In every single session I’ve had with a client, one practice is brought up time and time again…. Meditation. Wait! Stop! Before you say to yourself “I’ve heard this before… I can’t meditate, I tried.. OR Meditation is for hippies or I fall asleep, or I’m not Buddhist”… or any other excuse your mind is giving you to navigate away from this page… I beg you to hear me out.
If you’re picturing someone sitting in lotus pose on a mountain chanting “OM” and think that is the only way to meditate…thankfully you’re wrong lol! There are so many different ways to meditate- some simple and some complex, but all super effective.
Effective for what you might ask? Why the heck would you want to meditate at all (other than all of the hype out there about it.) Meditation is all of our best friends, because it puts us back in touch with ourselves & it helps us to L I S T E N.
Listening is so challenging- especially when we’re trying to listen to our higher self- our intuition- our higher guidance. WE ALL HAVE IT, this innate wisdom, this connection to the Divine, God, Goddess, the Universe… whatever you’d like to call it, and we can call upon it for guidance whenever we so choose… but the key is to LISTEN. And man is that a challenge when our monkey brains won’t stop barking at us all of the time, am I right?!
This is why meditation is the #1 practice that EVERYONE, EVERYONE, EVERYONE can & will benefit from. With a committed practice of meditation on a DAILY basis- and I’m not talking an hour- I’m talking 10 minutes (minimum), IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. You will receive a sense of peace & calm, you will boost your actual immune system, you will increase your capacity for patience in every day life, and most importantly meditation will provide the insights & guidance you desire.
So then what is meditation? What does it look like? Meditation can be as simple as breathing with intention & awareness as you fall asleep at night, or first thing in the morning, still resting in bed. What is breathing with intention & awareness? It is simply using the sensation of your breath to focus upon (how it feels coming in & out of your nose, where is moves- does your belly move up and down more or do you feel it more in chest or ribs?), instead of letting your mind have free reign to wander. That being said as you continue to breathe and notice & feel your breath, your mind will absolutely wander. As it does, you just say “Okay brain, thanks for that (thought, memory, to-do list) I’ll get back to that later, but right now, back to my breath”. You will do this time and time again, as our minds tend to be very active- and that’s okay. The more you commit to practicing, the easier this will become AND you’ll eventually find that the space in between the mind wandering will become longer and longer. Like anything, some days will be easier than others, but don’t let that deter you from continuing to commit. Practice makes progress right?!
Breath focused meditation is just ONE TYPE of meditation to try. Some people meditate in a chair, lying in bed, or sitting up against a wall on the floor of their living room- anything goes. My favorite *cheap meditation app is called Insight Timer that allows you to create timers with singing bowl sounds & chimes that you can set to “sound” at different points within your mediation to help you “refocus” should your mind stray. It also offers you an array of free guided meditations which are also a wonderful way to get started with this process. But be sure to try a bunch as there are so many meditation guides, you may not resonate with all of them, so don’t give up. I also love Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Meditation series that he offers for free every few months. He also offers many guided meditations for free on his site that you can peruse as well. The options are endless, so just see what works for you.
I promise you that if you commit to 10 minutes of meditation a day for 30 days, you’re life, your health & your overall happiness will change for the better. Questions will be answered, new paths revealed, anxiety lessened, depression eased, and a new sense of well being will settle in. Set your alarm for 10 minutes daily, you won’t regret it. And for those of you who need extra reminders, set an alarm to remind you throughout the day to do your 10 minute meditation if you haven’t already ( I used this method lol).
For those of you who feel you need to take a class, or be part of a program for meditation, I get it. It’s nice to have folks keeping us accountable and to have someone lead the experience for you (you can do this within an online guided meditation by the way…for free :)), and I’ll remind you, you don’t “need” it. You may *want it, but I promise you DON’T need it. All you need is your desire & dedication to create a very successful at home meditation practice. Practice makes progress. Ready? All you have to do is START. Go ahead! I’m always here for support…. xoA
