What I've Learned From Meditating For Over A Decade
So… what is meditation all about? What is this new fad/trend all about?
This article will be an attempt to share my personal experience of what meditation has done for me and continues to provide to me. Remember, everyone’s experiences will be different and unique. Hopefully, this will inspire you to see what a meditation practice can do for you.
This article covers:
How to apply meditation into your life
How to maintain a daily practice
The most wonderful gift that meditation has given me
Some unique benefits to adopting a meditation practice
What meditation is and what it is not
Any time we are integrating something new into our lives, there is a necessary adjustment period that takes place. So firstly, if you are just beginning to entertain the idea of bringing meditation into your daily life… start slow. Start out with a reasonable commitment. It would be unrealistic to say that you are going to meditate every day for one hour when you have only meditated at the end of a yoga class for 60 seconds…
Trust me when I say that this is important. You want to set yourself up for success in everything that you do. And creating realistic commitments is how you will be able to sustain yourself and be stable in your practice. Remember (and this is probably the most important thing in this article) that the results of your practice are cumulative. Your consistency is what will produce the results that you are desiring.
First, let’s address your why. Understanding why you want to adopt meditation into your life is the first step in being able to maintain consistency. When you slip up, miss a day than miss another day and notice how your emotional or mental stability may suffer from the lack of consistency, it’s important to come back to why you adopted a spiritual practice in the first place.
This is the first step in being able to apply meditation practically into your life for the long term. Maybe take a moment to write in your journal your why. Or, you can simply sit in a meditative posture with a straight spine and just take some nice deep breaths and ask your inner guidance system/ your inner being what your why is. The more honest you are the better. Be real with yourself. Get to the core answer of your desire. Are you stressed out? Are you battling anxiety? Are you dealing with insecurities that feel shameful? Do you have resentments and need to learn forgiveness? These are just some examples but may help you to find your answer.
Now, take a look at your schedule. What is your routine? What are your daily commitments with family, work, social life, etc? And see where / how it is possible to add in a 5 - 15 minute meditation practice into your day. Remember to start with something that sounds reasonable, something that you can actually do and stick with.
Because you are now connected to your “why”, go ahead and see if it is possible to give yourself a little more time in the morning before you start your day. The best time to meditate is before your day gets busy. Ideally, it’s around the time of the sunrise, but if that is just not possible, set your alarm about 30 minutes earlier than normal and then snooze for 15 minutes and then get up and set yourself up for the most beautiful day ever! I know it might sound a little cheesy, but it’s the truth. When we have a spiritually strong backbone we are able to handle more responsibility, show up when it’s hard, be more vulnerable and honest with those we love and care about, and have the emotional maturity to live a life with full awareness in each moment and with each breath.
What Can Meditation Do For You?
Over the years meditation has given me the most wonderful gift of all… an inner stillness and peace that is honestly priceless. As someone who has suffered from all kinds of anxieties, depression, and insecurities, having a spiritual meditation practice in my life has healed so many of those negative voices that are not based in reality. I’ve learned how to have a healthy relationship with my ego. When my ego, who I have named Leo, starts acting up I now have the ability and awareness to recognize its patterns. It’s very rebellious and also deeply sensitive. It always wants its way and lacks patience. It strives for perfection because it’s a way for me to feel safe in such a seemingly unstable world. Ultimately it has given me awareness over the shadow parts of myself and help to continue to illuminate the lighter parts of my Self too.
When I start to feel erratic, unstable, moody, overly emotional or stressed out in any way, I now have a tool to be able to slow everything down, to bring balance back into my being, and start again. Each time it happens, I come back stronger and more resilient to the false power of the ego and give more enlightenment to my mind, heart, and soul.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a daily practice where you deepen the experience of who you really are. It is putting effort into uncovering all of who you are. It is finding and discovering your authenticity. It is healing, balancing, comporting, peaceful, deep, and has the ability to bring an incredible level of serenity. It helps us in being effortlessly grateful and appreciative of our lives - for everything, not just what we perceive as “good” or what we think is “bad”. It helps us to see the full picture of a situation and learn our lessons so we can become wiser.
In truth, meditation is everything. Life is a meditation. You can make anything a meditation. The moment you take a few deep breaths, you deepen your experience of life itself because you are bringing in more life into you. If you take shallow breaths, your life will be more shallow. It’s a very simple thing to understand, but to shift the autonomous process of the breath to a moment to moment, deep breath takes focus. You can do this while you are walking to the store, in the store, to your car, while you are running errands, you can do this while you are working, sending an email… and you can even do it when you are in a challenging conversation with someone in your family about who is bringing what to the next Thanksgiving reunion.
Once you being a meditation practice, you start to notice that you can meditate anywhere and everywhere. It is not that hard to adopt it into your life as long as you are willing to change a couple of things in your lifestyle. We have to remember that anytime we want to evolve, adapt or change something in our lives it requires discipline and consistency. These are the keys to success in everything we do in life. Creating a spiritual practice to expand your faith and trust in yourself is what we need in order to achieve our ambitions, goals, dreams, and the like.
Now, practice meditating by simply breathing and listening to your breath. Sometimes starting out in silence can be more challenging than one would think. Set yourself up for success by also listening to some meditative music in the background. It will help you when you are just starting out.
There are many kinds of meditations out there to try. There are many guided meditations, visualizations, sound frequencies, pranayamas (breath-work), etc to explore…. If it at all feels overwhelming or you have any questions, please send me a message and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
If you would like to take your practice deeper, remove the blocks that have been making you feel stuck, consider booking a one-on-one Soul Coaching session. This is a deep dive into you to help you become more clear, intentional, and accountable to what your personal and professional goals are.
To your rise and success
Brandon
P.S. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to share it with anyone who needs meditation in their life!
P.S.S. Are you feeling on track with your life’s purpose and plan? If not, I am here to help. Book an Inner Guidance Session Today!
