Meditation: The Here & Now of Life

Meditation is about being aware and awakened in every moment of our lives. It is about bringing the body and mind into a state of harmony to experience awareness. Anyone can experience it and practice it no matter what religion or background is present. It is an important practice because it is so easy to live our lives on autopilot and be pulled into fantasies, thoughts, and feelings that distract us from the here and now. Meditation isn't about ignoring our life's thoughts or repressing feelings, it is about experiencing life in it's totality of existence. With busy minds we are so easily sucked into fears and create suffering from our own thoughts. Meditation can help you to de-clutter the mind from the constant bombardment of crazy thoughts that occur daily, and help focus on being present in every moment. It is easy to practice and incorporate into your life, and can have many benefits

How to easily meditate:

1. Choose a calm and quiet environment: Find a place where you will be comfortable sitting for 10 minutes or more. Sit down in one of the postures mentioned below on a comfortable pillow. Relax the arms, head, and neck and make sure that your spine is straight. 

2. Breathe slow and deep: You can keep your eyes closed or keep them open looking down at a 45 degree angle and still keeping the neck straight. If you choose to keep your eyes open, relax them and try not to focus on any one thing. Breathe slow but do not  force your breathing. Inhaling and exhaling in a way that is comfortable for you is an important key. The first breaths are normally shallow, but as more air fills the lungs they will change to become deeper and fuller. 

3. Awareness: While breathing deep, slowly become relaxed and aware of your entire body. Focus your attention on the breath as your chest rises and falls. To achieve a deeper breath, try breathing more into the stomach rather than the chest. As you focus all your awareness on your body and breathing, thoughts may randomly arise. Do not focus on the things that come up in the mind, but simply observe their presence entering and leaving. When you see that your focus has shifted from your breath, simply bring your awareness back to your breath. The more that you focus on being present in the here and now, the easier it will be to incorporate being fully awake to ever moment in life. It may be difficult to calm the mind at first, but with practice it will become easier. 

4. Ending: When you are ready to end the session, open your eyes and stand up slowly. You want to meditate for a period of time that is comfortable for you. Starting with 10 minutes is a good place to begin, and then slowly increase the time to your personal desire. Meditation is great for relaxing the body and you may even experience a new joy for life. Be sure to incorporate your increased awareness into the rest of your daily activities even after your practice. 

Simple meditation guidelines

-Be consistent, try having a set schedule for meditation practice daily to help increase awareness on a day to day basis. Meditation isn't about being aware when you are sitting, but integrating it into the way you experience life everyday

-When you notice yourself experiencing thoughts or memories, simply watch as they pass without commenting or reacting to them. This is your bodies natural way of filtering through and de-cluttering

-It is best to meditate in the morning before eating, or hours after a meal has passed so that the mind can have a sharper focus and less distraction from digesting

-enter each session with no expectations or ideas of personal gain from meditation. Just experience it and your new awareness may spring new abundance in your life. 

Various meditation postures

For posture,you want ones that will keep your spine in perfect alignment. It isn't bad to sit cross legged, but it's harder to keep the spine straight. This is why the most effective postures are half lotus (where one foot is placed on the opposite thigh while the other is tucked close in), and full lotus (where both feet are on the opposing thigh as shown in the very center picture below). When our spines are straight we can experience a better flow of energy throughout our body and improve focus and concentration. Due to lack of flexibility, it can be difficult to attain even the half lotus or full lotus posture. The most important aspect is to be comfortable, if you are not then it is good to try one of the different positions below. 

Try meditating! I have found it to be helpful especially for calming my mind down and focusing on being present and releasing a lot of stress and anxiety as well. It may be a difficult at first to shift our awareness because we aren't used to it, but over time it will become more of who we are and it will be easier to integrate our new wisdom of ourselves and the world around us. 

Tip: If you have trouble staying focused on your breath, try incorporating a guided meditation or light calm music. 

This post is written by Michael
Adapted from: 
Image
Posture
Balancing Chi
Meditation: now or never by Steve Hagen