If ever there was a time to meditate, it is now. Yoga is not just the practice of physical exercise or stamina; it is also the practice of the mind and body spiritual connection. I find that my monkey mind — the helenchatter — is a lot stronger than I wanted it to be. While doing the grounding exercises in yoga yesterday — the superman pose and the pigeon and having to hold each for at least 3 minutes — I realized how chattery my mind is. I couldn’t do either without holding still. Even just for 30 seconds, let alone 3 minutes! I got so annoyed at myself because I couldn’t hold these positions, and I realized how impatient my mind is. It is not just the body that can’t take these positions, it is the mind saying, “Oh goodness, this is SO BORING!! Do we HAVE to do this for THREE whole minutes? I don’t want to. I know you don’t want to, either. So why are we doing it?” Meditation is the practice of listening. And boy, my mind sure doesn’t like listening. It likes talking a whole lot more.