Meditation
How many of us meditate? And do you know or understand the benefits of meditation?
Over the past 2 weeks I have attended an intensive course on meditation techniques. This is part of my Diploma of Energy Healing. I had to admit that it was an extremely worthwhile course as it really opened my eyes to the different types of meditation that you can do. In my own very sporadic practice leading up to the past few weeks, I used to meditate (mostly) by lying down and just trying to silence the mind. I used to follow guided meditation but found that it was more distracting than not, and I had also used meditation as a tool for me to come up with things (e.g. a logo or an idea).
When I did meditate, I found that it was extremely beneficial. When I was a lawyer, I was constantly stressed out at work. People came to me with deadlines and I would be stressing over the fact that I had so much work to do, the deadlines were unrealistic, how dare the person come to me at the last minute - did they not respect how much I had to do?! Once I started meditating, I found that my approach to work was different. Mind you, I still got pissed off at people, but I rarely got stressed, and if I did then I just kind of dealt with it, instead of stressing out on how stressed I was (if you know what I mean). The more I meditated, the more I realised how supported I was from the Universe, and that I just had to "let go and let God" so to speak.
So how do we meditate? Look - there is no set formula really. If you googled meditation practices, you'd find LOADS. There are soooo many types of meditations out there - you just choose what is best for you. Meditation really is about focus and calming the mind - the process of removing all of those thoughts that run through your mind each and every day (and in actual fact, most of your thoughts are just re-runs of previous thoughts.... so we just live in a constant re-run of life... until we realise that and change it). Mindfulness on the other hand is being completely present in the moment. Mindfulness uses all of your senses at the same time and you consciously make choices and observe and feel into what it is you are doing at that particular moment (e.g. mindful eating is you making the choice to take one bite, and keep chewing and focus on all the different flavours hitting your palate, all the textures in your mouth, the smells you can sense, how the food has an affect on you, etc).
But I digress - let's get back onto some examples of simple meditations you can do:
Over the past 2 weeks I have attended an intensive course on meditation techniques. This is part of my Diploma of Energy Healing. I had to admit that it was an extremely worthwhile course as it really opened my eyes to the different types of meditation that you can do. In my own very sporadic practice leading up to the past few weeks, I used to meditate (mostly) by lying down and just trying to silence the mind. I used to follow guided meditation but found that it was more distracting than not, and I had also used meditation as a tool for me to come up with things (e.g. a logo or an idea).
When I did meditate, I found that it was extremely beneficial. When I was a lawyer, I was constantly stressed out at work. People came to me with deadlines and I would be stressing over the fact that I had so much work to do, the deadlines were unrealistic, how dare the person come to me at the last minute - did they not respect how much I had to do?! Once I started meditating, I found that my approach to work was different. Mind you, I still got pissed off at people, but I rarely got stressed, and if I did then I just kind of dealt with it, instead of stressing out on how stressed I was (if you know what I mean). The more I meditated, the more I realised how supported I was from the Universe, and that I just had to "let go and let God" so to speak.
So how do we meditate? Look - there is no set formula really. If you googled meditation practices, you'd find LOADS. There are soooo many types of meditations out there - you just choose what is best for you. Meditation really is about focus and calming the mind - the process of removing all of those thoughts that run through your mind each and every day (and in actual fact, most of your thoughts are just re-runs of previous thoughts.... so we just live in a constant re-run of life... until we realise that and change it). Mindfulness on the other hand is being completely present in the moment. Mindfulness uses all of your senses at the same time and you consciously make choices and observe and feel into what it is you are doing at that particular moment (e.g. mindful eating is you making the choice to take one bite, and keep chewing and focus on all the different flavours hitting your palate, all the textures in your mouth, the smells you can sense, how the food has an affect on you, etc).
But I digress - let's get back onto some examples of simple meditations you can do:
- Focus on your breath - inhalation and exhalation. Notice how it feels going in and out of your nostrils, or even notice how your body breathes from the heart, the diaphragm or your stomach.
- You can try doing a body scan - start with a few deep breaths just to settle, and then start focusing on your head - feel any sensations or anything that pop up. Acknowledge it and continue to hold your awareness there... you'll eventually know when to move down to your face/neck/shoulders/chest/hips/etc. This is a great way to trying to find out if you have any blockages in certain areas of your body.
- Listen to guided meditation. There's tonnes of them out there - Youtube it or Spotify it.
- Continuously chant a mantra.
- Listen to binaural beats or some other sort of meditative music.
- Ask a question and wait for an answer. The general gist of this is that the first couple of answers that pop into your head are useless. You'll know when you get a proper answer as the feeling is very different... and you kind of get an a-hah moment. This sort of meditation is FANTASTIC for trying to understand certain things... whether it is about yourself or something else. E.g of a question would be "Why does this person piss me off?" or "Why can I not find someone who loves me?".
- Look at something - light a candle and focus on the blue flame at the bottom of the candle. If your eyes get tired, close your eyes, and then open them again and focus on the object again.
Try to meditate at least once a day. Some people say have a set time to do it but quite frankly, life can be all over the place so I reckon if you just put some time aside to meditate, you're in a pretty good place.
You can do it for as little as a few minutes, or if you're a meditation fanatic, you can go on one of those 10 day vipassana retreats where you sit there and meditate silently! For me, I find the 20-30 minute mark is perfect but generally I will go into the meditation and my body will pull myself out of it when the time is right.
If you start meditating and find it difficult as your mind starts going off on tangents, don't worry - that's perfectly normal! Don't beat yourself up if you catch yourself doing it, just acknowledge the fact that it happened, and return your focus to whatever you were meditating on. Meditating is like exercising your brain/mind - it's tough initially but the more you do it, the better at it you get. The more you do it, it becomes less of a "pain in the ass" to do, and much more of a habit.
After a week or so you might realise that your perspective on certain things in life will change. It's definitely a good thing! So - go out there and try it!