WHENEVER,
WHEREVER
HUFFINGTON
10.20.13
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“People tend to have such
a strong tendency to
punish themselves, and
think, ‘Oh, I’m not doing
this right, because I’m not
sitting here in bliss every
single moment.’”
healing” and took up a home
yoga and meditation routine,
piecing together elements from
different videos and DVDs. (HuffPost is not advocating this approach, it is what Amodio tried.)
Though she believes the practice
has all but eliminated her pain, it
took her several months to fight
the sense that it was just another
thing she was failing at.
“I was just concentrating on
the idea of, ‘If I’m going to do this
right, I need to find an hour in my
day, I need to find an hour in my
day,’” Amodio said. “Some days, I
would sit down and I’d start to do
it, and I’d get five minutes in and
I’d hear the baby crying on the
monitor; some days, I’d sit down
and say ‘I’m going to do my hour,’
and I’d think, but I’m so tired, I
just want to sleep.”
But something clicked when
she took a step back and asked
herself, “What is the purpose of
this meditation? It’s not to get
an hour in. It’s to get relaxed,
and to re-center myself.”
Now, Amodio meditates daily
after putting her daughter down
for a late afternoon nap. She sits
on a yoga mat or pillow in her
living room with the windows
thrown open to let in air and light,
or with the blinds drawn, to create a sense of cozy calm. Other
days, she goes out to the back
deck of the Maryland home she
shares with her husband. It faces
the water, so she can sit
and feel the breeze.
Catherine Pearson is a senior
reporter at The Huffington Post