Meditation is amazing, especially when there are such peaceful and beautiful places in the world, and in our own back yards. I think that there is a common misconception about meditation and how you have to sit still and silence your mind. I know that when I first started it was next to impossible to sit still and quiet my mind. As soon as I started to try to meditate I noticed what areas in my body felt uncomfortable, and often those feelings were exasperated by trying to sit cross-legged and perfectly still! Then my mind would inevitably wander off to random thoughts, then they would become less random and then before I knew it I was off on an internal rant about one thing or another. So feeling like I was a poor meditation student, I started researching it, I knew that I couldn't be the only one to start out like this (at least that was what I was hoping!!) and I was right!
So here are the tricks:
First off, throw out all of your misconceptions about meditation, it is a PRACTICE, practice allow you to figure out what works the best for you, and don't be hard on yourself if your practice doesn't look like someone else's.
When you start your practice utilize a space that you enjoy, it doesn't have to be a specific place that you go to every time, it can be out in your garden, in your bathtub, on the side of a beautiful river with the mountains in the background, at your desk at work, in your car, sitting cross legged in the middle of your living room, the possibilities are endless.
When you find your space, unplug yourself, turn your phone off ( or if you only want to meditate for a short period of time, set an alarm and turn your phone to airplane mode so no calls, emails, facebook or twitter alerts , or text messages can come in, but your alarm can still be heard)
If sitting doesn't appeal to you, walk. You can walk back and forth across a room, around the block, by the river, on a treadmill. I don't recommend lying down, often this leads to sleeping! Check out Qi Gong it is a moving meditation that is incredible, plus it forces you to focus your mind on the movements so less distracting thoughts come in.
If you are having trouble quieting the mind, get a guided meditation, or listen to music that you find really calming. Focus on your breathing, a good technique is to count to 4 on the inhale, count to 4 while holding, count to 4 on the exhale ( you can use a higher or lower count if it feels better for you). If you are a visual person picture white light entering your body as you inhale and allow it to grow brighter with each inhale, or picture your favourite place in nature, or use your imagination and create a space in your mind that you can come back to time and again when you meditate.
Most importantly - Allow yourself to take time for yourself, you deserve it, and everything that you need to do can wait, I promise the world will not collapse around you and everything will still be waiting there for you when you are done. You don't need to meditate for an hour (unless of course you want to) to start aim for 5 minutes or 15 and increase the length of time when it feels right to, and when you have time to.
Ok, now go and try some of it out, and if anyone has any technique that works for them that they would like to add, leave a comment!
