Meditation 101

Meditation is the stress management tool I wish I’d known about years ago. When I began to learn to slow down, my progress hugely sped up.

The introduction of a pause in your day is so powerful. It lets you think about how you are feeling and why you are feeling like that.

Meditation can feel super uncomfortable at first, or if you have a million racing thoughts if might be calming (it was for me).

Carving out time for you in your busy day is essential if you are going to cope with the 10 million things you need to cope with.

Meditation teaches us that we need to slow down, it teaches us that we can do hard things (like slow down!), shows us that we are in control of our thoughts (as opposed to our thoughts controlling us).

Learning to sit with uncomfortable feelings is a superpower. It can improve your relationship with your body, with food, with exercise. Doing somwthiung that is hard and that is uncomfortable helps develop self-discipline, which is a really important factor running alongside self compassion.  

How?

·       Find a quiet place and time in your day that you’re unlikely to be interrupted.

·       Some people like to use an app to help them eg Unplug, Insight, Calm or Headspace.

·       Other might search for a “guided meditation” on You Tube and use that.

·       The simplest way to start is to set a timer for 2 minutes, and to concentrate on your breathe for that 2 minutes. In through your nose and out through your mouth. When your mind drifts from this, forgive yourself (the ultimate in self compassion!), and take your thoughts back to your breathing.

Where to start

·       Commit to yourself for a minimum 2 minutes a day and try to build up by a minute every little while. Remember that nothing will change unless you do. Everyone has time for a 2 minute habit- try to do more on days when you have time and on other days just do the 2 minutes.

·       You don’t need to where anything special or sit in any particular way- though having your ribs stacked above you pelvis is better for your breathing.

How to get better

·       Create a ‘streak’ of the habit using a habit tracker app like Streaks, Done or Way of life,  or simply recording in your journal.

·       As with everything, meditation is a skill that you will get better at IF you practice. Stick at it… be in it for the long haul.

·       REFRAME for the win… welcome those wandering thoughts as they make you get better at meditation- it’s them that lets you pull back into your breath.