It’s Never too Late to Meditate
Meditation can sometimes feel like a daunting practice, requiring: alters, cushions, and strong mental discipline.
But with these these simple and straight forward practices, you’ll be on your way to nirvana.
Breathing Meditation
This type of meditation is one of the most basic ones, but its a little more difficult than you might think.
Find yourself a quiet spot and make yourself comfortable.
Try to get rid of as many things as possible that will steal your attention.
You know what that means: turn off your phone!
Don’t worry it wont be for long.
First things first- we need to get our breathing right.
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Do it a few times to get the hang of it.
Got it? Good.
Half close your eyes and focus on the tip of your nose.
Breathe in, long and slow, make it for a count of 5 seconds.
Notice your nostrils flaring and your lungs filling with air.
Hold it for five seconds.
Exhale again, long and slow, for about 5 seconds.
Empty your lungs completely and hold again for a count of 5.
Do this ten times in a row.
Every time your mind focuses on something else restart your count.
That means whenever you think of something other than your breathing restart.
This can be difficult, but keep at it.
I know you can do it.
If you made your goal of ten then try to increase your goal.
This can be a little intense and there’s a lot to focus on at once.
But if you can manage it you’ll feel great and completely refreshed.
As a trick, I use my mala beads to keep count of my breaths, this way I can focus on my breathing and not my counting.
Sometimes we need to take a moment and center ourselves.
During the day we are bombarded with negativity, stress, and all that nasty stuff.
Being surrounded by it for too long it can begin to stick to us, and without knowing it we spread it around.
After taking a moment to just breathe and center ourselves, the negativity melts away.
Mindful Meditation
This is my favorite because it’s so easy and it can be done literally anywhere and at any time.
All you need a something small, like a raisin or nut, that’s it.
To start place the raisin in your palm, focus on nothing else but the raisin.
Look at its color, weight, shape, etc.
Now take it between your thumb and index finger, squeeze it and roll it between your fingers and focus on nothing else.
Isn’t it crazy how soft and wrinkly it is?
Bring the raisin up to your nose and smell it.
Smell its sweetness, imagine how you’d describe the smell to someone who never smelt a raisin before.
Now take the raisin and bring it up to your ear.
Roll it and listen- does it make a sound?
Finally, take it and put it in your mouth.
Don’t chew it.
Roll it around in your mouth feel its texture and its taste.
Lastly, chew it and feel the way it moves in your mouth eventually swallow.
Feel it go down your throat and into your stomach.
Believe it or not, that was meditation.
You took the time and shut everything out and focus on one thing.
Didn’t that raisin taste sweet?
I bet you never really noticed the taste of a raisin.
Take a moment and think how we normally eat.
In our busy days we wolf things down, we just chew, swallow, and go about our business.
The point of this meditation is to take the time and be mindful of what we do.
Imagine what would happen if we placed as much focus into our interactions as you did with that one raisin.
That’s a lofty goal, but I think you can do it.
Just start with raisins
“Jar” Meditation
For this type of meditation you just need to collect a few things before you get started: a jar, a pencil, and small pieces of paper.
Now that you’ve got your materials, find yourself a quiet spot and make yourself comfortable.
I normally make my way to the park across the street and I do it there, but as long as it’s a space that’s quiet can comfortable you’re good.
Once you’ve arrived, take a moment, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.
Think back on your day, your interactions, and everything you did.
Write down all the things that happened to you or someone else that was good.
For example, it can be that you saw someone helping someone else.
This may take some time but it’ll come to you.
If this is too difficult, you can also write down all the things that you are thankful for.
Every time you write something down, fold it and place it in the jar.
Write down as many as you like and keep them meaningful.
Seal the jar after every piece of paper is put inside.
Do this for everyday of the week and on the seventh day, open the jar and read through the events of your week.
Read them out loud and think about all the good that happened this week.
Destroy the papers as they are read.
Every week start something new.
As the weeks go on, try not to repeat items that you are thankful for.
This can get difficult, but that’s the point- take a deep look at everything around you.
The world is a beautiful place and we need to realize the greatness around us.
As for the good deeds that took place, we want to do our best to remember them and start duplicating them through our own interactions.
We should be the good in the world.
As this meditation goes forward you’ll see the good that surrounds us and we’ll keep feeding into cosmic good.
As you can see meditation can be pretty easy, it just requires that we give it a chance.
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