Cord Meditation

To do this meditation, I first had to make a small “rosary” of twenty-seven large quartz beads. Stringing these beads was a meditation in itself. Because of my brain injury, I could only use one hand at a time. The knotting took me a long time, which made the “rosary” more precious to me. (When I did do the meditation, I had to pass the beads from one hand to the other to keep it flowing.)

Choosing the affirmation to chant took time and care as well. I wanted to say something positive that would encompass all of my life. After much thought, I came up with “I embrace grace and beauty in areas of my life.”

I did the meditation when I went to bed, during the night, and when I got up in the morning. Because it helped to calm me down, this meditation was helpful when I went to bed. Usually when I got up at night, I would remain awake since the light would set my brain to racing. This meditation helped me to calm it and settle quickly back to sleep. Getting up and chanting set the tone for the day, and relaxed me as well.

What happened next was odd even by my standards. At first, I kept dreaming of spinning wheels. They were circles of colours spinning forming mandalas which flowed into flowers. Strangely enough, I did not get motion sickness during my dreaming.

Then I had a series of dreams that consisted of roads and railroad tracks. These lines were filled with coloured lights winking on and off. These twinkling lights moved up, down, and about on the roads and tracks. When I viewed these dancing colours, I felt more relaxed whilst I basked in their glow.

Again I believed that this helped to heal my brain. I assumed that the lights were healing the neural pathways of my brain. Also during the day, I became less reactive and more thoughtful. I had a sense of mindfulness throughout the day.