MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS
Connect with your breath Take three conscious breaths to begin. When you feel your mind begin to wander, bring your focus back to your breath. Feel the rise and fall of each breath; explore the subtle nuances of how the breath feels entering your nose, travelling down your throat, and throughout your body. Another option is to place your hands
on your lower belly and breathe into your hands for three breaths, repeat this process with your hands on your solar plexus, and then finish with your hands on your chest. (This gives your mind something additional to focus on, and you can repeat as often as you like.) Return to your senses This is a great meditative practice for when you’re at the beach, park, or sitting in your backyard. Who said you needed to close your eyes to enter a meditative state? When we fully engage our senses –
sight, smell, sound, taste and touch – we ground ourselves in the here and now. So activate your senses. What can you smell? What subtle sounds of nature can you hear? What does the ground feel like under your feet? Practise acceptance Having a really hard time meditating? For emergency deployment, create your own meditation playlist of your most centring and calming music tracks or inspiring speakers. Listen with your full attention, breathing consciously as you do so. And if nothing you try seems to be
working, then accept that too. It really is counter-productive to get stressed about your meditation practice. So don’t beat yourself up about it; instead, stick with it and acknowledge the fact that you’re honouring a commitment you’ve made to yourself.
4Experiment freely We’re now seeing many different
approaches to meditation. So don’t get hung-up on the rightness or wrongness of any one particular style or technique. Drop the seriousness and be playful; have some fun discovering the right meditation for you.
12 MARCH | APRIL 2018
//WE’RE NOW SEEING MANY DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO MEDITATION. SO DON’T GET
I like to practise what I call body-based meditation: meditating by focusing my attention and awareness on my body. The greatest benefit of this type of meditation is that it relies on nothing other than connecting with your own body, and you can practise it anywhere, anytime.
5Meet your saboteur We have so many things vying for
our attention, from multiple forms of technology to the increasing demands of family and work. But the biggest distraction of all is much closer to home... Actually, it lives within us. Yes, I’m talking about our own mind. The egoic mind is a tricky thing, and
it’s very likely to feign overwhelm at the very mention of meditation. The ego prefers to force us into the future or pull us into the past; it doesn’t like change, and if there’s one sure-fire way to create change in your life, then meditation is surely it. Make friends with the pessimistic
voice in your head that’s probably going to try and sabotage you on a daily basis. Stay clear about why you’re committing to meditation and reflect on how you feel after your meditation practice, using this as a tool to motivate you to continue.
HUNG-UP ON THE RIGHTNESS OR WRONGNESS OF ANY ONE PARTICULAR STYLE OR TECHNIQUE. //
BEYOND THE MEDITATION MAT Meditation is essentially the art of being present. When you look at meditation in this context, it becomes a tool for life. It isn’t just something to practise on a mat in a quiet room for a designated amount of time. Rather, it’s a meditative awareness and presence that can permeate every aspect of your life. The more we can remain connected
to our body and grounded in the present moment, the more we can perceive – and receive – everything and everyone around us. Intense presence is like turning the television image from black and white to colour. So whatever you’re doing, do it completely, and with your full attention. Who knows, you may even start to feel like a Zen master in a modern guise! l
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www.livingnow.com.au
Lauren J. Wilson is a mind- body facilitator who practises emotional anatomy, energy-based bodywork, and empowers people to access
their body’s wisdom. She is the creator of Soul Resonance Self Healing, based in Cairns, Queensland.
IMAGE: YOANN BOYER
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