I’m a regular meditation practitioner. I mean “regular” because I meditate often, at several brief moments along my day: when I wake up, when I walk, when I eat, when I drink something and so on. It’s very hard for me to be in a mindfulness state for an hour every day, so I just do it for ten minutes at the beginning of my day, at several moments along my day and at the end too.
When I say “I meditate” maybe you are visualizing me sitting in lotus position, with my hands making Buddha-like gestures and singing mantras, but no. For me, meditate is just to be present, mindfulness and aware of myself: my breath, my heart rate, my body, my feelings and my mind. Any other thing different of that, is not important for me although I respect whom meditate at his own way.
Benefits
The meditation for me is important for several reasons:
- It’s a moment for myself: I have realized that I am the most important person for myself. I’m not talking from a selfish point of view but from the selfsteem perspective. I have to be alright to help others to be alright. I have to be happy to share my happiness with others.
- Sets up myself for the next step: A mindful moment is a good prelude of a clearness moment for the next reason…
- Maintains me aware about what I’m doing: One of the most difficult things to achieve for me is focus. When I pass many days without meditate, the things go very screwed. The mindfulness moments help me to be a little more focused.
- Makes me feel clear and quiet, aware and awake: When I do meditation often, the incidentals moments cannot “get me out of axis”. Everything seems to be less important, less critical. Everything appear to have a solution, so why should I lose my balance for that? And if that screwed moment don’t have a solution… Why should I lose my balance for that?
I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been mad, sad, happy, euphoric and so on… I’m still a human being… But to be in a mindful state frequently has helped me to overtake my everyday in a easy and healthy way, and to be less stucked in negativity, drainful emotions and conflicts.
How start?
Well you don’t have to be a buddhist monk. It’s very simple.
- Wake up.
- Take a glass of water (preferably).
- Sit down in a confortable position.
- Put a 10 minutes alarm.
- Close your eyes.
- Breath naturally.
- Focus on your breath.
- Maybe thoughts come and go… Let them come, let them go. Keep breathing.
If you want to do it at night, do the same just before to sleep. Forget to watch TV while getting sleep. Your mind and dreams will thank you.
You can practice mindfulness while you’re eating, drinking something (even a beer!), walking, etc.
The Challenge
Maybe the most persistent thought in your mind will be related to all the things you have to do next (or the things done before), but remember:
- It’s a moment for you. It’s a gift of quietness to start or end your day.
- It’s just 10 minutes. Respect them. You will have (or had) time to think about those “very important things”.
Constant practice it’s very important too. At the beginning it could be a little hard, just like the first days at the gym. But when you understand deeply the benefits and what are you looking for, you will find the strength to go ahead with the practice.
Finally
Think about something: The great crisis of our world is because a lack of conscience. If we practice awareness frequently, we will be helping the world to resolve that great crisis in the place where we have complete control: our lives, taking over our own responsibility.
Update
Nowadays, I’m Vipassana practitioner, which is a meditation technique that aims to develop equanimity, suffering release and true happiness by the observation of the impermanence in the field of your own body. I invite you to research about this technique and give it a try. For me has been really helpful to overpass my reactivity and get detached from unhealthy behavioral patterns.