Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds Archives - Page 2 of 11 - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Posted on July 29, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel, Well Being
2 Comments

Traveling within the country or internationally opens the closed windows of our mind. When we travel our vision becomes more expansive, our lives are enriched, and new connections make us realize that the gem of compassion, the lotus in our heart is in each and every one of us—irrespective of our race, religion, color or gender.  As seekers on spiritual path we need clear mind and open heart to see, connect and understand the people different from us.  When we travel Our vision becomes more expansive, our lives are enriched, and we make new connections. Before my husband retired I occasionally accompanied him on his business trips. A bit nervous about walking alone around in a new city, I would stay back in our hotel room to write. But the thought of adventuring...

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Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Posted on July 27, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Creativity, Flourishing, Imagination, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel
3 Comments

Ashby Ponds under Harvest Moonlight Walking after sunrise and before sunset is popular. But have you walked under a moonless night when the sky is inky black-blue and stars twinkle bright, or when the moon is full? If you have, you know how nighttime walks heighten our senses of hearing and smell, titillate our body and mind. In the dark, the sense of sight diminishes but hearing takes over. Focus on the breath, and the inner stillness feels stronger. Slow your pace, stop, tilt your head upward and gaze at expanse of stars. Wonderment! Awe! You have to walk under the majesty of the night sky to feel it’s serenity and magical spell. It clears the mind, it calms, it makes you forget petty problems that had earlier in the day made you...

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Thursday, 16 July 2026

Posted on July 16, 2026
in Being in Nature, Flourishing, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Walking
0 Comments

Another Peacock Dance, New Delhi, India. Summer 2026 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) firmly believed that people should regard themselves as part and parcel of nature rather than members of society. In nature one has absolute freedom and wildness. To his consternation he wrote, “only one or two persons in the course of my life understood the art of walking” or who had “a genius for sauntering.” Legs were not made to sit upon, he declared, but to stand or walk upon.  People walk in the highways and across parking lots, “I walk out into nature much the way the old prophets and poets, Manu, Moses, Homer and Chaucer walked in.” True sauntering takes place in the woods and meadows” and not in parking lots and on highways. “The moment my legs begin to...

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Tuesday, 14 July, 2026

Posted on July 13, 2026
in #Authentic Self, Awareness, Death and Dying, Flourishing, Nonverbal Activities, Old Age and Death, Walking
2 Comments

Walking through a well-maintained cemetery is a unique experience. Observing the headstones and monuments of those who have gone before us not only grounds us but also stirs a feeling of serenity that stirs contemplation. For the preliminary exams for my doctoral work, I was to collect the rubbings from the headstones from three New England cemeteries. My topic was symbols and rituals of death from four different cultures. India, China, Mexico and New England. I didn’t find these resting places of long-gone ancestors morbid or depressing. On the contrary, walking through these was calming and tranquil. After making drawings and collecting rubbings, I was inspired to take longer walks on the pathways that webbed the greenery. The moment we’re born, we begin our journey toward death. Each human life’s path might...

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Thursday, July 2 2026

Posted on July 1, 2026
in #Nature Lover, #Reading Poetry, Creativity, Flourishing, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Framework for Longevity Michael J. Castori What is the secret of Longevity?Invest in bonds Bond with loveParental marital filial people spiritualLove thy neighbor as thyselfNo greater love hath manThan he give up his life for another Bond with natureWith its broad range of animal plant and mineral lifeWith its sun moon stars land sea and airAnd all the creatures thereon and thereinWith its solitude music challenge reverence Bond with a positive mindsetAim high and you won’t hit lowIf things go your way don’t get too highIf things go against you don’t get too low Bond with an upbeat lifestyleEngage in spiritual intellectual social recreational pursuitsThat guarantee health strength and daily breadWoo the positive spurn the negative Bond with existenceAn existence that you deem worthy of your worshipDaily lift up some thought word and deedTo Him to...

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Posted on June 29, 2026
in #Reading Poetry, Being in Nature, Creativity, Flourishing, Imagination, Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Reading, Walking, Well Being, Writing
2 Comments

I hope the poems I read in the class this month have motivated you to read more poems. Here is a link to mindful poetry for you to explore: https://cih.ucsd.edu/mindfulness/mindful-poetry I thought you may want to know that by the age 85 and older, about a third of people have dementia. Prevention is the most powerful antidote to the illness. You can’t prevent something you cannot see and dementia is one such illness. It increases exponentially after age 65. The mental decline is linked to lifestyle: physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, social isolation, poor sleep, lack of mentally stimulating activities and misuse of alcohol. All opposites of the eight good habits we’ve been reading about and hopefully practicing.  Prevention should start early. Our Ashby Ponds community may be retired but it has not quit...

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Thursday, 18 June, 2026

Posted on June 17, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Flourishing, Travel, Walking
4 Comments

Dear Readers, Here are two poems for you to enjoy. The first one is about my struggle to paint the red Sedona mountains and the other is Valarie CoX's excellent humorous poem about "Cookie Thief." Grandeur Revealed (Sedona) 2021Charcoal lines on a blank canvas,trying to evoke the images that dazzled me once. How do I recapture? Flame-red sentinel against the azure expanse,twisted trees, majestic canyons,sculptor’s statues or creator’s carvings? Grandeur magnetizes but the dread cements.I soak the bristles with sunlight,so heavy it is ready to drip.Where do I begin?  Close your eyes and see. Under crystal blue domewooly sunSage-scented mesas rising like flames orange dusted pathways, terrifying gorges.Intoxicating heatwaves inebriating me. I stretch the neck of my lilliputian bodyand feel miniscule I view the colossal against the crystal dome. Thirsty canvass absorbs dripping strokes sublime and dreadful coalesce.I color the edges orange red, highlight with gold streaks. Grandeur reveals...

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Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Posted on June 15, 2026
in Flourishing, Last Quarter of Our Lives, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Scented Roses, Ashby Ponds, June 2026 A few notes on sleeping well from Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age (2021). It is significant that we all know how to sleep better. Yes it is that important! Seven to nine hours of sleep, including the afternoon siesta is one of the most effective things we can do to reset our brain and body and increase quality life span. As we sleep the body replenishes itself. This affects every system, “From the brain to the heart, the immune system and all the inner workings of our metabolism. While we sleep the body heals tissues, strengthens memory and even sharpens brain.”Sufficient sleep keeps us attentive, sharp and creative. The brain has a “clean cycle” system for washing away metabolic...

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Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Posted on June 1, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Flourishing, Last Quarter of Our Lives, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
3 Comments

In-between, Ashby Ponds, 2026 Who doesn’t want to sharpen their mind at any time in their lives, especially during the final phase stage? We now know that the brain can be enriched, made faster, fitter and sharper at any age by practicing, that is doing something over and over again. We also know a sharper mind is more resilient which improves when we go through challenging experiences. Each day counts.  Body and brain are deeply connected. What is good for the body is good for the brain. Here are eight practices brain needs. You may be already exercising some of these. So one by one try to add the ones you are not: 1. Sleep for seven to nine hours a night2. Eat three nutritious meals a day3. Walk/Exercise four to five times...

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Thursday, May 28, 2028

Posted on May 30, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Awareness, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement
1 Comment

In 2002, the first Tibetan yogi tested in Dr. Richard Davidson’s lab was Mingyur Rinpoche. The number of his lifetime meditation practice hours were 62,000. His qualities of endless patience and gentle kindness truly impressed the researchers and were useful during the long and exhausting tests and the mappings of his mind.   Mingyur had to lay down in absolute stillness. EEG tracked his brain’s electrical activity and fMRI mapped the active regions in minute details.  It takes considerably longer than a few minutes to settle the mind. But for Mingyur as soon as he began the meditation, there was a sudden huge burst of electrical activity on the computer monitors displaying the signals from his brain. Everyone assumed he had moved. But he had not moved an iota. These were jaw-dropping results.  After his...

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