20 Places You Wouldn't Think to Meditate
Establish your seat:
20 places you wouldn’t think to meditate!
Meditation – the image of a yogini (female derivative of word yogi) sitting a top a grassy hill in a perfectly comfortable cross legged seat comes to mind. Meditation images are often shown in ideallic settings. Has anyone ever told you that you should meditate? And have you ever thought to yourself, what does that even mean? What is all the hype about meditation. The National Institute of Health sites many benefits to a regular meditation practice including but not limited to the following: positive effect on immune function, better emotional regulation, sharper focus, increased empathy, pain management, decreased inflammation, increased happiness and well-being, Davidson, 2016 Lecture on Study findings, “Change your brain by transforming your mind.” I have been studying and practicing meditation regularly for about 8 years. In those 8 years my meditation has rarely looked like the serene picture noted above. Instead, I have found myself in the oddest of places, positions and environments trying to do my meditation practice. Trying is the key word here. Some so bizarre that I often giggle as I reflect on them. In fact, I came up with 20 unlikely places to find yourself meditating. Check out my list below and check out my journal reflection on meditation to read about the reality of meditation:
By the lakeshore
Mtn top in Colorado,
Mtn top in the Black Hills of SD
“Okay the first three do sound like that idealic picture painted above.”Lying in my bed exhausted from the day
“you want to call this sleep instead of meditation go right ahead, but I am calling it medtation”
The Bathroom Floor
“Sometimes this is the only place my kids will leave me alone”
My Closet Floor
“It’s dark and kind of like a cave so it works”
The Beach by the ocean
“beware of off leash dogs that startle you with a big lick across the face”
Outdoor patio/deck
On a Spiritual Retreat
On a walk
On a Paddleboard
On the end of a dock
In an RV Camper
In a Tent
With my 7 year old sitting on my lap
“You might wonder how could I possibly meditate being so distracted, but it is the sweetest of meditations yet. I effortlessly dropped right into my heart space holding my child and all I got was one minute of sweetness but I’ll take it.”
With my dog sitting in my lap
“This was way harder because my dog is 70 lbs”
On an airplane
“This saves me when I am in a middle seat and starting to loose my mind”
In my backyard
In a crappy hotel room at a ski camp with my 10 year old.
Sitting face to face with my spiritual guide/mentor
“Now this is powerful. When you get face to face with a devoted teacher, you not only feel your own energy but you take in theirs as well.” The effect is indescribable.
So after 8 years of meditating in unlikely places, I have learned the most valuable lesson of all. Meditation doesn’t need to have rules. It doesn’t have a set of instructions. And, it doesn’t always look like the perfect picture painted above. It is simply stopping for 1 moment to remember who you are. To experience your divine spark and the light in your soul. We all have it and we all have access to it, we just have to establish ourselves in a comfortable position, find stillness and breath. And if you don’t know who you are, then your meditation is simply posing the question, “who am I?” Until you get an answer. And if you say, “well I just can’t seem to quiet my thoughts”, then you congratulate yourself for learning the other biggest reason to meditate. We meditate to understand that our mind likes to stay spinning but in order to unite with our soul we need to find stillness. And if all you get is 1 minute of stillness each time you meditate, then you have given yourself such a beautiful gift. Meditation has given me so much inner peace at times when I have felt in the most turmoil. It has allowed me to see myself in a different way and appreciate my uniqueness. It has nurtured me more than any workout, diet or other self-care routine. And now each time I sit down, I feel a sense of coming home to myself. Try this simple meditation practice for 5 straight days. Each day write in a journal what you experienced and then ask yourself, “was this helpful?” It might just be one of your most powerful tools to add to your life!
Simple Meditation Practice
Set a timer for 7 minutes (as you meditate more and more, you can increase your time spent)
Step 1 – Find a comfortable seat – check out this website for meditation positions
http://www.thewayofmeditation.com.au/meditation-posture/
Step 2 – Bring awareness to your breath – simply observe your breath, notice how it feels and sounds for 5 minutes. Observe the depth of your breath and the length of inhale and exhale. Look for any pauses or roughness and try to even it out.
Step 3 – Reflect on your experience in your journal – write down whatever you felt even if your mind was racing.