Meditation 101

Welcome to Meditation Station… at least that’s what I call it.

This is the place where you go deep.

Get down with yourself.

Where. you. breathe. But at first you’ll probably notice how much you think. And often that leads us to believing we are “doing it wrong”…

Your mind’s job IS to think. To me meditation is not about stopping the thoughts. Meditation isn’t actually about “stopping” anything. The practice is more about fully embracing, the way you are and the way it all is, right now. It’s the art of becoming more aware by doing close to nothing. By “watching” the thoughts as opposed to engaging with them. It’s learning to become less reactive and more responsive not only to our thoughts but to everything and everyone.

Meditation is a peace generator. An ego dismantler. A getting closer to God. A getting closer to yourself. It’s a heart opening opportunity. A daily dose of the best medicine. It’s a reason to sit still. It’s necessary. It’s not a religion. Cult or Voodoo Nation.

It’s all about being in the Now. The Practice of Presence. The Art of Allowing… And, it’s not easy. Fierce discipline and a serious intention are required if you want to build a firm foundation.

Let go of the labels. Develop the witness. Become aware that you are awareness itself. And what a miracle THAT is. We are Loving Awareness.

The Station-The place where you build your practice. Where you take your seat daily. Where you observe… can be as simple as a pillow on the floor in front of a window or as elaborate as an altar. Whether you build an altar or not clearing the air is a nice way to begin with either sage, palo santo or incense. Your altar can also be as fancy or as simple as you like. Pictures of loved ones and spiritual masters. Fresh flowers. Crystals. Sacred texts. Truly anything that connects you to the feeling of your heart opening. Ive gone from elaborate altars in every room to simply sitting on my cushion. It’s all your creation. Be crafty. Make it cozy. This is the spot you will Spiritualize your mind!

The Meditation– After your space is ready come to a seat. Either something as chill as criss cross apple sauce or folding the legs and sitting on the shins. I DO recommend propping the hips up a bit. This will allow for the spine to become very long, it makes the practice easier honestly. Let your hands land comfortably on the lap or thighs, palms up or down. Let the upper eye lids soften towards the lower lids, maybe towards closed. Un hinge your jaw. Let all of your bones settle as you begin to land. The first 5 minutes or so feels like the “warm up” to me. The mind needs a few to catch onto the fact I’m not letting it be the boss right now. Slowly it begins to feel like you’re taking a half a step back, from all of your senses. That’s around the point when the breath begins to show itself to you. As you soften and soften again, the breath is revealed. And where you feel it, YOU FEEL IT! It’s not a mystery. You don’t have to over analyze it. Just notice where the breath pours in and out of you. Practice gathering all of your attention there. And it’s not a hard, forced focus… it’s soft like when you hold a baby or pet a puppy kinda focus. Now, your mind is a trickster! It’ll pull you away from the present moment over and over again! As you notice you’ve run off with your mind and left your body behind, that’s the beginning … of YOU noticing. Boom. Now just gently return to the breath. Again and again. Don’t go looking for anything. Just remain soft and focused and committed. Start with 5 minutes, that’s perfect. It will grow over time if you continue to feed it. As you begin to come out of your meditation, pause, look around once your eyes are open and from somewhere deep inside of you whisper to yourself, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Then if you so desire you can turn it into an offering… “By way of this good work may all beings be happy and free in mind and in body…”

The practice inspires writing for me so I keep a journal near by and I record what time I began and what time I stopped and if anything profound, poetic, or inspirational came up.

As a beginner your legs will possibly fall asleep… The end goal IS stillness but we must tread the path lightly with ourselves so I think it’s very normal to have to move a little bit in the beginning. Simply release the leg that’s asleep, remain present with eyes closed and when the blood flows again return to your original seat. It will disrupt your meditation a little bit but remember: We’re not judging. We’re simply watching.

We hold a free Meditation Station every morning at Balanced Yoga studio from 10:45-11.. Sometimes we go a little bit longer. I guide you the whole way.

We are also offering a 40 day Sadhana (Sanskrit for “Practice”) at Balanced Yoga from Sept 17-Oct 26th.

During this time we will hold weekly accountability meetings at our second location called The District after my 6pm class on Monday nights. The meetings will run from 7:15-8:15. We will all meditate together and discuss our practices as a group. We will all be partaking in 40 days of:

Asana

Meditation

Nutrition-The Source of your food

Journaling

Weekly emails with podcasts and spiritual texts that will blow your mind!

Registration is $40 and you have until the day we begin to sign up.

I’m sending all of you who are on a mission of mindfulness a big love bomb.

The change we seek begins within.

Take 5.

Do You.

Then, one day you may rub off on someone, they’re suddenly interested in meditation …teach them how to do the same.

L O V E