zen. So we went to the temple/dojo that my roommate practices aikido at. Their classes are free! They accept donations, of course.
There was a lot of talking and not a lot of meditating which was actually good for a first class. Meditation hurts. My knees and back were not happy. It reminded me how poor my posture is. The leader recommended concentrating on only one thing at a time when you start, either posture or breathing. When you concentrate on breathing, you try to breathe from your stomach and have each breath fill your body. You count your breaths and try to focus on only your breathing, without letting any distractions in. The leader has been practicing for 18 years and cannot always do this. I couldn’t get to 2. I think that says a lot about Western society. We are so rushed and overstimulated, we cannot concentrate for 10 seconds but this is probably something a Buddhist 12 year old in Asia can do.
After meditation we went to Southport Grocer for brunch. That place is soo good. I tried to be a little good and got granola pancakes instead of the incredibly delicious cupcake pancakes (my pancakes were still good, too). I’ve been having a really hard time finding healthy things at restaurants. Some restaurants even fuck up salads and turn them into dressing and cheese covered fat bowls with some lettuce in them. I hate ordering things at restaurants that I could have easily made at home so I’m not down with ordering a wilting fruit plate or a bowl of plain oatmeal. I should just cook more and go out to eat less. But the whole idea that restaurants cannot make at least a few items that are yummy and not dripping with grease pisses me off!