Welcome to the Meditation Room–Breathe, relax, heal

Welcome

Welcome to the Meditation room–it’s a place to come to find quiet, to meditate or contemplate, to look within. Included in this post are some basic ideas about why you might want to meditate. In my next post, I’ll share some ideas about starting a meditation practice, or maybe some ways to enrich your practice if you already have one.

Finding a time to meditate–you just need a few minutes

We live in a world that is busy and often stressful. Everyone needs to find a quiet place to reflect and refresh away from all the everyday busyness. You can spend a long time meditating, but you can also spend just a few minutes a day. Most of the scientific studies that examine the benefits of meditation are based on 20 minutes a day, and I’m sure that’s a good goal. But I think it’s better to start with something that’s doable for you, whether that’s an hour or 5 minutes.

As with building any habit, you will be better off dedicating a few minutes every day rather than an hour once a week. Just like with exercise, it’s better not to be just a weekend warrior.

Your practice will work even better if you can meditate at the same time each day–or tie it to a certain daily event. For example, now I usually meditate in the morning after I wake up and write my morning pages. I don’t always wake up at the same time, and I may meditate for a shorter time on days when I have to get out early. But meditating has become part of my daily rhythm and I like not having to think about it. Most days, I just do it. But if I have to rush out the door in the morning, even if I promise myself I’ll meditate later, it often doesn’t happen.

Why meditate?

If you’re going to dedicate even a few minutes a day of your precious time, you will want to do it for a good reason. Meditation has so many benefits. Here are a few (in no particular order other than the order I thought of them in):

• Meditation reduces stress
• It can help with anxiety and depression
• Meditating can reduce the inflammation that comes with autoimmune diseases (or modern life)
• It can lower blood pressure
• and increase immunity
• It can make you feel happier
• meditation increases self-awareness
• it increases acceptance of self and others
• it improves concentration
• and slows aging

And if that’s not enough reasons, check out this great infographic from Live and Dare.  

He lists 76 benefits of meditation in the article–and I found other articles that listed over 100 benefits!

 

My experience with meditation

I have built a meditation room in my dream home and am recommending that you try it because it has made a huge difference in my life–improved my health, relationships, a general sense of well-being and more.

I have meditated on a regular basis for–geez, I can’t believe it!–almost 40 years. Even as a child, I often meditated, although I didn’t call it that. I’d just look out the window into the ravine and relax and breathe. (I was kind of an odd, dreamy kid.)

The abridged version of my spiritual journey

But in my 20’s, I became interested in women’s spirituality. I never joined a group, but I read books and started meditating and doing my own rituals. A few years later, I started working with a spiritual teacher. She just happened to live 3 blocks from me. Every week or two, I’d go to her house and meditate with her–she guided me and taught me a lot about meditation. And I meditated almost every day in between. She combined wisdom from many different traditions. We also occasionally did rituals together, and I assisted her in teaching a class on Tibetan meditation. I worked with her for about ten years, and she really changed my life for the better.

I have worked with other teachers for a shorter time since then. I’ve also developed my own practices. I’ve learned from my time as a Waldorf teacher, as well, about the spiritual teachings of Rudolf Steiner. My meditation practice is eclectic and ever-evolving. It’s really the ground of my being. Below, I share some of the methods I use or have used through the years. I hope you find it helpful.

I’ve explored many traditions in my eclectic practice

Some of the traditions/practices I draw from in my own spiritual practice are (again, in no particular order):

• Tibetan Buddhism
• Judaism
• Zen
• art therapy
• tarot
• paganism
• mindfulness practices
• anthroposophy
• herbalism and essential oils
• journaling
• Christianity
• yoga
• dance
• nature
• shamanism
• I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but these are the main ones

  

Meditation Basics

You can, of course, just sit down and meditate–nothing fancy (or fancy, if you like)

• you can observe your breath–and bring your attention back to it when you notice your mind has wandered. My mind still wanders sometimes after all these years.
• or repeat a mantra, saying or affirmation–even just “Om”
• you can look at a candle, crystal, plant, flower, your hand, a mandala or other image that inspires you
• or observe yourself, notice how you feel in your body and/or emotions. Don’t judge them or try to change anything– just be present as much as possible
• you can read a passage that inspires you from a book, poem, spiritual tome.

If you try this, you might want to set a timer for however long you want. Otherwise, you might be tempted to keep peeking at the clock. Time can go very slowly when you are just beginning to meditate.

As I mentioned above, I’ll go into more detail in my next post. But if you want to jump in, try any or all of these or—-

You don’t have to do it by yourself–use an app, find a teacher or a book

There are many teachers around–both online and in person, as well as many books. I’ll share some of my favorites in a later post. There are videos, too of course. There are so many resources that it can be overwhelming. And it’s really important to find a form of meditation that resonates with you. One that makes you feel comfortable.

I’ll go into more detail about the basics of meditation and share a  few of my favorite types of meditation in my next post.

But there are also apps! My daughter and a couple of other people I know like Headspace. I’ve never tried these myself, but if you want to keep it really simple and just get started, check it out. You can use these indefinitely or just use them to learn how to meditate.

Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did.

Meditation can also help with meeting your inner monsters.

And as always, thanks for stopping by.

xoxo