Meditation
Meditation allows the mind and body to relax. Life can be stressful and stress can have serious repercussions on your health. Meditation has been scientifically proven to reduce stress with just eight weeks of consistent practice.
When we meditate, we inject deep and positive life altering benefits into our lives. We lower our stress levels, we get to know and understand our pain, we have more empathy and compassion, we improve our focus, and we're kinder to ourselves in the planet.
You may think that meditation may not work for you, but I am here to share tools to make it simple for absolutely anyone to learn to meditate.
How to Meditate
Most people think that meditation is some scary new age thing that is difficult to do. I think that sometimes we make things more difficult by our desire to do something perfectly. The thing about meditation is that it is different yet the same for every person. You just have to find your own personal path to stillness. Here are the basic steps to meditate. Take these steps and make them your own.
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1. Find a comfortable place to sit down
A place that feels calm and quiet to you. You can sit in the chair with your feet on the floor, you can kneel or you can sit cross-legged on the floor. You should be in a comfortable stable position. Feel free to add pillows or whatever you need to make yourself comfortable.
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2. Set a time limit.
If this is your first time, start with 3 minutes and work up to 20 minutes.
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3. Close your eyes.
Lightly close your eyes.
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4. Breathe in and out through your nose.
Follow the sensation of your breath as it goes in and out.
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5. When your mind begins to wander...
When you notice that your mind has wandered in perhaps a few seconds, a minute or 5 minutes in, simply thank your thoughts and return your attention to the breath. Don't judge yourself or obsess over your thoughts, just gently bring yourself back to the breath.
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6. Close With Gratitude.
When you're ready, open your eyes. Take a moment to pat your arms legs and wrap your arms around yourself as if you were giving yourself a hug. This will ground you and bring you back into the present moment.
Notice how you feel, notice your emotions. You may want to journal and note a few observations or awakenings that occurred or you may want to just have a glass of water. How you end is up to you, just be gentle with yourself.
This is the practice. You go away and you come back. Like an onion you peel back the layers of stress to reveal a more calm and serene you.
I have a variety of ways to help you discover your natural ability to meditate. Click the links below to access meditation tools.
40 Day meditation Challenge
Reset and reclaim your inner bliss
For 40 days you will receive one 10-minute meditation class per day, sent directly to your email and or cell phone. You'll get your bliss on for 40 days. All you need to get started is an email address or a cell phone to receive the texts and 10 minutes per day to recharge and release.