I have heard about people meditating for years now. There were so many things going through my mind during those years – I didn’t think I could do it. I didn’t think I would be able to do it the “right” way. I didn’t think there was space in my home where I COULD meditate. There was always an excuse as to WHY NOT. Because meditation is part of a couple of a couple of 12 step programs I follow – “Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”- I knew I wasn’t practicing that step to the best of my ability. I actually asked God one day about how I could incorporate meditation into my daily life. Then I let it go and waited for a response. One day, that was no different than any other day, as I was walking into my office (that was a small alcove in our bonus room) a thought popped into my head. How about you meditate on that green couch? I’ve been walking by this green couch for the past oh, 10 years and that thought had NEVER crossed my mind!!! It was simple yet so complex to my mind!!! So…I thought I’d give it a whirl. Ok…. Back up. I didn’t know HOW to meditate either. I had heard about how other people meditated and a lot of it just didn’t resonate with me. I began saying it out loud that I wanted to meditate and didn’t know how or where to start. Someone suggested Open Heart Project by Susan Piver – a Buddhist meditation teacher/writer. Once I found my spot to meditate and someone who could guide me with free guided meditations, I was ready to rock and roll!!!! The meditations were very good for me as they were TIMED!!! And we did the practice with our eyes OPEN! This was very difficult for me at first because I wanted to look all around my room and start making lists in my head. Susan would sometimes come in and say some words to guide us, but for the most part, her meditations were silent. I don’t remember how long I followed the Open Heart Project and Susan Piver, but eventually I let that practice go as another mediation practice came into my life and this is the one that’s stuck for several months now. Headspace was introduced to me by one of my very dear friends. She shared with me how she was using it and how she was sharing it with a group she was working with. That sounded really interesting to me so I went and checked it out!!! Headspace has a free 10 day mediation app to get you started. What I really like about Headspace is that he (Andy Puttacombe) does a lot of guided meditation in his “packs” and then there are some where it’s mostly silent. You can pick and choose what you want to listen to. Meditation has, like many many other things I’ve been willing to add to my life, been so instrumental in a lot of shifts that I’ve experienced over the past several months.
What I’ve learned is that there is no right or wrong way to meditate. I don’t have to meditate for 30 min. or an hour in order for it to “work”. 15 minutes is the length of the sessions I choose to do with Headspace. You can choose 10 min, 15 min or 20 min. There is flexibility once you’ve already started a pack also. There is no PERFECT way to meditate. There is no perfect SPOT to meditate. If you’ve wondered about meditation and have had fears/thoughts about it, reach out to someone you know who does and ask questions! Get in touch with me if you’d like. Whatever you do, please don’t think you CAN’T or it won’t “work”… give it a try. I did… and my life has changed immensely!!!!
Until next time…. Blessings to you all!!!!