After a week of meditating every day it’s tough to say what the impact is, if any at all. For now, I think I’ll stick to what exactly I’ve been doing and the progress I’m making.
Mastering Mindfulness
There’s probably an image that comes to mind when hearing the term meditation. It’s likely a monk looking guy sitting perfectly still, maybe he has his hands out at his sides or they’re just resting on his lap. You might even hear an “owmmmm” as he concentrates. I can’t lie, this is still what first hits me when I think of the word.
Practicing meditation comes in a lot of different forms. There’s guided meditation, mindfulness meditation, transcendental meditation, and the list continues. What I’ve been practicing for the most part of this week has been mindfulness meditation, I think.
Most often, I practice just before bed. I sit on the floor with the lights out and try to attain as much silence as possible. Then, I start a timer for 10 minutes and focus on my breathing, trying to let my mind remain empty. As thoughts arise, I let them pass and bring back the emptiness. It’s said that this practice is like doing reps for your brain. This metaphor has me seeing myself doing hundreds of bicep curls with 2 lbs weights in hand with how often my mind runs rampant.
Seeking Guidance
Another popular form of meditation is guided meditation. I’ve done this practice a few times, but admittedly kind of hate all the ones I’ve done recently. When I first learned about meditation, I started with guided practices, and remember liking it more.
The place I do really enjoy guided practice is at the yoga studio where I currently take classes. I’m not sure if it’s the presence of an actual person, the yoga I just finished, or the general environment, but I actually like the few minutes at the end of class where I can let my brain go and just listen to the instructor.
A Nighttime Walk
A type of meditation, at least in my definition, I’ve been doing for a while have been long walks at night. Going back to the idea of wrangling thoughts, this was kind of the opposite approach. I let my brain loose.
Allowing my brain to jump around from topic to topic without any restraint kind of tired it out before bed. More often than not, I’d be able to close my eyes for sleep and I thought myself out. The “not” unfortunately was sometimes my brain used the walk as a warm up and was about to start the sprint, as I tried to sleep.
For the next week, my plan is to focus on the mindfulness approach, especially as I’ll be traveling and away from my precious yoga classes. My hope is that a consistent practice will lead to longer periods where I can cage my “monkey mind.”
Trying Out Before Buying In 