Want to take on meditation?
Here’s 5 tips to help:
Sit. Learning to sit can be a challenge. Do some light stretches before sitting down and then start off with just 5 minutes of sitting–see how it feels. Remember there are many different ways to sit. Find a seat comfortable for you, in a chair, on a block, sitting on the heels, sitting on a blanket or a pillow. Make sure that you are sitting in a place you’ll be happy to sit. For me there’s a room in my house where the morning light comes in magically. I like to sit in there.
2. Watch your thoughts. The mind is always going, in the beginning the goal is not to just turn off the mind (because that isn’t possible and you’ll drive yourself crazy just trying), but rather watch it. Don’t allow yourself to run off with the thoughts, always return to a very natural breath. It is only in watching the thoughts that you begin to realize that you are not these thoughts. You actually are the observer of the thoughts. Once you realize that you are not your mind, that is when the mind begins to settle, but this is a process so don’t beat yourself up if your meditation in the beginning is a crazy mind journey.
3. Let the mind entertain. Some complain that meditation is just boring. However, watching the crazy mind is quite entertaining! Then comes the shapes, sounds, different voices, mountains and endless deep blue lakes, light that shines right through the third eye and expands and contracts all around. In the stillness of sitting, one may find freedom from all thoughts, suspended in the galaxy of nothingness. For everyone, what happens in this space is different, but it’s definitely not boring!
4. Make and take time to meditate. Oh time you funny thing…how we are always trying to race you, yet you stay strong and we always seem to lose the race. We must make and take the time to meditate. If mediation could end the inner war going on inside you, would you make the time? If mediation could end your insomnia, anxiety or depression, would you make the time? If mediation could lead you to forgive, if mediation could remove that burden of weight you’ve been carrying all your life, could you find the time? If meditation could make you happy, truly happy would you find the time? Remember that time is an excuse made by the ego to keep you from facing the true you.
5. Just do it! Sounds cliche, but it takes 21 days to form a habit. That means that after doing it for 21 days, it will become part of your regular routine. Just keep doing it and your well on your way to a happier, more conscious you.
