The Lotus Path: Workshops Connect Participants To Their “higher Self”
To say that meditation is a popular activity would be an understatement. There are numerous advantages of practicing daily meditation - mind-altering, stress-relieving, and peaceful - as well as countless scientific studies that back up these claims. Many people know they should meditate but struggle to find the time or energy to do it regularly. This blog post is going to walk you through the steps of finding a meditation practice that works for you and help you set up a guide for your first day.
Start with a Daily Schedule:
The most important thing when setting up a practice is to make time for it every day. Don't pick something that you'll have trouble fitting into your daily schedule, because you'll end up skipping it. Make sure that the time you have selected is one that you have an hour and a half without distractions, since meditation takes at least 20 minutes. If there is no time in your day when you can fit in a sound meditation, try meditating while doing yoga or another other activity if that works better for your schedule.
You don't have to sit in lotus position and chant because then you're probably making it more complicated than it needs to be. A lot of people, myself included, find that the best way to meditate is while doing some kind of physical activity. I personally do Kundalini Yoga which I tailor based on the Chakras I want to open each day or what chakra systems from a variety of other spiritual practices I'm working on at that time. If you are having a hard time finding an activity that suits you, keep in mind that meditation is about being present and slowing down enough where your mind becomes quiet. A number of physical activities will get you there.
Having said all that, there is no wrong way to meditate. Any activity that gets you to a quiet and still state is a good meditation practice. Just try to be consistent with it, and make sure it's something that you will stick with because it can take months to begin seeing some of the benefits from meditation.
Determine if you want an audio guided meditation:
If you're struggling with setting up a meditation practice or having trouble finding one that works for your schedule and lifestyle, an audio guided meditation is going to be the easiest way to get started. You can also find guided meditations for different systems of Hinduism, Buddhism, or Jainism on YouTube.
There are several benefits to using an audio guided meditation over a video guided one. First and foremost, it's more likely that the guided meditation will be the same every day. If you're not sure of which chakra system you'd like to work with, or if you're just looking for a way to add meditation into your daily routine, an audio guided meditation will give you a consistent time and place where you can do these things. Also, it's easier to utilize the breathing techniques that can help deepen your experience since they don't have as much movement involved in them. Personally, I really enjoy using the guided meditation because it's no surprise when they're going to be talking and that makes it easy to pay attention.
If you decide to go with an audio guided meditation, then the first step is finding a program that works best for you. I personally use Kundalini Yoga Audio Guided Meditations , and it's an excellent choice for those just starting out. They have weekly programs for each chakra system that will help teach you about the chakras as well as what specific techniques to use in your practice. If you're into yoga and are looking for something else, there are a lot of other options out there. Search online for meditations in the style or system you are interested in. Most of the major branches of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other faiths have their own meditation practices.
I personally like to use a guided meditation because I'm less self-conscious about what I'm doing when there is a voice guiding me through it. If you're self-conscious about practicing yoga on your own, then a guided meditation will help make things easier for you. Be aware that many people who do yoga and do a lot of other physical activities find that they're already meditating as they are doing their activity every day. If you are meditating through your physical activity, then I will recommend that you use a guided meditation to compliment your experience and get deeper into meditation than you would on your own.
It's also helpful if you don't know how long it'll take to achieve a deep state of meditative focus when using a guided meditation. If there is no time in your day, or if you set aside an hour and spend half of it setting up your environment, odds are that you are not going to meditate every day. With a guided mediation, the only thing required is for you to sit down and listen to the voice that is guiding the meditation. It's easy to find the time to do it since it doesn't require much preparation.
The benefits of guided meditation include:
1. A guide for your practice that you can use every day for a consistent amount of time. If you're having trouble getting started or finding the time, this is going to be the easiest way for you to get started on your daily meditation practice.
2. If you're new to chakra systems, guided meditations will help teach you how they work and how to use them in your life. Working in a group environment also helps make sure that there are no mistakes made when applying these techniques or working with the energy system every day during meditation.
3. Your guided meditation is made in a particular way that you can use as a model for you own practice. You will likely be using different techniques for chakra meditation that are taught to you in a guided meditation. If you follow along and learn how to do chakra healing, then it's easy to incorporate these techniques into your own practice at home.
4. There is someone there who knows what they are doing and can help guide you through your meditation practice every day. It's more like having an instructor that is guiding you through something than just doing things on your own without any feedback or direction from anyone else.
5. You can download guided meditations for free from websites. The first thing I ever downloaded was an audio guided meditation by Kundalini Yoga, which is one of the ones I use on my daily practice.
6. Some guided meditations are under 20 minutes long and others are over an hour long. Sometimes it's helpful to have something that is longer than 15 or 20 minutes to give your mind a chance to rest between sections of the guided meditation and for when you're running late or don't want to hold a meditation session all day long.
Conclusion
If you're looking to add a daily meditation practice into your life, then it's best that you develop one that will allow you to take care of yourself on a regular basis. Instead of starting out with setting up a daily yoga and meditation schedule right away, it is better to start with how you want to practice. Do you want to do both every day? I like this option because by the time I'm done with my hour long yoga routine, then I have time for the 20 minutes for a guided meditation.
You could also choose other activities or ways to incorporate meditation into your everyday life.