About Meditation
INTRODUCTION
We all know that meditation is important. We have heard the stories, have been told it is good for us and that we specifically may benefit. We have partners, family members, friends, telling us to give it a try with claims of so many positive benefits. Can you list those benefits? Can they give you a solid understanding of why meditation is helpful? Maybe, but maybe our ears weren't open to listening. When we receive information from people close to us, it can be hard to implement their advice. In this short PDF I will discuss the benefits to meditation, the process, and how it works. I will go over why it is important and how even though we may not feel as if we have enough time in the day to meditate, we do.
This is for all of us that have a block in our minds. Thoughts that keep recurring, stress that comes back day after day. Anxiety that eats away at us and stops us from truly enjoying the moment we are in. This is for all of us that want to respond kindly and compassionately to the people we love and the strangers we encounter. Meditation is for people that want to enjoy the life we have been gifted instead of just passing through, waiting for the next day to come. Meditation is available to all and practiced by few. Be the difference, be the outlier, and show the rest of the world what they are missing by deepening your practice and cultivating peace in your life. Becoming more aware through meditation. This practice is growing so grow along with it.
Have patience for yourself and your journey. Hateful language towards the self is not welcomed in meditation. When you find your mind has drifted, just remind yourself "I love myself" and come back to the practice. Now, let’s talk more about meditation, shall we?
MEDITATION
Meditation is described as a peace that occurs when the mind becomes silent and calm. While I can guide you in meditation, I cannot teach you the meditation. Meditation is a self-experience developed from self-awareness.
Have you seen the waves in the ocean? Picture them. You see the waves on the surface. The mind is a lot like those waves. Thoughts moving over the surface. To see the deepest parts of the mind, one must calm the waves, make the water clear. That is what meditation helps with. Once we see the stillness, we see the inner treasure of silence that rests in each and every one of us. We calm anxiety, stress, the unneeded pressure, and replace those feelings with experiences of oneness, happiness, and harmony. Through meditation we create new patterns and overcome negative tendencies.
In simple words, Meditation means awareness. What we do with the awareness is meditation. Meditation means "watching your breath". Meditation can mean listening to the birds, watching the clouds or the flame of a candlelight. Do you find yourself zoning out from time to time? Children do and this is ridiculed out of them, but this is one of the deepest forms of meditation. Any activity that is free from any other distraction in the mind is an effective meditation. This is not just a 10-minute practice here and there, instead meditation is a way of life.
When you meditate, you are the observer. The observer of your thoughts and the one that realizes all activity of the mind is one.
After teaching this concept, I wonder if many people choose to not meditate because they don't like the thoughts they hear. The self-critique, the hate, the poison. When thoughts like these come up, it’s important to love yourself. To repeat the mantra "I love myself" and to know that the self-critique and judgement doesn't belong to you. Those thoughts are not yours; they are some variations of thoughts that have come to you through life. Life traumas, parents, friend groups, or society. If you loved yourself, would you say those things to you? Would you say those things to anyone else you care about? So, when they pop up, observe them and feel free to question where they are coming from without judgement of the answer. This is your practice and the only way to feel this practice is to be honest with yourself. How will one be honest with another when they are not willing to work on being honest with oneself?
There are a few meditation techniques to follow. Meditation is only possible with concentration. So how do we concentrate?
With this version I have given three different ways to meditate. The full version has five. Become a Patreon member to get access to practices and guides like this one or buy the full version on the site.
https://www.patreon.com/DiscoveringTara
https://discoveringtara.com/store/p/about-meditation-2023
Concentrate on Objects
I will use the example of a flower for this exercise. Close your eyes and imagine a garden with an abundance of flowers. Slowly scan the garden and land your attention on one flower to focus. See the color, texture, smell and hold this concentration for as long as possible. If you are not going to use this, use something that will allow you to have a big picture to scan through.
Concentrate on Sounds
As you rest in a seated position, listen to the sounds around you. Whether that be the birds chirping or children laughing. When your mind drifts away from the sounds, bring your attention back to the sound. If there are multiple sounds, bring your attention to just one.
Mantra
This type of meditation works the best when the mind is more active. The Mantra meditation allows the mind to have something its concentrating on, and repeating, while becoming aware of the breath, and the body. There are a ton of different mantras you can use or make up depending on what it is you feel you need. My favorite set of mantra is "I love myself" on the inhale, and "Thank you" on the exhale. Another set that feels just as good to me, "I am enough" on the inhale, and "Letting go" on the exhale.
We just went over a few types of different meditation practices. This is to show that meditation does not have to be strict. There is no need to be hard on yourself. The point is to just breathe and allow space to simply exist with no expectations. With these different styles of meditation in mind, lets talk more about the 6 steps (12 steps in the full version) for meditation.
6 Step Guide
Some people (myself included) have an easier time following instructions when those instructions are very clear, especially at first. When beginning your practice, it can be a lot easier to start when given a guide. On the next few pages you will read the 6 steps to preparing and practicing meditation. Over time feel free to make any adjustments you need that help you deepen your meditation. As a gentle reminder, I can guide you in meditation, but I can not teach you meditation. Meditation is a state of awareness, a state of patience, of openness, and acceptance.
Step 1:
Find a space that encourages you to feel calm.
This step can be one of the most difficult steps of them all. Finding a space you feel comfortable, calm, and where you won't be disturbed. We all have different spaces that encourage silence in our minds. Our getaway spot. Sometimes mine is in the shower, other times it’s in the woods, or in a crowd full of people. The great thing about meditation is that it doesn't matter what others may think of you because you are completely aware that whatever thoughts they have will pass just as quickly as they entered their minds. Once you start deepening your practice, you may start to challenge yourself more. I like to find a few minutes of meditation when in a crowd full of people or at the gym.
Bringing this back to when you are in the beginning stages, find a space where the distractions are sparse. Where you feel comfortable and relaxed. Set up your space before hand. Light some candles, and/or incense. Create your own type of meditation space.
Step 2:
Try finding a time where your mind is free of concerns and worries.
If you haven't tried waking up a little earlier than normal to meditate, give it a try, just once, for a week. Even if the purpose is just to feel what I am taking about. There is nothing like waking up before your day is allocated to start, to find time for yourself. Feeling the peace of the morning, the peace before the day. The energy from the rest you just experienced and sitting in that energy.
If early is not your style, you can always practice after work or before bed. Any time that feels a little less chaotic. Keep in mind that 5 minutes of practice is better than no practice at all.
Step 3:
Follow the first two steps each day.
Try to create a pattern where you use the same space and time each day. This step is the most difficult for me. My days tend to not be the same and what I don't consider is that my mornings can be the consistency I am looking for. I just get to make the adjustment and do the work. All while realizing that this isn't work. It’s the time I allow oxygen to flush through my body, to seep into my cells. It’s the time that I allow silence to linger for longer than usual. It is the space I need before addressing any concerns. If that requires me to wake up 10 minutes before my "set" alarm, so be it. If that requires I go to bed 10 minutes earlier than anticipated, so be it. Recognizing that taking the time for meditation helps me be the version of myself I want to give to the world, to others around me, and most importantly, the version of myself I want to be, then there really is no work that I need to add. It’s simply just time. And there are a ton of ways to add more time into the day.
Put down your phone 5 extra minutes a day. Turn off the T.V. for 5 minutes, wake up 5 minutes earlier, go to bed 5 minutes earlier. These are all just ideas to get the mind flowing with ways in which you can create structure for your practice.
Step 4:
Sit with the spine lengthened. Back, neck, and head all in a straight line.
The vagus nerve runs from the brain, along the spine down to the abdomen. Without getting too much into it, the vagus nerve is said to help communication between the brain and the second brain (the gut). While keeping our back, neck, and head all in one line, we are lengthening this nerve. The gut brain is where a lot of our stress, anxiety, and fear reside, along with 90% of our serotonin, also known as the happiness hormone. When we keep the communication open by finding length in the areas described, it makes creating those pathways easier.
Step 5:
Let the mind know that for the duration of the practice, it is to remain silent.
Instructions are hard to follow and at times the mind may be feeling a bit rebellious. Before starting your practice, let the mind know that its job is to stay silent for the duration of the meditation. At times it can even be helpful to simply repeat "Silence" when you realize the mind has trailed off. Letting the mind know that it is to remain silent during the meditation will allow the mind to be fully aware of its job.
Step 6:
Regulate the breath.
Start by taking five minutes or so to regulate the breath, meaning deepening the breath, not watching it at all, simply taking in deep long inhales and fully letting go on the exhales. When heavily active in the mind, this may be all that your practice is capable of withstanding. This alone is a good start to any type of meditation.
Even though I mention doing this for five minutes, do what feels comfortable to you. This is not about a set duration of time, it’s about a feeling. A feeling of relaxation and present moment awareness. It is hard to be in the present moment when we are focused on time. Set aside the allocated amount of time you can spend on meditation for the day and if step 6 takes the entire time you have allocated, let it.
To view the rest of the steps along with information about how to tie the chakras into meditation, become a Patreon member where information like this is provided in the membership or download from the website.
https://www.patreon.com/DiscoveringTara
https://discoveringtara.com/store/p/about-meditation-2023
Benefits of Meditation
So, like I mentioned earlier, what are the benefits of meditation? We know that there are benefits, but what are they clearly? I describe the benefits as three different types. The physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. While I do not practice a specific religion, I am a spiritual person. To me, being spiritual means believing in a power bigger than myself. I am small as just one human, and I can think of a ton of different areas that are bigger than myself. Like the ways in which trees communicate from their roots. That energy is something bigger than myself. Love is something bigger than myself. The way our societies decide what is "normal" and what is not is something bigger than myself (not that I agree with society). It can go either way, and regardless, those are all areas that have a power bigger than myself.
In this free version I have included a few, more listed benefits are available in the full version.
Physical Benefits:
Slows down the heart rate, decreasing stress and anxiety.
Connecting the mind with the gut (the second brain) helps with weight loss.
Bringing in oxygen, decreasing stress, and increasing blood flow reduces and can cure headaches and migraines.
Relaxes the nervous system.
Lasting beneficial changes in the way in which the neurons in the brain communicate.
Mental Benefits:
Builds self-confidence by bringing awareness to the part you have in connection to your mind, body, and connection to the world.
Increases creativity.
Improves relationships.
Increases productivity by providing mental rest.
The mind ages at a slower rate with Meditation.
Spiritual Benefits:
Changes your attitude towards life.
Helps bring you to live in the present moment.
Creates space to discover power and consciousness beyond the ego.
Allows you to have a deeper inner sense of assurance or knowingness.
Increases the acceptance of the self.
These benefits are just a few and the ones that I find the most helpful. These are benefits I myself have experienced and from a reference. The reference: Certification of Yoga Professionals Official Guidebook by Ministry of Ayush, Government of India.
To view the full benefits page of this PDF, become a Patreon member where information like this is provided in the membership or download from the website.
https://www.patreon.com/DiscoveringTara
https://discoveringtara.com/store/p/about-meditation-2023
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about bringing present moment awareness into our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, to our environment through gentle and nurturing actions.
When we practice mindfulness, we practice acceptance. To practice acceptance, we must pay attention to our own thoughts and feelings WITHOUT judging them. Without saying that one thought is "Right" while another is "Wrong". Thoughts are just thoughts. They are not action and it’s important to recognize the thoughts for what they are and become aware of what thoughts you are having. When we practice mindfulness, we are tuning into sensations of the present moment instead of reliving a past or creating a future.
In the full version I go over the multiple ways to practice mindfulness. The purpose of me leaving this page in the free version is to show that meditation and mindfulness go hand in hand.
As posted above and throughout this meditation guide, become a Patreon member where information like this is provided in the membership or download from the website.
https://www.patreon.com/DiscoveringTara
https://discoveringtara.com/store/p/about-meditation-2023
Tying it all together
I provided this guide to show you that meditation isn't just one "style". There are many ways to meditate. Meditation creates a way of life through mindfulness. It's something that, in my opinion, is mandatory if you want to live all that this life has to offer. Without meditation, experiences are dull, just waiting for the next experience instead of fully living in the current one. With the present moment awareness, we cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude for the life we have been given, the practices we have found, and will continue to find.
Meditation helps us truly experience the relationships we have by being able to share our internal thoughts and emotions. Meditation cultivates love for the self. We begin to let go of guilt, anger, and shame while replacing those feelings with patience, understanding, and compassion. We start to recognize that to give love and acceptance, we must create and experience love, and acceptance within the self.
To start your practice, you do not need much. Pick and choose from this guide the pieces that work well for you. Have patience as your practice grows. The first time you meditate will not look or feel the same as the 30th time and so forth. Accept where you are so you can continue to grow. Find your ideal time for your practice and know that what you are looking for is found internally. It's all inside of you, you just need to know where to look and meditation will help you with that.
Until next time, Tara.
*Copyright and publishing pending
