How to Meditate: A Half-Hour Guided Meditation at Home
How to Meditate: A Half-Hour Meditation at Home by Tiffany Chion, Founder of Sundari Yoga Studio and www.YogaUniverse.com In a busy world, people often have a hard time finding time to meditate or relax in their homes. You don't find this time, you create it, by creating a special sacred space in your home where you spend maybe only 15 minutes to an hour centering yourself and getting in touch with your inner peace and wisdom. If you have never meditated before, this is a half-hour meditation practice for you to do on your own. You will feel refreshed and calm when you finish, and will re-enter your world with a clear head and a feeling of peace and joy. Enjoy! First, you must find a small space that is especially for your meditation practice. Maybe it's a small room in your house, maybe it's a corner in your room that you clear, and keep clear, marking it off as your own safe space. Clear the floor and put down a folded blanket or pillow. You can make this space warm by setting up candles and incense and perhaps a small picture that holds a special significance for you. You may also want to play soft ambient music, waves crashing onto a shoreline is a refreshing and soothing sound for meditation and is not distracting. Turn off your home telephone, your cell phone and computer. Any calls can wait and you will be better equipped to handle any challenges or details in your life effortlessly after your practice is complete. If you have children, make sure they are safely occupied or are being watched while you meditate. Perhaps you can choose a time when your children and/or partner are out of the house. Make calm preparations to clear your time for the next half hour or so. Sit cross-legged on the edge of your pillow or blanket so that your hips tilt forward and allowing your spine to be straight and long. Find a position that is comfortable and does not tax your knees--you will be sitting for the duration of this practice. Allow your eyes to close and rest your palms face up on your knees. Begin following your breath with your awareness. All this means is focus on your breath as it moves in and out, in and out of the body. Feel the way your chest rises and falls. Notice if your breathing is short or ragged, if your breath feels like it gets caught at certain spots in the body or if there are spots that the breath cannot reach. Gently elongate the breath so that it begins to fill those hard to reach spaces. Match the length of the inhale with the length of the exhale. Work your breath in to long, steady rhythm for about 5 minutes. You are feeding your body and the cells of your body with fresh, new, oxygenated blood. A feeling of well-being is beginning to wash over your body and you are becoming calm. Keeping your eyes closed, let the muscles in your face and neck relax. Begin letting the breath soften, still keeping it rhythmic but allowing to it to fall back into a natural inhale and exhale pattern without forcing the breath. Move your awareness to your third eye--this is the space between the eyes and up about an inch. With your eyes closed, focus on this space in the middle of your forehead and look deeply inside. You may see white light or black spots. Keep your focus on this spot. You are still following the gentle, unforced rhythm of your breath as it rises and falls. To keep you centered you can use a mantra. A mantra is a word or sound that is repeated to keep the mind occupied but non-active. I will offer one here. If you have one you like better please feel free to use that. Looking into your third eye and following your breath, when you inhale in your mind say "One". When you exhale, in your mind saying "Om". Inhale, Two. Exhale, Om. Work your way up to 10 and back down to One again. Continue going up and down this number scale, following the breath and looking inward. If thoughts come up, that is perfectly normal. People that have been meditating for years still have active minds. Just imagine your mind as a rambunctious puppy that you love and when it begins to jump up with a thought, gently coax it back to calm by going right back to One and Om and beginning again. Try not to have any judgment around an active mind. It is not helpful to beat yourself up when you are meditating! Each day is different, some days your meditation is effortless, other days it is more difficult. This is the safe space you return to day after day to offer yourself a place to center, no matter how you feel when you begin your meditation. When thoughts come up, you can also imagine placing them on a fluffy, cumulus cloud and watching them gently float away as you release the. Some people like to quickly identify a thought, "Worry thought", or "work thought" an then release them. This is helpful because you begin to notice what repetitive thoughts dominate your thinking mind. Do not analyze these thoughts, just identify them quickly and then release them. Return to your breath and your mantra. After 25 minutes slowly come out of your meditation. Begin wiggling your fingers an toes, rolling your neck and shoulders. Let your return to your surroundings be slow, gentle and delicious, savoring the feeling of connection to yourself that you have established. Avoid rushing off into your life, let your movements be calm and purposeful. You will easily move throughout your day since now you have taken the time to re-align your inner-knowing and calm spirit with your physical body and mind. You are at peace and feeling the joyous spirit that is truly you. Namaste!
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