Making Time to Meditate
I will always make time to meditate because I have seen the difference in my life when I meditate and when I don’t make the time. The difference is significant. When I meditate daily I feel calm and content. When I don’t I feel rushed and anxious. It is that simple. Of course I choose calm and content so I meditate. I share not to suggest that I have it all figured out. I share only in hopes to inspire more people to meditate. I can only imagine how our world would change if more and more people lived their lives from a calm state of being.
If my personal experience doesn’t inspire you to start a meditation practice then maybe the research that continues to build about the positive physical and mental affects of meditating will inspire. This is the most recent study I found confirming actual changes in the brain and how people respond to pain and fear through a meditation practice.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/10/mindfulness-meditation-study-shows-changes-in-neural-responses-to-pain-and-fear/
It isn’t easy to make the time. We are all busy often too busy. I am gentle with myself as I believe there is no wrong way to meditate. Some days it’s just turning the timer on my phone and sitting in my car for ten minutes before the next car pool run instead of scrolling Facebook or Instagram. Other days it is sitting in a chair in the family room with a bit of chaos around me with my headphones on listening to a meditation from Insight Timer. I like meditating in front of the kids. I can not report that my kids have a meditation practice. I hope I’m planting seeds and someday they will. My preference is to sit on my meditation pillow in my room where I surround myself with crystals, books, old photos and essential oils. I like my meditation inspirations but they are not needed. It doesn’t matter where, when, or how, all that matters is the pausing, the sitting, the noticing, the breath, and the quieting of the mind.
Sometimes I use an app, sometime I don’t. I think variety is good in meditation just like in food. I am sure there are sages that recommend working toward a state of nirvana in a certain way, but I am not a sage and I think it is more important to just do it. Just hit pause on life for a couple minutes every day. I have found for me the daily practice is key. And not to set these long time goals of thirty minutes. I believe just ten minutes is enough and some days just five is enough.
I’m a big fan of the apps Insight Timer and Headspace. Insight Timer has an expansive database of meditations you can search by topic. It also has a nice timer feature. I recently rejoined Headspace. I felt like I needed something more structured lately. I like the way Headspace organizes meditations by topics and the days build on each other. The class style of meditation helps keep me engaged daily. Often my meditation is as simple as placing a few drops of an essential oil in my hand and taking some deep breaths and then sitting quietly for as long as I can without a timer, just until I get interrupted by life or my mind and body feel calm. I also like using crystals in meditation. I will pick up a crystal and open one of my crystal books or go on google to read about the healing potential of that crystal and reflect for a few minutes on how that is relevant to my life right now.
I also really enjoy going to meditation classes at Rooted in Mindfulness. I think there is something powerful about meditating in community. Jesse Long the teacher at RIM is an excellent teacher and he has all the degrees and experience. His ability to lead meaningful discussions after a guided meditation is nothing short of incredible and always worth the effort to attend.
At some point in my practice I wanted to start teaching. I felt like it would help me take my practice to the next level and I just feel so strongly about the benefits of meditation teaching seemed like a natural next step for me. Teaching inspires me to keep reading about meditation and to commit to my daily practice. I do not have a PhD in mindfulness or meditation but I have had a regular practice now for five years. I’ve read many books, attended workshops, and done an online Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. At a meditation course I attended the teacher who did have their PhD shared if you want to teach meditation the most important thing is not your degrees or certifications, it is that you have a daily practice. So I practice daily and I teach. I am really looking forward to teaching expecting moms at the Authentic Birth Center. I believe meditation is a life tool that can be life changing for all and so important for a mom’s journey into motherhood. The ability to hit pause while parenting is so valuable and not easy to do. But the more we practice the easier it becomes.
I provide free meditations right here on this website. I meditate to reduce my stress, cultivate calm and open my heart.
Who wants to join me and meditate for ten days in a row? Just try it ten minutes a day for ten days (with an app, with a timer - however works for you). Comment below/or on Facebook if you are in and then message me after the ten days and tell me about it. I will enter you in a drawing to win a FREE bottle of Young Living Frankincense essential oil. Frankincense is an amazing oil to meditate and pray with. It is the most researched and proven essential oil for its therapeutic benefits.
Who is in?
Let’s meditate and bring calm and peace to our world.