Hi,
This is Lindsay Ambrose with Life Recipes.
The topic today is meditation.
What is it?
Why start a practice?
How to start your practice?
And I'll even lead you in a meditation to get you started.
So meditation is something that you can integrate into your day in many different ways.
We sometimes think of meditation as something you need to be doing in the complete quiet,
On a mat somewhere.
But really meditation is a practice we can do at any time.
Because what it is,
Is becoming more aware of our thoughts and being able to pause and create a little space between what our thoughts are and how we're choosing to respond to them.
It's using our ability to pay attention and to focus on the thoughts that we want to choose to focus on.
And ideally we're going to begin to focus more on the positive,
Those thoughts that help fill us up and help us feel in alignment to our heart center,
Which is where we find love,
Where we connect with truth and where we find our own inner peace.
So this can be done in any time.
Some great ways to practice,
If it's something that's new to you,
Is to begin as just a walking meditation.
So maybe next time you're out on a walk,
Really begin to be in that activity that you're doing.
Feel the steps as you're walking on the ground below you and really feel it.
You can use your senses to actually get you into the moment.
You can go through it in your head and say,
I feel the sidewalk beneath my feet.
I hear the noise of birds singing.
I touch my side.
I can feel my legs or I can feel the touch of a leaf that I'm passing by.
I can smell the smell of grass around me.
I can smell the air.
So you go through your senses and that process can actually get you into this moment,
Back into present.
A lot of times we're using our mind in a way to think about thoughts from the past,
Things that have already happened,
Maybe things that don't even serve us,
Or we're thinking about things that could happen.
We're setting expectations or maybe even fearing a little bit about something that could happen.
So instead,
What we want to do is just be in this moment right now,
Because that's where we find joy.
That's where we find peace.
And that's where we can center ourselves.
So the act of calling out what we're experiencing in the moment,
It's called labeling and it helps us actually practice that.
Because the goal of meditation is just to become more aware,
To be aware of those thoughts and present with them.
Because that's the first step to making a shift,
Making a shift toward thoughts that are more in alignment and help us feel good.
So another way to practice is just to begin bringing some stillness,
Some quiet into your day.
Our days can be really busy,
Really loud,
A lot of noise.
So prioritizing a little time for quiet is a really wonderful practice to begin becoming more aware of our thoughts.
And really,
It's helpful because even if in those two moments,
So maybe you start with just two minutes,
Right after your shower,
In the morning,
Or as you're eating your breakfast.
So it's really great if you're trying to start a new practice to couple it with something that you already do.
So that's a really great way to integrate it in.
I mentioned while you're eating your breakfast,
Because actually in the preparation of food or in the eating of food is a wonderful way to practice meditating because you can really use your senses to just enjoy the food and be with it and feel yourself like cutting out the meat,
Cutting out your food and preparing it.
And this really gets you into the moment.
So often where we're going through the motions and we're not really present with them.
And we really can see that in our relationships.
If we're not connecting,
We're not really getting that fulfillment that we desire,
That aliveness that is in us and what we want to feel in our relationship.
So we're really getting the most out of it and not just going through the motions.
So those are a few ways to integrate meditation.
Of course,
It's that still one that's a really big one and can be hard for us to bring in because we may find the chatter in our head to be too much.
We may have something on our mind at the moment that's really hard to deal with and we just can't be with it right now.
Maybe it's a lot of pain or regret or sadness,
But the more we can just observe those thoughts and really be a kind of observer and look at them,
Maybe not so much as being as us.
So we don't want to be as entwined with our thoughts,
But more the thinker who thinks the thought.
So that's a way to look at it so that you're beginning your practice and not being intimidated by it.
Because really it's you,
It's your own self that you're connecting with.
And the more you do it,
The more you connect with in and begin to really tune into that voice that's guiding you.
It's there to guide you and there's nothing that anyone else can say or anything that you're going to experience as much as just what you are hearing and that's where you're going to get the answers to anything that you're wondering or questioning about.
So that's meditation in a nutshell.
It's becoming aware,
Taking time in the stillness and being really present with your day to day activities so that you can begin to choose how you respond and what you're showing up to with and the energy that you're bringing in.
So let's take a moment now to just to get still.
So I invite you to find a comfortable position with wherever you're at.
Maybe that's sitting and so you want to make sure you feel your feet grounded and allow your sit bones to just be supporting you.
You may want to roll your shoulders a little bit and just allow that movement to kind of settle your body.
We want to in meditation tune into our body and as we do that and connect to our body,
We're also connecting to our mind,
Our soul and our heart center.
And those are the areas that we want to feel that wholeness and feel that flow.
So as you begin to just relax your body,
Maybe move your neck a little bit and just find that comfortable position with your hands in your lap or possibly in a prayer position and just breathe for a moment,
Really focusing on your breath.
So often we just take that breath for granted.
We breathe and when we really focus on it,
We can just feel the way it moves through our entire body.
And so if we start,
You know,
Putting maybe put your hands on your stomach and feel that air moving up and out as you breathe in,
Maybe move your hands to your chest and once again,
Feel that upward movement as you breathe in and then hold it at the top there for a moment and then just breathe out.
Breathing is a wonderful way to tune in and reconnect with your body anytime.
You know,
It doesn't,
We don't need to be anywhere specifically.
We can just pause and breathe and that allows us to tune back into present to get back to this moment.
It's a wonderful practice.
So I just encourage you at any time throughout your day to take a moment in the stillness and breathe and tune in for my next episode where I'll be leading you in a body scan meditation,
Which is a really great meditation to practice and get comfortable with because you're just kind of moving through your body with your breath.
And so I hope you'll join me next time.
Please do subscribe at lindseyambros.
Com as well as on YouTube and on podcasts you can find at life recipes with Lindsay Ambrose.
Thank you.
