I have had a love-hate relationship with meditation most of my life.
As a child I was stuck between two contrasting schools of thought. Firstly, that of my parents who practiced meditaiton regularly and went to weekly group and secondly, that of my the rest of my Catholic family who, upon discovering that one of my many uncles had taken up meditation, managed to convince themselves that what he actually did was levitate.
I kid you not.
So I was never really sure about it all. As a teenager I tried meditation with the folks and it was all very calm and peaceful but my teenage mind kept wandering to more important things like eyeliner and Led Zepplin.
Meditation got put in a box that wasn’t really opened for a long time.
Then Yoga Teacher Training came along and the albatross of meditation reared its ugly head once again. Everything suddenly became more competitive. How many hours and hours of yoga and meditation practice we did each week, how many raw vegetables we’d eaten, how calm we remained. I was working full time in corporate law back then and the chance of me doing more than twenty minutes of yoga practice outside of class was minimal, let alone meditation, and as for raw vegetables…..intravenous coffee more like!
I tried everything. I got up in the morning before work to sit, I tried sitting before bed, I joined meditation groups (and left them within weeks) and nothing worked. The asana practice of yoga was going swimmingly, I soon got to a point where getting on my mat in the morning was as much a part of my routine as cleaning my teeth, but the meditation just wasn’t happening. Whenever I tried to sit I felt like I was being confronted with a battalion of things I just couldn’t or didn’t want to face.
So back it went in its box. Yoga is a moving mediation right? I was working along the right lines.
And I guess I must have been because over the last few months I have started something that resembles a regular meditation practice.
And it came from nowhere.
Because I realised that it doesn’t have to be hard.
That meditation isn’t about sitting cross-legged on the floor (yes, shock horror, a yoga teacher who abhors sitting cross-legged), amidst incense smoke, for hour upon hour.
That just 5 minutes a day is a huge achievement.
That the important thing is to be able to sit quietly with yourself each day.
That even if 1000 crazy thoughts come into your head in those five minutes , you’re doing it just right.
And that already, things are changing.
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Five Minute at-home Meditation Practice
Want to give it a go at home? Try this.
Take a comfortable seat. If you’re comfortable sitting cross-legged then that’s good, but if not sit in a chair – one where you can ensure you have straight spine – and plant the soles of both feet firmly on the floor.
Place the hands on the thighs in any way that feels comfortable (you can place the hands in Chin Mudra if you like, but it’s really not necessary).
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Close your eyes and listen to your breath.
Once you have settled into a nice even rhythm of breath, begin to count the breath like this:-
Inhale 30, Exhale 30
Inhale 29, Exhale 29
And so on, all the way down to 1.
Your mind will wander. Observe that, don’t judge and bring it back to the count.
You might lose count. That’s OK, just start again from 30.
When your timer goes off, stop counting, wherever you are and stay seated with the eyes closed for another few breaths.
Slowly open the eyes and continue with your day.
(Note: if you don’t have a timer or don’t want to use one, 30 slow even breaths takes about 5 minutes).
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If you would like recommendations for starting a meditation practice or developing your current one, do contact me.
We will be looking at meditation during our yoga holiday next year. Have you booked your place?
