Meditation motivation

The Only Way to Be “Bad” at Meditation

Meditate, Meditation, Meditation motivation /

The Only Way to Be “Bad” at Meditation I will tell you right off the bat. The only way to be “bad” at meditation is by not meditating at all. So many people turn away from meditation or don’t even try because they think they will be bad at it. They think things like, “I can’t hold still,” “I can’t just stop thinking like that,” “I’m not a calm type of person,” “I’m not Buddhist” (or whatever religion people associate meditating with). Is this you? If it is, I’m not judging you. I used to have those kinds of thoughts and beliefs long before I started a regular meditation practice. This is because our brain likes what is familiar. When you introduce a new routine to the brain, especially something that will change the neural pathways of the brain itself, you’re definitely going to experience some push-back. Facing the Intimidation of Starting I remember starting my yoga teacher training in 2020, and a passage in the manual said something like, “Power is held in our daily habits and routines. Pick a practice to do every single day whether it is breathwork, exercise, or meditation.” I remember just staring at this sentence and thinking, “I want it to be meditation. It seems like the easiest choice but… why does it feel like it’s not? Why is it so intimidating?” What was the blockage? That’s something we gotta dig a little deeper to find out because it depends on your own personal beliefs, and a lot of times, it’s a bunch of beliefs that are standing in the way. My Personal Blocks with Meditation For me, it was a myriad of things — things that are usually hard to swallow. Like being scared to truly face myself. Being scared of what I would find. Thinking that it HAD to be a certain way in order for it to be done right. Like I would have to start a 1-hour meditation at 6 am every single day and not move a muscle in order for me to be doing it right. Four years of daily meditation later, I still move my leg during meditation when it falls asleep and I don’t care. I have still soaked up all the benefits that consistent meditation brings anyway. How I Started and Overcame Beliefs How did I do that? I just started somewhere. I started with meditation for small amounts of time, then longer amounts of time, then shorter a duration again. I learned how to listen to myself through meditation — everything going on within me. By doing so, these beliefs that were blocking me from what I wanted to do and what I wanted from life became revealed. From holding a space of awareness for these thoughts and beliefs, they became less heavy and more accepted. Did that mean they automatically went away? Well, not completely. Any habit patterns we have are just that — patterns. The same things will come back again; it is how we respond to them when they come back that actually changes them. Practice Makes Existence So next time you set a goal, any goal (it doesn’t have to be just starting a meditation practice) remember this: practice makes existence. Your new health regimen doesn’t exist until you start doing it. You being a guitar player doesn’t exist until you pick up the guitar and start putting blisters on your fingertips. Meditation won’t start to heal your life until you start meditating. The first time doing anything will never be perfect, obviously. Don’t let that subtle inner voice convince you that something isn’t worth trying. I cannot imagine where I would be or what I would be doing if I hadn’t started meditating and kept it going for years and years to come. Nobody Is Bad at Meditating Nobody is bad at meditating, just like nobody is bad at eating. That is simply a belief that holds us back from healing. What Are You Glad You Did? So tell us in the comments! Is there anything you are glad you did that held you back for a while?

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How to Use Breath-work in Your Meditation Practice

Meditate, Meditation, Meditation motivation, Practice, Uncategorized /

Have you ever done breathwork? Breathwork (which I am not sure is one word or not, we will just say for now that it is) is the use of breathing as therapy, particularly changing the breathing rhythms. It is a way to de-escalate and de-stress but certain techniques can also be energizing. It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest state of the body. Whenever some one describes to me how their meditation went and they tell me the type of breathing they were using the whole time, it takes everything in me not to correct and explain to them that breathwork is separate from meditation! Many people find breathwork to be a form of meditation but there are some key differences. They seem similar because they both have a vast number of techniques that facilitate different purposes. When it comes to breathwork and meditation, often one leads into the other. So before we figure out how to use breathwork to help you meditate, let’s look at the key differences real quick. In breathwork, the focus is on control and manipulation of the breath. In meditation, the focus is inward reflection observation of sensation, thoughts and emotions. Breathwork is active and involves controlled, rhythmic ways of breathing that can cause emotional release and different states of being. Meditation is passive, the goal is to “do” nothing and simply observe. Breathwork brings vitality into the body by increasing oxygen. It can cause a range of experiences like emotional release, heightened awareness and deepened connection. Meditation allows a state of calm and inner peace through acceptance and a lovely little thing called equanimity. Equanimity is the ability to stay neutral through any experience, be it passion or adversity. Please don’t feel bad or wrong for how ever your meditation practice has been going, you are amazing for having one at all! All I am saying here is that I encourage you to have both a breathwork and meditation practice because they compliment each other so dang well like bread and butter or frosting on cake. You will find the combination of what breathing techniques and meditation techniques suite you best the more you practice. SO. The wonderful thing about these practices is that there are so many techniques and approaches to chose from. My personal favorite is to start with breathwork and go right into meditating. Lately, I have been doing a ratio breath of 1:2, meaning inhale for 4, exhale for eight or inhale for 5 exhale for ten. If I am doing a longer duration of meditation that day and I can feel myself starting to nod out or if my mind is very scattered, I will then take some active, deep, slow and long breaths to bring myself back to the present. If I wake up feeling very groggy, I will use a more invigorating breathing technique such as the infamous kapalabhati or “shining skull” breath. It wakes me up and keeps my mind more alert during meditation. If you have been heavily stressed and scattered lately and it is so hard to focus during your meditations, start with slow breaths at no specific count or pace, just what is right for you. The biggest key here is to not use breathwork as your meditation practice. They serve different purposes and get different results but they are like best friends. They are not exactly the same but work together so well. Keep exploring the different realms of breathwork and meditation and you are bound to either find the best techniques that work or you on a regular basis or you will have all the different techniques in your tool belt that will serve different purposes on different days. What is your favorite technique combo of breathwork and meditation? What have you found works best for you? Leave a comment below so we can all learn from each other!

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How to set up a meditation space.

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Something that may stop many people from starting a meditation practice is thinking that they don’t have a spot in their home that is just for meditation. While it is pretty cool to have this, you don’t have to. However, I already feel kinda silly saying that at all because I believe people can meditate any where at anytime if they so choose. My regular spot to meditate is on my bed or my bean bag chair. I sit on a pillow, one blanket on my lap, one blanket wrapped around my shoulders, one cushion under each knee and honey, that’s it. If you are more particular, if you thrive in a certain space set up, if you like to zazz it up, here are some tips and tricks to enhance your surroundings for your meditation practice. You don’t have to be fancy to get your meditation on. First, let me start by saying again, you do not have to have one designated area in your home for meditating. Maybe you are in a college dorm with a roommate, in which case, I would suggest meditating on your bed as a study break or even in a library. Some libraries offer isolated study rooms that are great for meditating. Just please please please don’t think that if you don’t have a fancy designated area for meditation that you can not have the most rewarding and fulfilling meditation practice, you absolutely can! All that is required is yourself and power of will. Now, if you do have a certain area in your home that you are ready to dedicate to meditation then consider yourself abundant! Not too many people have that luxury. Especially if you live with others or have children. For example, if the world of meditation had already revealed itself to me when i was living with my parents, I would sit in the closet (My sister and I shared a room). I would even sit in the woods to get as far away from others as possible. In this scenario for making a beautiful meditation space, lets pretend you have a whole room to yourself. First, the basics. What to sit on. Have you ever tried meditating by sitting flat on the ground? If so, you know that this is super uncomfortable. It’s not like it makes you a super impressive master meditator if you chose this, it is just making things harder on your body and mind. Even monks use a cushion or something to elevate the hips. So first order of business is to find a firm pillow to sit on. If you want a cushion just for meditating, those do exist! I say the simpler, the better. I is important to have your hips elevated to prevent the legs from going numb. If you have a yoga bolster or even an old couch cushion those could both work as well. Another element that I need for meditating is cushion under the knees. This could again be pillows. I have also used stuffed animals (oh stuffies, always offering support in all of the ways), and rolled up blankets. This could be an entire blanket rolled up under each knee or edges of the blanket that you are already using bunched up under each knee. If you are crafty or know some one who is, I have also seen little square cushions that serve this purpose as well. No pillows available to you? A folded up blanket or comforter will work just fine. Blankets, covers, shawls. Maybe you have this lovely shawl or tapestry that you got on a vacation that you would like to be your special meditation shawl. By all means, do it! I have a burrito blanket that I like to wrap around my shoulders during meditation that makes me feel like a secure little wrapped up burrito, protected by the tortilla. Unless you are wearing warm clothes, a blanket or two during meditation is incredibly helpful for feeling secure and giving a sense of protection. It is said that the space and items we use for a regular meditation practice hold energy. Have you ever gone to a meditation class at a yoga studio or a meditation hall? If so, you know what I’m talking about. So keeping your cushions and blankets in one spot, treating them with respect (folding that blanket and setting it on the cushion after each use or cleaning and cleansing with sage every now and again) will keep your meditation space clean and clear. Meditation items to enhance sensory awareness. This is the fun part! If your most preferred style of meditation involves some kind of sensory awareness, then add to your space some nifty and enjoyable elements. You can place a candle in front of you. Fire can be a very cleansing element and can also be used for candle gazing meditations. You can light an incense, give a spritz of some natural room spray or put some essential oils in a diffuser. You can have items that create sound; a bell, sound bowl, some meditation music from your phone. You can have other dim lights like a salt lamp or a red light. Maybe something you can touch before or after your meditation such as tarot cards or crystals. Whatever is going to be most inviting and comfortable for your meditation time. Just make sure you keep it all nice and organized, everything having it’s own place so you can easily return to it next time. Alter. Alters and what you put on them are totally optional and specific to you. This could be a little piece of would you keep on the floor that you can set items on, a desk, a shelf etc. An alter is typically a sacred space or structure used for spiritual or religious purposes.. so you don’t have to call it an alter if you don’t want to. It can simply be a spot where you keep all of

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What stops us from meditating?

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You ever make a goal and it just stays in your mind for a while before you actually do it? Then you do it once but it stays in your mind again for another month or so? I have. Especially with exercising. One day I will be full of enthusiasm and go hard on the working out paint! The next day I will be so sore that of course, I have to rest now. The next day, something will get in the way, so on and so forth. All of a sudden the whole week has passed and I realized I only worked out once. This happens with any goal, not excluding meditation. We wake up to our alarm in the morning, tell ourselves “five more minutes” or “I can meditate laying down” next thing you know, you wake up and you have even less time than you wanted to get ready for work. Luckily, tomorrow always holds a second chance, right? Well really, you still have the rest of the day to get your meditation and work out in. So what is in the way? Is it because we would rather do it in the morning but we missed our goal to do so? Okay, that’s fair enough. What if the same thing happens tomorrow? Then you will keep pushing it to the next day and the next day and the next day because we want our routine to be perfect. I am here to tell you that it does not have to be. When you are starting a new habit or practice (especially with meditation) I encourage you to fit it in at any time of the day that you can. This way you can still be practicing meditation anyway. Yes, meditation is experienced differently at different times of the day and it is ideal to get it done in the morning. Not only because it is beneficial to start the day off with a clear mind, but just to get it out of the way and check it off the list of things to do today. However, it is better to do it at any time than to not do it at all. you want to ease your dedicated meditation practice into your life, not force it. So it looks like perfectionism is what is holding us back from meditating. I want to meditate at EXACTLY 6:30 am EVERYDAY for 30 minutes on the DOT. When you finally find yourself on your cushion, wrapped in your blanket, sitting in quiet and watching yourself completely, you will learn real fast just how imperfect every thing is. It would be so nice and perfect to shut those loud annoying thoughts up while we try to focus on the breath. It would be just so perfect if we could gaze only at the candle flame and focus only there without wavering once. That lots and lots of time and practice to get that good at focus and in meditation practices, that’s usually not exactly what we want to get out of it any way. We want to feel better. More calm, more present, better able to handle things. Most of all, our emotions. Heck, that is the main thing that holds us back from beginning and continuing our practice. Emotions that turn into thoughts, that turn into emotions, that turn into thoughts and that cycle that goes on and on.. until one day. We have this burning desire to achieve it. To let it become a part of us. To make it happen. That is the beauty of meditation. You sit there, just sit there and realize how hard it is to just sit there! We can lounge on the couch all day but God forbid we sit straight up, cross legged, eyes closed, be still and observe. It’s pretty hilarious if you can look at it that way. So then, our brain tells us “sitting there is so easy, you don’t actually have to do it. You’ll accomplish more if you do tasks or do something hard.” Or the voice that comes in the morning “you can do it later.” Later comes and all the other tasks you put off have now become more important but now you’re stressed while you’re trying to get them done on a crunch. I hate to remind you in the moment but.. if you had meditated in the morning.. the work and tasks would feel a lot less stressful. Maybe that is when the moment comes that you make that change. Are you seeing what it all comes down to that holds you back from meditating? You. It’s you my friend. That’s okay. That’s the beauty of meditation. At first it is so hard because you are fighting hard against yourself and the resistance you created. (If you are a human, you struggle with resistance.) Then after you get through consistent effort of getting into your meditative spot every day, one day, you will have a pleasant moment during one of your meditation practices. That pleasant moment will be what makes you look forward to sitting on that cushion. Next thing you know, you will look back and realize, whoa, I’ve been meditating every day for a year and a half now?…. nice. Please enjoy this 20 minute meditation for the next time you make the good decision to meditate instead of scroll! I’m rooting for you and your peace!

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