Perhaps you have tried meditation and come away disappointed - you were expecting to feel calm, happy and focused, and instead got into an internal battle against your unruly mind! Rest assured, you are not alone. Meditation is an incredible tool to help you feel calmer, happier and more centered but many novices are under the mistaken impression that they have to try to stop their thoughts - and sadly give up when they realize they are unable to do this.
There are thousands of meditation techniques out there, from body scanning to breath awareness to candle gazing to mantra repetition. And while seemingly different on the surface, they all actually have two common similarities (and trying to stop your thoughts is not one of them!)
First, we focus on an object of concentration such as our breath or body sensations for example. Usually, quite quickly, the mind will get distracted by thoughts. All we have to do once we notice we are distracted, is calmly bring the mind back to the meditation object. We do this over and over again - that is why it is called meditation practice.
With practice, instead of squelching your thoughts, you begin to hone your ability to not to get LOST in your thoughts or passively dragged along by the stream of your mindand you start to tap into a different aspect of the mind: awareness.
Most of us spend the majority of our daily lives caught up in our THINKING MIND rather than our aware mind, and our thinking mind is where we experience our stress, frustration and worry. The nature of the thinking mind is to chew on problems, create a lot of internal noise and fixate on the future or the past. Unfortunately, the present moment is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching for something better or different, which of course, is a recipe for unhappiness.
Conversely, the aware mind, is not bound to the past or the future, but the experience of here and now. This leads to surrender, satisfaction and peace because it seeks nothing, it simply experiences the moment as it is. Regular meditation practice develops your mind's ability to slip into the state of awareness more easily, and gradually, this awareness starts to affect your everyday life in positive ways.
The benefits of meditation become more pronounced with regular practice, at least 10 to 20 minutes per day. So many areas of your life can change for the better: increased focus is a boon to your work life, increased compassion improves relationships and the new ability to be more self-aware means you can make healthier, more conscious choices for yourself. Your resilience and ability to cope with stress, anxiety or depression becomes stronger. And most importantly, being able to live in the present moment means you can truly enjoy all that your life has to offer.
There are thousands of meditation techniques out there, from body scanning to breath awareness to candle gazing to mantra repetition. And while seemingly different on the surface, they all actually have two common similarities (and trying to stop your thoughts is not one of them!)
First, we focus on an object of concentration such as our breath or body sensations for example. Usually, quite quickly, the mind will get distracted by thoughts. All we have to do once we notice we are distracted, is calmly bring the mind back to the meditation object. We do this over and over again - that is why it is called meditation practice.
With practice, instead of squelching your thoughts, you begin to hone your ability to not to get LOST in your thoughts or passively dragged along by the stream of your mindand you start to tap into a different aspect of the mind: awareness.
Most of us spend the majority of our daily lives caught up in our THINKING MIND rather than our aware mind, and our thinking mind is where we experience our stress, frustration and worry. The nature of the thinking mind is to chew on problems, create a lot of internal noise and fixate on the future or the past. Unfortunately, the present moment is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching for something better or different, which of course, is a recipe for unhappiness.
Conversely, the aware mind, is not bound to the past or the future, but the experience of here and now. This leads to surrender, satisfaction and peace because it seeks nothing, it simply experiences the moment as it is. Regular meditation practice develops your mind's ability to slip into the state of awareness more easily, and gradually, this awareness starts to affect your everyday life in positive ways.
The benefits of meditation become more pronounced with regular practice, at least 10 to 20 minutes per day. So many areas of your life can change for the better: increased focus is a boon to your work life, increased compassion improves relationships and the new ability to be more self-aware means you can make healthier, more conscious choices for yourself. Your resilience and ability to cope with stress, anxiety or depression becomes stronger. And most importantly, being able to live in the present moment means you can truly enjoy all that your life has to offer.
About the Author:
Sharee James is a yoga and meditation teacher, a naturopath and founder of Ashima Living. To learn more about how to calm your mind, watch her quick video How To Meditate or download her free e-guide "Stress-Less" here .
No comments:
Post a Comment