Meditation

Meditation
Meditation can be helpful with managing stress, anxiety, depression, maybe even some physical issues. However, it’s not a magic pill. It won’t cure cancer, it won’t lead into an out-of-body experience or turn you into a hippie ( probably ). It won’t cure what ails ya, but it can help manage the symptoms – and you can do it whenever, safely, and for free.

I recommend making a habit of having meditation as a part of your daily routine, but you can also have micro meditations through out the day. Minute or two here and there. Clears your head and helps against that feeling of being constantly rushed.


Basic – Mindfulness Meditation
I will explain how to do a Mindfulness-meditation, as that in my opinion is about as basic as it gets. No postures, visualizations or breath control – just being comfortable with your sensations and learning to let your thoughts and feelings come and go. Do this for about 5 to 30 minutes ( up to you, personally I like 10 minutes for a routinely daily meditation ).

-Sit in a comfortable position. Not too slouched but you shouldn’t feel like you’re straining yourself. You can also lay on your back. Relax, don’t be rigid.
-Relax your jaw, letting your lips almost part.
-Close your eyes.
-Take a few comfortable deep breaths and then let your breathing happen in whatever way is most natural for you.
-Focus your Awareness on how your breath feels like in your nose, mouth, throat, lungs. You don’t have to describe it, just notice it. Ground yourself to your breathing – no matter what happens you will always breathe.
-Same way, notice any physical sensations. How your clothes feel. How your stomach feels etc.
-Thoughts will pop into your head. Notice them, non-judgmentally accept that such a thought came up, and get back to focusing on your breath. It’s okay if your mind completely wanders off, just return to the breathing once you catch yourself. You aren’t “failing” because thoughts keep coming – it’s normal, just try to keep yourself from hopping on to the proverbial train of thought.
-If you’re experiencing some emotion, just be with it. Don’t try to push is away or cling to it, just let it feel. Don’t give the emotion a narrative or explain it to yourself. Don’t judge it. Don’t tell yourself about how you should be ashamed or how great it is that you feel it. Also don’t judge yourself if you fail at not judging yourself – it happens, you’re learning, it’s okay. Just notice where and how you’re sensing your feeling. Circle it. Investigate it. Like the emotion was some vaguely interesting object that you roll around in your hands to see it from every side. Don’t use words to describe it, just feel it. If your chest hurts because of anxiety or sadness, be with it. If your head burns because you’re irritated, be with it. If you feel stupid and kinda wanna laugh at yourself, go ahead and be with that too. If you find yourself thinking “it fucking hurts, this sucks, I hate this” etc. it’s okay, just return to observing your breath and then try again if you’re up for it. If you’re not used to it, passively just being with an emotion can be jarring – we are so conditioned to think that emotions always must be resolved or utilized somehow. After you do get a bit more used to it, you’ll be surprised at how fleeting even difficult emotional states can be – almost like they get embarrassed by the attention.
-If you’re experiencing some physical sensation, like an itch, you can be with that too. Be with an itch. Be with soreness. Be with pain even ( but don’t purposefully cause yourself pain or endure treatable pain to do this please ). Admittedly this can be very hard but train on itches, at least for a bit before giving in and scratching. It’s totally fine to scratch.
-Once you feel like you’ve had enough, gently bring your Awareness back to your surroundings and go about your business.

If you want a guide, here are a few beginner friendly meditations. Use the one you like the most, the idea is the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0jedwTzIJg - Michael Sealey – How To Meditate In Twelve Minutes (Guided Meditation & Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMjOYxOCt08 - Great Meditation – 10 Minute Mindfulness Guided Meditation Joy Peace Happiness Gratitude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Mhna3RjoI - The Honest Guys – Mindfulness Breathing Guided Meditation 10 Minutes

Recommended Reading: http://misc.equanimity.info/downloads/mindfulness_in_plain_english.pdf