During my months of sickness, I learned that the best way for me to deal with my husband’s long absence and to get rid myself of daily pressures while raising two little children was to meditate every day.
What is ironic about meditation is it has only lately become seen in the West as a healing technique – but it’s been practiced for ages in the East.
In my quest to find practical methods to calm myself that were simple to do and cost nothing, I learned a couple of things about the best way to meditate correctly.
In this post, I am going to discuss some of the methods I learned, just in case you are trying to find some early Asian head-healing yourself.
I’ll begin by defining meditation, then I will demonstrate how simple it’s to use it in your daily routine.
Lastly, I include a practical how-to video that walks you through a simple 5 step process for learning how to meditate – in 5 minutes a day.
So let’s get to it.
What exactly is Meditation?
Meditation exercises make use of the natural integration of the mind and the human body as a way to reconnect with the environment’s natural healing power.
Meditation, when practiced often, has been shown to improve wellness and inner peace. As in, scientifically proven.
Meditation is, in addition to a mental practice where the mind is centered on one focal point, all about your breath.
By breathing in a determined way, your mind creates an awareness of oneness with your environment and draws its energy from your body’s natural link to nature. It’s sort of like your body begins to listen to nature in a way we probably did before all of this technology stepped between us and Mother Earth.
This “oneness” feeling promotes favorable physical and mental effects and helps you think more positive thoughts.
Meditation techniques are not difficult to learn and can quickly be included into any lifestyle. If practiced consistently, meditation can bring a bit more balance and peace to both your head and your body.
Benefits Of Meditation
The overall advantages of breathing and meditation exercises include:
- Profound inner peace
- Improved self esteem
- Increased imagination
- Physical health
- Decreased medical care
- Slowing of effects of aging
- Stimulation of the immune system
- Decreased stress
I’ve learned there’s no one way to meditate.
Here are a few of my favorite meditational exercises that can get you started. Remember, there’s no path that is wrong. Attempt these, or just sit in silence for 20 minutes. You will be happy you did.
Grounding Exercise
Sit with your legs crossed in a cozy (Indian-fashion) posture with your hands resting on you lap. Shut your eyes and imagine a beam of light dropping through the world from the bottom of your back and linking you to its centre.
Enable this beam of light enlarging in width until it envelopes you and broader than your own body. This is your personal space.
This exercise reminds you that you’re anchored to the Earth and puts you fully in your body. Don’t forget, the more grounded you are, the more conscious you are.
Energy Cleaning Exercise
It is essential that you cleanse your personal space until you’re grounded. We can lose touch with our inner self from managing the tasks of day-to-day living and through interaction with others. To re-ground yourself and cleanse yourself from negative energy like this, try these steps:
- To remove the external negative energies from your space, picture holding a brush and sweeping away the debris.
- Let the debris fall to the earth and become washed away.
- Allow your body to be enveloped by the light from the last exercise and distribute its healing energy to the border of your space.
- Cleaning out the space around your body declares your space and define your own personal limits is going to keep you grounded.
- Subsequently mentally select who and what you would like to enter your personal space in the future, moving forward. This is a sneaky little mind trick that will get you to focus on the people that pull you forward towads your goals, and push you away frm people who keep you back.
Breathing Exercise
- Follow your breath as you exhale through your mouth and inhale through your nose.
- Count until you reach 10, then start again at one with each exhale.
- When you get past 10, recognize it and start again at one.
- Envision the cells of your body being replaced with positive healing energy and fresh, pure oxygen being delivered from this power source.
- Imagine yourself exhaling worries, anxiety, sickness and old cells.
- Let your ideas pass through your head like floating clouds. Let them in and gradually have them pass through.
- In case a negative idea should get into your mind, refocus on the breath.
- Thank the good thoughts for coming into your head.
- Listen for your own positive, distinct voice (your body’s voice).
A Simple 5-Step Introduction to Meditation
If all this talk about “energy” and “personal space” aren’t your style, then check out this quick video. It will get you started in 5 easy steps, without the mumbo-jumbo.