My meditation practice has not been peaceful the last few weeks. What’s more is that I’ve been rather lazy in approaching how best to deal with it. It’s almost like I’m stuck in observation mode, just watching myself wallow without jumping in with a strategy or plan.
What’s great about that is for once, I’m not jumping in with a strategy or a plan! However, I do want my meditation practice to return to a time of peace and deep relaxation. So join me as we go back to the basics and improve your meditation practice with me!
Meditation Basics
There are times when the going is good. It may still be a struggle to find the time to sit down however, once you do, you can feel yourself relaxing into the peace of doing nothing. Relieving yourself of the stressors of life, if even temporarily, is worth the sore butt from sitting too long!
Then there are the times when your meditation is not working out as planned. Try as you might to wrangle the mind, it refuses to be constrained. You just can’t find the right position, cushion, background music or back support. Or worse, your body is comfortable and your mind won’t sit still!
One of the keys I offer to you is this: meditation, like emotions, have phases. You can expect the beginning phase of your meditation to be unpredictable. Sometimes it will be turbulent, and sometimes calm. Sometimes you will glide into your meditation easily, and other times, it’ll be like herding cats in your mind. This is why I highly recommend you do your breathing practices first. Once you master your breathing practice, the subsequent phases of your meditation will flow through easily and predictably.
The Key is in your Breath
Controlling your breath, or intentionally altering your breathing pattern is work you can do on the physical system that directly impacts your mind. Bringing your attention to your body and addressing what’s going on in the body is the first step to any successful meditation practice.
That’s why meditation teachers will often instruct you to return to your breath if your mind has taken over. Your mind will follow your breath, so when your meditation practice seems to be giving you diminishing returns, turn it into a breathing practice until the calm mind state you are looking for returns. And it will return. Your mind will follow your breath.
So breathe easy knowing that the solution to our turbulent meditation practice is right under your nose.If you want help, join us for a complimentary Tools for Awakening series meditation which happen regularly. Just check out the calendar to see when the next one is upcoming.
Matthew Koren founded Spirit in Transition in 2015, a business consulting firm specializing in building high-performance learning organizations, teams and individuals.