Me and Meditation

Some of the things that meditating for 500 days in a row has taught me (in random order):

1. Meditating outside is awesome.
2. Meditation does not mean that you can automatically make all thoughts go away. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  The mind is a restless little thing and it tends to get antsy some days when things get quiet.
3. I need lots of different methods of meditation to pull from depending on what my mind is doing that day.
4. Some days I just need more sleep.
5. The effects of meditation show up when you are not sitting.
6. It, like anything else, can become competitive and filled with self-judgment.
7. Some days, morning meditation isn’t the most effective time for me to sit.
8. If I can get quiet and focus, I really can get answers.
9. I do have the wisdom within me.
10. If you can breathe, you can meditate.
11. EVERYONE needs meditation.
12. Our society is training us into chitta.
13. Petting the dog can count as meditation.
14. Now that I have figured out how to sit so that my leg doesn’t fall asleep, my knee is talking back to me.
15. I’m a work in progress.
16. I am immensely blessed.
17. The world needs loving kindness meditation and so do I. It has the ability to enable healing.
18. I may never fully understand all of the aspects of myself and will certainly never understand all of the aspects of anyone else.
19. I can only change me.
20. I can control, change, and redirect my thoughts, which in turn, changes my experience and my reality.
21. When you tell people you are going to sit in meditation for X# of minutes, they generally respect that.
22. There is something much bigger than me and at the same time, the entire universe is within me.
23. Even though I meditate every single day, I still lose my shit sometimes.
24. Meditation has changed my experience of time. When the mind slows down, time seems to pass at a different rate.
25. Nothing lasts forever.
26. I LOVE mantra!
27. 5 minutes can be as effective as 20.
28. When I add even a few yoga poses to my seated meditation, my body feels even better.
29. I am not my body, my thoughts, my accomplishments, or the stories I tell myself.
30. I want to help people and I just want everyone to be happy.
31. Sometimes, I am too serious. I want to be able to laugh at everything.
32. Things that we treat with importance, many times really don’t matter.
33. I still get caught up in my thoughts, emotions, and stories and have to practice redirecting myself.
34. I can’t imagine living without yoga and meditation in my life.
35. I have a lot of good to share. And you do too.
36. Your brain is a liar! (a lot of the time)
37. We should be teaching meditation and yoga in school.
38. Everyone has time to meditate if they choose to.
39. I plan to live, practice, and teach this for the rest of my life.

Here is a link to a great article outlining scientific benefits of meditation: http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/

Give it a try.  For the next few moments, focus on your breath.  How it feels entering through your nostrils, filling your lungs- full enough to allow the belly to expand as you breathe in.  And then notice your breath as it exits through the nostrils and your body relaxes.  Now repeat this 9 more times.  Do this whenever you think to!

Talk soon!

k