Easy ways to meditate

Many things stress us out during the holiday season–finishing our Christmas shopping, dealing with so much traffic, falling in line at the counters, budgeting our money and time, and many more.

Meditation, however, has helped me survive all these.

In the past, I shared with you some tips on meditating from the book Easy Steps to Healing by Greer Alicia.

Here are more easy ways to meditate:

Take a deep breath

After you’ve practised meditating for a while, you’ll find that you are living it effortlessly and not merely doing it. To make this leap, however, you must prepare yourself by taking the first small steps like a child learning to walk. Concentrate on each step.

This is one exercise you can do: Take a deep breath in and then exhale. Follow your breathing with your mind. Focus only on breathing and nothing else.

Picture it in your mind

The more connections you make between your inner and outer worlds, the more integrated you become.

Start with the physical. Explore your five senses–hearing, seeing, taste, touch and smell. Reach the inner sense through remembering and imagination. For example, look at a flower, then shut your eyes and hold the picture in your mind. If you lose the picture, look again.

Relax your body

Relaxing your body prepares you for the deeper experience of meditation.

Sit or lie with your eyes closed and listen to your body. Let your mind focus on each part of the body from head to toe. Concentrate and feel the tension. Exaggerate the tension. Then release the tension. Feel the difference.

It’s all in the mind

You are in charge of your mind; it doesn’t control you. Begin to monitor what you are thinking. Own your thoughts and know that you can change them. You can choose to have positive, uplifting thoughts or negative, judgmental thoughts.

Write down 10 things you like about yourself and 10 things you dislike. Which list was easier to write? With what thoughts are you feeding your life? Where did they come from? How do they limit you?

Let go

Let go of the tension in your body, of the feelings that cause the tension, of the thoughts that limit you. Be open to who you are. First acknowledge what you feel. Be an explorer and listen to what is behind the feeling. Never deny your feelings.

Take time when you feel depressed to acknowledge the depression rather than suppress it. Find where the depression is centered in your body and focus on it. Listen to what your feeling is telling you. Don’t rationalize it away.

Energize

When meditating makes you feel centered, you’ll find an abundance of energy. You’ll learn to focus on what is important in your life and release the rest.

Imagine your body filled with light. "Breathe" it into every cell. See, feel and direct the light. Imagine that every cell is being renewed, revitalized, made healthy and whole. When the entire body is filled with light, visualize it radiating from the body as far as your inner eye can see.

Be aware

Be responsible for who you are and what you become. You are not just a body. You have feelings, thoughts and a spirit, and they are all related. Nothing operates in a vacuum. The more you meditate, the less you will blame people or events for things that are truly your responsibility.

What’s in it for you?

In a still, quiet space, breathe deeply and explore a situation where you are in conflict. Look beneath your feelings. What are you defending? What are your fears? What’s in it for you?

Once you can meditate, you’ll find the still, calm pool in the midst of turmoil. You won’t have to remove yourself from a situation. The turmoil will be like ripples in your pool.

Imagine a pool of still, clean water. See the light shining through the sandy bottom. Surround your pool with beautiful trees and plants. Visualize it often until it is imprinted in your mind. Come back to the still mind-pool whenever you need.

The above are just some easy ways to meditate. I have tried them and they have become food for my mind and soul. Through them I’ve realized I could choose to dance through life or to struggle. You too have that choice.

Happy meditating and Merry Christmas!

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E-mail me at: babyjackster@yahoo.com