‘Meditation is for fools’ new discovery stocking for all you guru’s
Meditation has seemingly come out of nowhere to give us European background folk a wack in the face. What on earth is it and why would anyone waste their time and effort ‘practice’ meditation daily on an ongoing basis. Are these meditators losing their mind or do they know something that has to be experienced?
Meditation is the practice of being alert in the present. That is it, basically. It is so simple that it is hard to believe that the number of gurus out there is required to teach such a simple practice. That is in theory anyway. Cause if you have even tried to just observe what is happening around you without getting distracted by anyone element might be impossible! What… on earth. I have never come across a more deceptively easy task in all my life.
Meditation is hell. Your whole body is fighting you on this and it is bringing up every tiny grievance it has ever had against you! You can’t take that type of torture, it isn’t natural. So looking at the timer, which has been set to an easy beginner 2 minutes your at the 50 seconds mark, tick. WTF! This is an experience of meditating for the first time that shows there is something going on here. Not everything is as it seems.
Meditation is a powerful practice that benefits our lives in many ways according to the research. It is a way to expand our awareness and create new neural pathways that increase our ability to be more creative, productive, and joyful. That isn’t even touching the surface of meditation. It is also a stress reliever, a tool to learn self-control, and an aid to help us be happier in our lives each day. For more info on this, check out the video link below.
On a side note did you know our child’s brain is like a tapestry. What you weave into that tapestry while they are young will be both reflected in their behavior and have an impact on how their brain is wired for the rest of their life. I should write an article about neurodevelopment 🙂 Just another reason why maybe finding out how to do this meditation practice might be worthwhile as I am sure a more calm and observant parent could only benefit a child or really anyone.
So give this a try…
1. You want to make this a regular habit.
Just like brushing your teeth, you get short-time benefits, food away from between your teeth, and long-term benefits, prevention of gum disease. Meditation will relax you in the short term, but it will also help you learn faster, have greater emotional control, and increase concentration abilities.
So pick a morning or evening. After you brush your teeth…. do… meditation. You want to link the new habit with an existing habit you do. For example, brushing your teeth. This way, the memory trigger of a new task, meditation, is linked with the daily task of brushing your teeth. When you finish brushing your teeth you will do your meditation. It doesn’t matter when you do this or what habit you link your new practice to but it does matter that you do it.
2. Find a comfortable location where you will not easily get distracted. Where you can be in comfit and not disturbed.
You can meditate in any position, but be careful if you are meditating laying down before bed, you might just fall to sleep. Falling to sleep isn’t meditating but just keep in mind comfortable but not too comfortable that you will fall to sleep.
3. Set a timer for the short amount of time you wish to meditate for.
I use an app insight timer as it has the added benefit of having an intermediate bell or reminder to help you in your journey. It sometimes helps at the beginning to have the reassurance that the timer is working and helping to ease the thoughts that you have been sitting for ages… like hours as it might in fact feel like, but in reality, it has been 2 minutes.
You don’t have to do it for long to get the benefits but it does get better and better as you go. At the start, it is all about forming the healthy habit and including it in your lifestyle until it feels natural and normal for you to do your practice. So start with a length that is easy to and that be increased each day. For starters why not begin at 1 minute or 30 seconds and add 10 seconds each day. That should be easy right 🙂
4. Start the timer and begin your practice.
Closing your eyes just helps you not get distracted and is a good tip for when you start out… or whatever reason, you can do a meditation focusing on looking at something like a candle flame. But for this one, I am explaining a breath-based practice because I find it to be the most useful and simplest for me. There are heaps of ways to do this it doesn’t matter which way you do it, but it does matter that you do it if you wish to receive the amazing benefits that are on offer.
Focus all your attention on your breath specifically on the sensation of the air as it enters and leaves the tip of your nose. Focus all your attention on the sensation at the exclusion of all other sensations. When you notice your focus has changed to a thought or a sound etc just redirect it back to the sensation of the air going in and out of your nose. Simple right? That is it. There are some other really amazing meditation practices that I really enjoy. I will share them with you if you are interested 😉
5. Once the timer goes off try staying still for as long as you can. That is just the minimum amount. Keep going until you get go anymore. Enjoy, it makes you smarter 🙂
