Meditation scares the crap out of people. This short post explains why it shouldn’t be a big deal to sit still and be with your thoughts. And guess what…there’s a little meditation at the end by yours truly 😉
I was at a coffee shop writing a few days back when a man and woman about my age sat down at the table next to me.
As people tend to do, they were having a conversation as if no one else was around, so I eavesdropped on the entire thing. Natch!
The guy said, “I’ve been trying to meditate lately but it’s never quiet enough at my house.” To which the girl responded, “ugh, I can’t do that. I can’t sit still for that long.”
And thus, I present to you the basic description of how most people feel about meditation.
Well first, like anything else in life, meditation takes time to learn. The problem is that our society traffics in distraction these days, so the idea of not being entertained for five minutes sounds awful.
Secondly, this one snippet of conversation exposes the fallacies of how people view what meditation even is.
How Do You Meditate? It’s Easy To Meditate!
This is yet another situation where media has done a great disservice to humanity.
You do not need to shave your head, wear an orange robe and find a pristine mountain vista to meditate upon. Nor do you need to be secluded in perfect silence. You don’t even need to sit on the floor.
Mindfulness meditation is much simpler than that:
All you need to do is close your eyes, take a few breaths and understand your current surroundings and how you exist within them.
Dan Harris, the author of 10% Happier, (which I could not recommend more highly if you feel like the couple at the coffee shop) meditates for two hours a day…but he’s a busy news anchor living in Manhattan. How does he do it?
No, he does not get up at 4 AM. He takes little dips into his meditative practice throughout his day. In the cab on the way to work, at his desk– anywhere that allows a moment to just take a couple of breaths an be present.
Despite what you may have been led to believe, meditation can last as little as a few seconds. It’s simply a moment to calm down your nervous system to remind yourself that everything is fine because, yes, you are still breathing. And that everything is going to be okay.
Hey! Here’s a free beginners meditation recording from yours truly
In the spirit of doing something to scare the shit out of yourself on a daily basis, I made a meditation recording! I also made the music that goes along with it! Ten minutes to breathe with me, warts and all (I literally recorded it and mixed it in an hour).
Here you go…enjoy!
PS: This one’s for you Jaclyn 😉
[instagram-feed]