I love my meditation practice. Seriously, and I say this without a smirk on my face, how do people cope with life out there without meditation, journaling and yoga!
My practice is varied, but I’ve been doing TM (Transcendental Meditation) along with vipassana for over a year now and I regularly bust out guided meditations on Spotify and YouTube. We are so lucky to have access to such incredible resources. Here are some I recommend.
This one is my favourite! I used to do this one before going to work at a job I really didn’t like, working with people who tested every bit of my new-found patience.
I love Denise Linn’s quirky style.
Jason Stephenson – the man’s voice is like honey.
A friend introduced me to Michael Sealey’s work on YouTube.
So what’s the problem?
As a writer, I find vipassana challenging because I’m reluctant to just let my ideas go wherever the ideas go when we just let them flow. I’ve kind of trained my brain to value story ideas and I am always mentally working on a story.
Normally, if I’m out walking or in the shower or at work and an idea pops into my head I have little rituals to help me remember them for later. (Like crossing my fingers, creating a mnemonic or saying a particular word or number to trigger my memory). Useful but slightly nutso, I realise this. I am so accustomed to being weird I rarely even notice it now. But what do I do if an idea comes during meditation?
Vipassana teaching tells us to allow the thought to pass through, to not grasp it. That is great when it’s a disempowering thought or even the shopping list, but when I get an idea for a story I want to hang on to that sucker. I need to check with my teacher if I can do vipassana with a notebook.
If everyone in the world meditated daily we would have a much better world. It’s virtually impossible to be a regular meditator and be hurtful to others. Sadhguru does speak of some people who meditate for years but don’t change or grow and I’m sure that happens but as he says, that’s because they are not doing it right. There’s definitely a right way and wrong way to do it.
Christine – thanks for the inspiration to re-engage with a meditation practice. I did for MANY years and tend to practice mindfulness, but I’ve not set aside consistent meditation time each day. I think it is time to add this to my fall plan.
So glad I could be of service 💕 I forgot to mention one of my favourite meditations – the Wheel of Awareness by Dr Dan Siegel. Completely secular, it appeals to everyone. It’s very a powerful tool. Have a beautiful weekend ✨