Meditation is a massively powerful tool.
It’s not only for the Woo Woo or Mystical types. It can be used to quiet the Monkey Mind, to get in touch with your Self and your body.
Think of Prayer as the practice of talking to the God*, and Meditation as the practice of listening.
Who couldn’t benefit in hearing more from the Divine?
We are a society that is masterful at distracting ourselves. You are excellent at staying busy, keeping your mind occupied with friends, tasks, thinking about what you need to do, thinking about what you could have said differently in that meeting, watching Netflix, etc etc etc. All of that is engaging the Mind, distracting it. The impact is that you don’t allow space for God to speak to your Soul.
As with everything I do (and teach) I am all about ignoring any rules and finding what works for each unique individual.
*Important Side Note. I use the word ‘God’ because it’s widely used in Western Culture. However, when I refer to ‘God’ I could just as easily say Goddess, Allah, Divine, Buddha, Yahweh, the Universe, Jehovah, Spirit…you get the idea. In my world, these are all synonyms – whatever name you use to reference your Higher Power – mentally swap that out when I use the word ‘God’.
All of my adult life, when faced with a challenge I would drive to a body of water and sit. Friends assumed these were my thinking spots, but I wasn’t really thinking, I was just….being. In retrospect, I was listening. I was meditating for years without even realizing I was meditating! I had this {false} notion that there was some ‘right’ way to do it.
There is no ‘right’ way to meditate.
You can find dozens, if not hundreds of definitions for meditation. I assert, there is no “correct” definition. With my clients, I keep it super simple and we relate to meditation as time spent alone with yourself, focusing your thoughts and energy on one thing.
You can turn virtually any task into a meditation by practicing the focus of your thoughts and energy.
For example, I have a client who meditates while folding laundry, she focuses her thoughts and energy on the task at hand, thinking about how the clothes protect her family, help them express their creativity, how fortunate they are to have clean clothes and such a vast wardrobe etc. I have another client who meditates in the shower, spending 3 minutes focused on the feel of the water on his skin, the sensations, the steam, the smell, etc.
See what I mean? There’s no ‘right’ way!
If you want to begin a practice, I suggest you start with 3 minutes a day. That is 180 seconds, I have full confidence that you can do this!
I recommend that you start simple. Sit in a comfortable position, set a timer for 3 minutes and spend it focused on your breath. Other great places to begin are by doing a mental body scan and yet another approach can be to repeat an affirmation or mantra to yourself.
If you feel like you need some assistance (no shame in that!), here are links to some resources that I find helpful.
- Guided Grounding Meditation
- Guided Breath Meditation
- Guided Visualization
- My go-to mantra
- Calming, relaxing music
- Less traditional music
- Meditation Playlist on Spotify
- Beautiful Chorus on Spotify
- Meditation Music on Spotify
Now, remember, it’s called a meditation practice for a reason. It’s not about getting good at it, improving, perfecting etc. It’s about a commitment to practice, regularly.
The point of all this is to spend time intentionally being alone with yourself. To build a muscle around being able to quiet the Monkeys to allow God to speak to you, because you are listening, even if just for 3 minutes.
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