Then simply breathe through your nose, focusing on your breath as the warm air exits your nostrils on the exhale and the cool air comes in and fills your lungs and sends energy throughout your body on the inhale. You can either close your eyes or maintain a soft gaze at a single object (candle, statue, etc.). Rest your hands in whatever position is comfortable for you. This action activates the sympathetic nervous system which increases the feelings of relaxation.Īt its core, meditation is sitting in a comfortable position in a chair or on the floor with a straight back. The sound makes my exhale about three times longer than my inhale (without thinking about it). I breathe in and, on the exhale, I hum or “say” Om with my mouth closed. I’m a visual person so I think the sound helps to counter the visual images of my thoughts. Recently I’ve incorporated sound in my meditation. My mind still wanders, but I judge the wandering less and objectively notice it before bringing it back to my breath. I can’t do it every day, but it happens more often. Your practice improves each time you catch yourself and shift back to your breathing.Īfter all these years of practicing, it’s a little easier for me to count to ten breaths without being distracted. The goal is to notice the endless times that your mind wanders from your breath to the 60,000 thoughts that go through your brain every day. The goal of meditation isn’t to stop the busy mind. Have a busy mind? Then meditation is exactly what you need. At some point, I end up moving my foot to get the blood flowing again.
I’m currently working through that to move to twenty minutes as I turn my focus from my breath to my foot to notice exactly what’s happening without trying to stop the pain. My left foot tells me when it’s been about fifteen minutes because it promptly falls asleep. When I make the time for meditation, I usually sit for about fifteen minutes. Sometimes I only have five minutes which is better than nothing. I started with about 30 seconds (an excruciatingly long time when you’re a beginner with a busy mind). Think you don’t have time? You don’t have to sit for an hour a day to feel its effects. Have you ever paused in your day, closed your eyes and taken a few deep breaths? Bingo! You’ve meditated. If you think you’ve never meditated before, you may be surprised. Life just gets easier to navigate, regardless of what’s being thrown at you. I’ve also noticed that the benefits seem to snowball – hard to detect at first and, later, hard to ignore. Like everything else that’s worthwhile in life, it happened in baby steps. It may seem impossible that sitting for only ten or fifteen minutes most days could make all this happen. It also allows me to communicate what I’m actually thinking and achieve the results I want more easily. Finding this new level of ease in speaking with others has significantly lowered my overall anxiety levels. I’m less worried about what others will think of me. In my relationships, I’m much more comfortable with being honest in a compassionate way. When my body and mind are quiet, I can hear the subtle voices of my body that always know what’s best for me. I now use my meditation time to ask my True Self about big decisions that I’m trying to make. During meditation, it’s much easier to tell the difference. My True Self speaks through my body, especially my gut. I’ve learned to differentiate my True Self from my monkey mind. It’s just a moment of craziness that I watch and patiently wait for it to pass. But now I can recognize this for what it is – it’s not me. Yes, at times it races around, screeching like the monkey mind it is. I never imagined that I could have a calm mind. The benefits I’ve reaped from a regular meditation practice are subtle yet powerful and continue to evolve. Benefits I’ve Seen from My Meditation Practice Fortunately for us all, these ideas are growing quickly. Only a few people were talking about meditation. Fifteen years ago, no one was talking about mindfulness. This process of sitting with myself and my breath was my (unknowing) introduction to mindfulness.
Then I challenged myself to repeat it in the same sitting. In many (well, most) sittings, I never made it to ten.
My goal was to count to ten breaths without my mind drifting off. I started with simply sitting still and counting my breaths. Like any new habit, if you want it badly enough, you can make it happen one baby step at a time. She suggested that I start small with a few breaths.
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