Knot Meditation

This is a meditation I came up with myself, and somewhat by accident, but I found it to be affective, in helping to clear the mind, gain focus or calm the mind and realive stress.

First take a piece of string, thred, cord, ribbon, etc... in whatever color is most appealing to you. I would say somewhere between 4-6 inches would be a good lenghth but utliamtely it can be as long or short as you would like it.

Tie as many knots you can along the length of it, from end to end, without overlapping knots, so they should be single knots going down the lenght of your thread, You should try to have them at least somewhat evenly spaced between them, but it does not have to be an exazt science.

Once you have all your knots just take one end between your fingers, and with your other hand begin to pull the thread through your fingers pausing for a couple of secounds at each knot just to feel it between your fingers, before you move on untill you reach the other end, and then repeat the process going back down to the other end. And just keep repeating this process of pulling the thread through your fingers from end to end, for as long as you like or feel you need. As you do this focus only on the feeling of the knots against your fingers, and if you want, you can at each knot contemplate upon one of the stressers in your life, and as you move on to the next knot, it can symoblize you moving past the stress and putting it behind you, and so forth.

And this is handy to take with you, you can put it in your purse, bag, wallet etc.. and bring it out to use in near any situation or in any envrioment, or you can find a good place to keep it where you will have easy access to it when you need it.

You can also try this to help you get past any anxieits or fears you might have. For example if you are afired of flying but have to travel somewhere, you can take your string with you, and just thread it through your fingers during the fight, and just focus on the knots and take your mind off of anything else happening around you.

This simple technique can really be extended and put out to many different uses.