Inner Peace.
I have just woke up from one of the weirdest mid-day naps I have ever had that included a mild headache, dreams stories of people I haven't seen nor spoken to NOR had any reason to be speaking to in ages and a slight confusion about what the hell just happened. I think I've started a bit far into the story, let me reverse back to 3 hours ago and start over.
Meditation. I have never been a person who thought of yoga and meditation as a decent time spending process. Surely it cannot be a legitimate reason to just sit around for minutes (hours for some), chanting mantra in your head or listening to relaxing music. I mean wow, I wish it was that easy in life, right.
So what meditation actually means? Well, my loyal friend - the internet - told me that "meditation is a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state." Which sounded very up my alley with my constant busy mind and all sorts of daily issues we face in life. Doesn't "rested mind" sound really good to you? Well it does for me, that's for sure. But of course being sceptical about every new little thing I encounter, I had to spend quite a lot of time researching why is this popular and if it is that easy, why aren't everyone doing it then? Good question to ask. Apparently, because it is HARD WORK.
Now you see where my confusion comes from? Being rested does not go together with hard work. Not in my books. So my next step was to find out what is pushing people away from doing it. And first things first - check if it has anything to do with religion, because if it does - I would stop right there and never come back to it. To me the word "spiritual" means your mind and soul, not the holly spirits or whatever this world currently believes in. So finding out that "Meditation is not a part of any religion; it is a science, which means that the process of meditation follows a particular order, has definite principles, and produces results that can be verified." I could continue my enthusiastic research. Science, fuck yeah. I get everything technical, tactical, thought through and recorded progress. That is what I like, and not believe that it is true and well, that's it... Believe OK?
Going back to the topic again, there is a lot of confusion about practice of meditation, and I am sure if you don't go to your local yoga or meditation class you, like me, will experience a "what the fuck" moment on one stage of it or the other. Simply because there are just oh so many ways of doing it that it might put you off trying even. What if you are doing it wrong. I cracked the code though, there is no right way - there is only your way that works for you. I mean yeah, there are basics to everything and this is not an exception, but you will eventually need to find your own way around it. At least that is how I understood it. And may all the great personal trainers and mentors forgive me, but you can do it yourself if you have enough power of will and motivation. I believe a lot of people are like me - they need a good kick from the personal trainer to keep it going otherwise little voices in your head keep whispering that it is OK to skip it, just for today, it is going to be a new day tomorrow we will catch up. And it never happens. And that is why those jobs exist. But where was I.
There are so many ways to start your journey to a clear, rested mind. Some articles and blogs were saying that you are better off doing it in the morning and just for 2 minuets a day for a week before you increase your time. Knowing myself, if I do it in the morning before my 7AM shift I would be on the floor drooling and as fast asleep as if I never woke up that morning. Who ever thought that that was a good idea? Other articles mentioned that it doesn't matter the place, you just need to sit down in the most appealing for meditation position - vajra posture - and try to meditate, welcoming your thoughts and not blocking them out, how I thought it actually works. (Hey I've learned something!)
I am not an expert, but after studying the images and reading the articles, I believe I have grasped of what your start up meditation pose should be - legs in lotus position (I do believe most of us are aware of that position, right?), back straight but not tensed, head slightly down, arms down with right hand positioned on top of the left hand, palms up and thumbs slightly touching. Sort of as if you are holding a sleeping baby chick and you don't want to crush it but you still want to protect it from the outside world. Wow, that was a brilliant explanation.
And as soon as you find a perfect spot for you to go full "Omm" consider this - you don't really need to Omm! Fascinating, I know. Some advice to keep your eyes only half way shut, but I found it quite distracting so if closing your eyes works for you - go for it. And zone out. Yes, as simple as that. You will find your thoughts just flying around in your head pretending to be important, and you will get annoyed with yourself about it as you will probably try to concentrate on inner peace, but the thought of that pizza you have in the kitchen is just not going away, and that irritating woman you need to call tomorrow just appears in your brain and doesn't go away. This is the time when you actually learn about your mind, learn about what is actually happening in there, where all the tiredness and worries, anxieties even appear from. It should all get a little bit clearer for you. But seriously, good luck with doing that longer than 5-10 minutes at your first attempt. I don't think anyone is ready to do that.
Better yet, if you are still thinking whether to try it out, here are a couple of famous people and public figures who claim to do it daily, because that is what helps them concentrate.
"Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace."
- Dalai Lama
Meditation. I have never been a person who thought of yoga and meditation as a decent time spending process. Surely it cannot be a legitimate reason to just sit around for minutes (hours for some), chanting mantra in your head or listening to relaxing music. I mean wow, I wish it was that easy in life, right.
So what meditation actually means? Well, my loyal friend - the internet - told me that "meditation is a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state." Which sounded very up my alley with my constant busy mind and all sorts of daily issues we face in life. Doesn't "rested mind" sound really good to you? Well it does for me, that's for sure. But of course being sceptical about every new little thing I encounter, I had to spend quite a lot of time researching why is this popular and if it is that easy, why aren't everyone doing it then? Good question to ask. Apparently, because it is HARD WORK.
Now you see where my confusion comes from? Being rested does not go together with hard work. Not in my books. So my next step was to find out what is pushing people away from doing it. And first things first - check if it has anything to do with religion, because if it does - I would stop right there and never come back to it. To me the word "spiritual" means your mind and soul, not the holly spirits or whatever this world currently believes in. So finding out that "Meditation is not a part of any religion; it is a science, which means that the process of meditation follows a particular order, has definite principles, and produces results that can be verified." I could continue my enthusiastic research. Science, fuck yeah. I get everything technical, tactical, thought through and recorded progress. That is what I like, and not believe that it is true and well, that's it... Believe OK?
Going back to the topic again, there is a lot of confusion about practice of meditation, and I am sure if you don't go to your local yoga or meditation class you, like me, will experience a "what the fuck" moment on one stage of it or the other. Simply because there are just oh so many ways of doing it that it might put you off trying even. What if you are doing it wrong. I cracked the code though, there is no right way - there is only your way that works for you. I mean yeah, there are basics to everything and this is not an exception, but you will eventually need to find your own way around it. At least that is how I understood it. And may all the great personal trainers and mentors forgive me, but you can do it yourself if you have enough power of will and motivation. I believe a lot of people are like me - they need a good kick from the personal trainer to keep it going otherwise little voices in your head keep whispering that it is OK to skip it, just for today, it is going to be a new day tomorrow we will catch up. And it never happens. And that is why those jobs exist. But where was I.
There are so many ways to start your journey to a clear, rested mind. Some articles and blogs were saying that you are better off doing it in the morning and just for 2 minuets a day for a week before you increase your time. Knowing myself, if I do it in the morning before my 7AM shift I would be on the floor drooling and as fast asleep as if I never woke up that morning. Who ever thought that that was a good idea? Other articles mentioned that it doesn't matter the place, you just need to sit down in the most appealing for meditation position - vajra posture - and try to meditate, welcoming your thoughts and not blocking them out, how I thought it actually works. (Hey I've learned something!)
I am not an expert, but after studying the images and reading the articles, I believe I have grasped of what your start up meditation pose should be - legs in lotus position (I do believe most of us are aware of that position, right?), back straight but not tensed, head slightly down, arms down with right hand positioned on top of the left hand, palms up and thumbs slightly touching. Sort of as if you are holding a sleeping baby chick and you don't want to crush it but you still want to protect it from the outside world. Wow, that was a brilliant explanation.
And as soon as you find a perfect spot for you to go full "Omm" consider this - you don't really need to Omm! Fascinating, I know. Some advice to keep your eyes only half way shut, but I found it quite distracting so if closing your eyes works for you - go for it. And zone out. Yes, as simple as that. You will find your thoughts just flying around in your head pretending to be important, and you will get annoyed with yourself about it as you will probably try to concentrate on inner peace, but the thought of that pizza you have in the kitchen is just not going away, and that irritating woman you need to call tomorrow just appears in your brain and doesn't go away. This is the time when you actually learn about your mind, learn about what is actually happening in there, where all the tiredness and worries, anxieties even appear from. It should all get a little bit clearer for you. But seriously, good luck with doing that longer than 5-10 minutes at your first attempt. I don't think anyone is ready to do that.
Better yet, if you are still thinking whether to try it out, here are a couple of famous people and public figures who claim to do it daily, because that is what helps them concentrate.
- Jennifer Anniston - “I’d say a little over a year ago I started doing TM [Transcendental Meditation] and that’s really changed everything. Starting your day off with that and ending with that is pretty powerful. Twenty minutes, you just notice the difference! When I get lazy and don’t get it in, I can feel a difference in the day. So I try to meditate first thing when I wake up."
Twenty minutes when she wakes up? How on earth she gets anything done, seriously.
- The Beatles. “It was a great gift that Maharishi gave us. For me it came at a time when we were looking for something to stabilize us towards the end of the crazy sixties. It’s a lifelong gift, something you can call on at any time.”
Not to post, already existing facts I will just leave this link here for scrolling through a long list of people starting with actors, ending with prime ministers who practise it. People who meditate.
The difference here thought that they are practising Transcendental Meditation, that includes using personal mantras. Now if you want to get into that, it is advised to go see a professional so they can provide you with the right mantra and show you how to use it. Or you can always ignore what they say, google the mantra list, find your age and gender on it, listen to the chanting for a few minutes and you will pick it up. The only bad thing that might happen with choosing the wrong mantra is that it won't work for you. Yep, that is it. The world will not explode if you choose the wrong one. And you might be fed up with repeating that "word" or should I say "sound" in your head , concentrating on it but nit saying it out loud, but that is the price you pay for going DIY on meditation. Not bad, is it?
So what happened to me and my weird nap? So I was lying on my sofa enjoying my lazy day, as I am allowed to, but I just couldn't relax due to my constant thinking process, emails coming through, and me worrying about moving, rent, flat, house,money, pretty much everything, So a bright idea came to my mind - I will switch on some relaxation music and try to forget about everything for a few hours. So I went on Youtube, typed in meditation music to relax mind and body, pressed play and closed my eyes, First 5 minutes were good but not relaxing enough, so I distracted myself again and started learning meditation and pretty much everything that has been written above. Found a perfect mantra for myself ( at least I think so), and decided to invest time in actually trying this. It can't hurt. Not unless I do it first thing in the morning, that is a risk of me falling back to sleep. Hour down the line and the 6 hour relaxation soundtrack still going strong. I started to feel a bit tired of reading and thinking, my brain just wanted to nap, and who am I to say no to a nap when you have time to do so. Surely someone is going to call me next morning as early as possible and I will lose precious sleep time, so I don't feel guilty.
Made the music volume a bit lower, got comfortable on the sofa and fell asleep pretty much instantly. Two hours later I wake up because by body is sending me signals that I need to get up and do something, music still on, my head hurts with a mild headache and my dreams were so "heavy" with information, as if I was actually doing all these things, trying to drive a car and whatever happened in there felt so real and I felt quite tired. But on the other hand I woke up and grabbed the laptop only to type in this post with not a single second to think about what to write and how to write it. What an odd experience. Definitely need to explore this yoga/meditation stuff a bit more. This might be interesting. Namaste.
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