Stepping Into Mindfulness and Meditation

Meditation plays a large part in the practice of yoga and can have many benefits if you practice consistently. While meditation can seem mysterious and ethereal, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, it requires more willpower and patience than anything.

Meditation is a way to train your brain, focus your mind, and clear out the junk gathered from daily life. Rather than emptying  the mind of all thoughts (which if you’ve ever tried is actually really hard) you simply let your thoughts come and go like clouds in the sky. It is almost impossible to stop your brain from thinking, but it is possible to observe your thoughts without attaching to them. The more you practice meditation, the easier it is to watch your thoughts without creating stories from them. Over time you will recognize yourself having less and less thoughts, and more spaces of silence or blue skies between the clouds.

It sounds easy when put into analogies, but the minute you sit to meditate you will notice all the ways you are distracted throughout your day. Thoughts about work, what you’re going to have for dinner and what you need to get done before you go to bed will creep into your mind. Feelings of discomfort from sitting, aches in your back and knees will try to draw your attention away. You will notice that you want to look at your phone, see how much time has passed and check if anyone is trying to get a hold of you. Instead of finding that peaceful state of bliss – you find yourself antsy, bored and annoyed.

Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Today’s society is constantly in a state of movement. Going from point A to point B, advancing in your career, saving up for a new car, doing whatever you can to make this experience bigger and better. Sitting down, even if it’s just for five minutes, can be a daunting task. We rarely ever give ourselves permission to sit and be. If we aren’t doing something then what good is it doing us? It is how we are trained to think.

Yes, meditation can be difficult, it can seem pointless at times but with consistency, you will start to see the benefits of the practice unfold. The more you practice meditation the more mindful you become. You start to recognize patterns in your thoughts and whether or not they serve you. You will notice emotions and allow yourself to feel them without reacting in the heat of the moment. Everyday stresses will start to diminish as your true purpose in life presents itself. It is not an end all be all to every difficult situation, you will still face obstacles that test you and your patience. However, meditation can give you the tools to overcome these obstacles with grace, and reveal your personal power.

Know that when you first start meditating, you don’t have to sit for an hour, you don’t have to chant Om, or have an ethereal out of body experience. You just have to show up for yourself and do your best, it’s a hard skill to learn and takes a long time to be comfortable with. Set aside five minutes at first, whether it’s in the morning right when you wake up, or at night before you go to bed. Set an alarm on your phone so you’re not tempted to look at the time, close your eyes and sit with your thoughts. Do your best to sit still, letting go of the nagging feeling to fidget for comfort. When you’re done, journal about your experience. What did you feel or see? Did you have any reoccurring thoughts that you couldn’t let go of? Journal without trying to find answers or explanations for why you felt this way, the reason behind your feelings will come to you with time. The more you try to figure out why, the further down the rabbit hole of thoughts you will go, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason and that’s ok too! Once you are comfortable with five minutes, go to seven, then ten, twelve, fifteen and so on.

While you want to add on time and test your patience, know that it’s ok if all you can do one day is sit for five minutes. We lead busy lives and can’t always dedicate the amount of time we want to our practice. Showing up for five minutes is better than not showing up at all. Keep in mind that it takes time to have those spiritual epiphanies in your meditation and even when you do experience them they will be rare. Do not go into your meditation with expectations, resist the urge to control the journey. When we try to have a crazy, mystical experience all it does is distract us more. Instead, surrender to the practice, and give yourself grace when you notice your mind wandering. Forming a solid meditation practice doesn’t happen overnight, stay consistent and don’t give up!

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