This entry was posted on July 12, 2016
You’ve all heard of meditation. You’re all old hats at sitting quietly for 10 seconds before you start thinking about how silly you feel, how you’ve got an itchy nose, knee, arm etc. Then opened your eyes and given up.
If you haven’t ever experienced that, I find it difficult to believe you’ve ever meditated. Even seasoned veterans of meditation will have days where their mind just won’t be quiet. I’ve come to accept it as part of the human condition. Sometimes we’re over stimulated by the world and our emotions and our brain seems to have a mind of it’s own.
I’ve been quoted saying the quickest way to improve your energy is through meditation. Notice I didn’t say ‘easiest way’, the easiest is to have healing. But the quickest is definitely meditation it only takes 2-5 minutes of powerful focus to reorganise your energy! It’s amazing!
I’m not the kind of person who meditates EVERY day, but I’m not the kind of person that does anything EVERY day (except maybe drink water & clean my teeth lol). I’m more of a free spirit and I like to ‘choose’ to do things rather than feel an obligation to do things. So I don’t feel the need to impose a rigorous EVERY practice on you. With that said, if you’re not in the habit of meditating yet and you’re keen to develop a habit, then you’re the perfect person to undertake a 30 day meditation challenge. I’ll introduce the challenge at the end of this post for you.
How to get the most from your meditation time?
Find a time you won’t be disturbed – (or tell people to leave you alone for 5 mins, & new Mum’s do it when your baby has just fallen asleep and allow yourself to fall to sleep after your meditation too – you deserve it!)
Meditate with others – there is a powerful force that builds when you’re meditating in a group with people. As you all tune into the frequency of the universe, all your energies begin to harmonise and sitting in the presence of someone with harmonised energy will help your energy body to to harmonise too. This is by far the easiest way to meditate. I’ll tell you a story later about when I was taught to meditate by my spiritual mentor.
Use Insight Timer app – (it’s my favourite so I’m bound to mention it!) It is a community of meditators from all around the world of all different disciplines. You can log in at any time and within seconds be meditating with thousands of dedicated people. It’s wonderful & I love the sense of community I get from it.
Focus on your body – forget about your mind, it’ll chill out eventually and it’s easier to manipulate your physical body to becoming soft and calm with your breath, your mind will eventually just follow.
Be still – aim to be perfectly still. I don’t know exactly why but I always get more out of the meditations I’m perfectly still in. It might be different for you but I find it easier to be still if I’m sat cross legged on a cushion, just because my body is more comfortable & I like the way my energy flows better when my knees are below my tailbone (also known as your Root Chakra – which is just an energy centre in the body).
Become aware of who is listening to you count – after a period of time and your body and mind calm down, you may become aware that there’s another part of you that’s listening to you count inside your head. That’s the part of you that I consider to be your eternal part, the part of you that doesn’t have opinions about your thoughts, that just listens, that’s just there witnessing everything from your perspective. Whenever I become aware of my eternal part, I feel calmer, more at peace. I have theorised for so long about what that part is but it doesn’t really matter, when I pay attention to it, I feel calm and centred and that’s a beautiful thing.
Don’t restrict ‘when’ you can meditate – lot’s of other teachers I know encourage people to be dressed comfortably and that’s great. Be comfortable. But please know that I’m not too fussed about what you wear, I’ve quite often meditated for 2 minutes while I’m in a business dress waiting for someone to come into a meeting or coaching session. You don’t need to be comfortable to meditate, it can help but not enough to change into a different set of clothes! Equally you can put on some calm music in the background but it’s not essential. All that’s essential is you & your attention. Don’t get into the habit of ‘needing’ a comfy pair of trousers or particular music or a meditation cushion because you might end up restricting the amount of time you spend in connection with that beautiful peacefulness within you.
Sing – If you’ve tried meditating a number of times and you’ve found it too difficult to quieten your mind, try singing. I think it’s one of the things that the major religions of the world figured out ages ago. Singing makes it harder to think of anything else. My favourite mantra to sing to at the moment is by Jai-Jagadeesh & is called Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad. It’s on Spotify & iTunes.
30 day Meditation Challenge
For the next 30 days, sit comfortably for 2-5 minutes everyday. Allow your tummy to relax and flop out (I know… but seriously, do it! Relaxed tummies let us breathe naturally!) Now breathe in for a count of 3 and breathe out for a count of 6. You can put your hand gently on your tummy and you should feel it expanding and contracting.
If you’d like a visual to focus on as well, imagine welcoming in the nourishing energy of the universe through your breath and it filling up your body with sparkly white goodness.
(Warning: If you have asthma please reduce the counts to 2 and 4. The only thing that matters is that the out breath is twice as long as the in breath & that you’re breathing from your tummy and not your chest.)
Before you start your meditation, set a timer on your phone or use my favourite app and meditate with a community at www.insighttimer.com If you use Insight Timer, find me and add me as a friend and maybe we’ll meditate together soon,x