Saturday morning - meditation

It' s 9:30am Saturday morning and I am torn between wanting to take a break and pushing on to complete tasks. I think the compromise is to meditate for fifteen minutes and then get on with my chores.

I took three women on retreat recently and we began by meditating together for fifteen minutes. It took me to such a beautiful place and left me marvelling at my ongoing resistance to making time in my life to meditate or as I prefer to name it, 'practising the ancient art of contemplative prayer'. I know that my resistance is not unique. It's common to being human but it's just so crazy that I resist practising something that is so lovely and so helpful. So, human condition or not, I am going to try to meditate at least once a day every day from now on and hopefully twice a day. Starting with today. I will meditate as soon as I complete this blog.

Have you tried meditation? Did you find it helpful? Do you meditate regularly? Are you open to giving it a go?

I used to find it hard to meditate but now I find it easy WHEN I decide to meditate. It is making the decision TO meditate that is hard for me.

If you want to try it, I suggest sitting in an upright position, preferably with your legs together and your feet touching the ground. I usually sit with my hands together in my lap.

Shut your eyes and breathe deeply. Keep breathing deeply and resting in that breathing.

When I was taught to meditate, I was invited to 'rest in the arms of Jesus' and this is how I continue to meditate. For me it is a really helpful entry into meditation but that is because I am a Christian.

If you are not, you might imagine resting in nature or being held by the universe or by the deity of your cultural tradition.

It might help you to have classical music playing in the background or Celtic music like 'Secret Garden'. I think music can help us when we are getting used to meditating or when we are more likely to be distracted.

Personally, I love meditating in silence as well. Silence can be such a gift. Like fresh, running water.

If you find yourself thinking, ignore the thoughts and focus instead on your breathing. Don't fight the thoughts. Rather let them be present but don't pay them any attention. Some people talk about 'letting your thoughts go in one ear and out the other, without giving them any attention'.

If I have convinced you to give meditation a try or another try, best wishes to you as you begin.

If you are nervous about it, I suggest trying to meditate for five minutes only, initially, and then build up to fifteen or twenty minutes.

I was once told that 'twenty minutes is equivalent to eight hour's sleep' and I see some truth to this. It is certainly rejuvenating.

And now, even though I set my phone alarm to end my time of meditation, my body knows when it's getting near the end of the session. I feel pleasantly rested and peaceful and I just have the sense that it's time to return to consciousness.

But I still set the alarm because it saves me from being distracted about how long I have been meditating for, especially if I have appointments to get to.

Anyway, I hope some of this reflection about meditating has been interesting and/or helpful to you.

Wishing you deep peace and satisfaction,
Cynthia