Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

Hey! Nice to see you in these parts. You’ve been scarce lately as well. : )

 

Congratulations @shravs3 !! Welcome to the wonders of motherhood. : ) Thank you for mentioning it Anusha or I wouldn’t have seen it.

 

I think we were all taught as children that meditation means being free of thought. I too believed for the longest time that meditation was this elevated thought-free state of mind only attained by enlightened sages. I wasted years thinking it wasn’t for me. : ) It was much later in life that I learned that meditation is in fact the opposite of not having any thoughts, and is really simple to practice!

Broadly speaking there are two ways to meditate — by concentrating the mind on one object or thought, or by observing thoughts without engaging with them. I practice the latter method, popularly known as mindfulness meditation. The technique is simple,

• find a quiet spot to sit, doesn’t have to be a yogic posture, sitting on a chair works just fine
• though not necessary it helps to focus on the breath; close your eyes and count the breaths as you inhale and exhale
• Your mind will drift; thoughts and feelings will arise — “what am I going to do for dinner”, “It’s so hot”, “what’s new on IL” — acknowledge the thoughts and let them go. By acknowledging I mean quietly saying to yourself ‘I’m thinking’ and bring the mind back to the breath. Don’t indulge the thought.
• At first your mind will drift every few seconds and sometimes you will get lost in those thoughts for a while before you realize what is happening. There should be no judgement or frustration with yourself. This is normal. It takes months of practice before the train of thoughts slows down.
• Practicing mindfulness is noticing when the mind drifts and bringing it back to the breath, rinse and repeat hundreds of times a day. That’s it!

After years and years of practice you might attain the elusive thoughtless state of mind, but that shouldn’t be the goal. The goal is to be present in each moment in a calm awareness, and when you realize you are getting lost in thought, quietly bringing yourself back into the moment.

HeadSpace and Calm are two apps that offer mindfulness based guided meditations. Most of their content is subscription based but they have free content too. You can learn from these apps and then practice on your own. When I started I couldn’t sit for more than 5 minutes without falling asleep. : ) Maybe start with 5 minutes and slowly build up over time. I am not dogmatic about place, time or posture because these are artificial restrictions. Sitting down to meditate is an accomplishment in itself. I see no reason to make it harder. On an ideal day I meditate 20 mins in the morning right after waking up and another 10 minutes right before sleeping. On busy days I do a quick 3-5 minutes where ever I can, in between meetings, in the car waiting to pick up kids from classes, you get the idea. Finding the time to meditate everyday, even for a few minutes, is key. Time, place, duration are all factors you can adjust as per your convenience.

 

Thank you for nominating the post Mistt! I’m glad you found it useful. : )