Adbhuta

Recently I've been going to a lot of yoga classes, but it wasn't until today that I had actually tried meditating for more than a couple of minutes and not falling asleep (don't judge-they turn the lights down and turn the music off. It's like they want you to fall asleep). Our instructor told us that we could either chant our own mantra in our heads or we could chant the word "adbhuta", which in sanskrit means "wonder," but sounds like "abu" from Aladdin and "two" pushed together. She further explained that we could either say the whole word on your inhale and again on your exhale or inhale while saying the first syllable and exhale while saying the second . I chose the latter. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to keep my thoughts focused on saying one measly word but the more I said the two syllables the more I imagined the monkey from Aladdin prancing around stealing bread from the many voices of Robin Williams. Then as I chanted the last syllable, "two", another Abu would pop up in my head and the two twin monkeys with twice the thieving power! Look out Agrabah, now there are two semi-literate monkeys that are smarter than all the Jersey Shore kids combined wreaking havoc on the markets. Then as I thought that in my mind, giant Snooki poofs popped up on each of the Abus heads. All the while, the actual mantra is still quietly being chanted in the back of my mind. First experiment in meditation=FAIL.