Meditation is getting a lot of attention these days, especially during the situation in which everyone is. Seems like nearly every week there’s a new study, opinion or eye-opening story detailing the benefits of regular meditation practice. Experts are attributing a laundry list of health benefits to the simple practice of sitting down and giving the mind a rest. Our non-stop way of living has trained us to focus on results…fast results. When that happens, time starts to feel more like a commodity than a gift and we begin to expect that anything worth our time had better produce tangible results, like yesterday.
I took it to step by step in order to plan on how I should meditate and this was my experience:
- Wherever I was, whatever I was doing, no matter what time of day or night, I STOPPED for a moment. I Stopped talking, planning, judging, expecting, and just took notice of everything around me. I let the goodness of the present moment fill up space.
- I gave myself over entirely to my senses. Noticed the smells and sites. I thought to myself. What can I hear and taste? What do my clothes, the air, the furniture or ground feel like, above below and around me? What else is going on in this moment that I can experience with the senses alone? I took it all in.
- The thought of not thinking confounds me. And letting go of that is a process. I started by just noticing what thoughts come up in my head. I forgot about judging, categorizing or even acting on them. Imagining them like clouds or balloons floating into and then out of my view. It felt like I was in control again.
- I didn’t hold my breath, I let it go. I felt it moving in and out of the body. The breath anchors me to this moment, it’s my connection to the reality of being alive.
- I tested on how long I can hang out present in the moment before my “auto-pilot” kicks in and transports me back to worrying about the future or thinking about the past. Just let it go
I truly enjoyed this experience. What was great was that there was no time frame to do this and I could do it anywhere. I’m aiming to do this everyday in the evening and hopefully reduce my stress levels.