Meditation Tips For Everyone - Episode 3

In Episode 3 of the Nature of Meditation podcast I share Meditation Tips for Everyone. Each episode is a meditation experience and this is not a 'to do list'. One of the most important meditation tips I share is an effortless 'don't over think it'.

Nature of Meditation monthly podcast is an exploration of the nature of silent meditation practice.

Produced by Ayla Michelle at The Therapy Garden, a BAMBA accredited, registered and supervised mindfulness teacher.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Michelle.

Welcome to episode three of the Nature of Meditation podcast.

In this episode,

I share meditation tips for everyone.

I suggest listening to this podcast without doing anything else at the same time to aid the cultivation of presence and stillness.

So let's start with our usual three-minute silent meditation practice to arrive in our present moment experience.

I will be silent now for three minutes and become more present and aware.

And I invite you to take your seat and start coming into your present moment experience.

Back in the present moment,

A meditation teacher's way of being and way of speaking matter because meditation cannot be taught.

It can only be caught.

Meditation is contagious and a teacher's way of being is the real teaching,

Not anything that they say or do.

So if you are here now,

Becoming more aware of your present moment experience,

It means that you have picked up the vibration of meditative energy that I'm transmitting and embodying.

And you are attuning to meditative energy and resonating with it.

And meditative energy is not mine and does not belong to me.

We all share it.

I receive it from my teachers who transmitted it to me.

And I share it with my students and clients.

And they share it with the people in their lives.

The invitation is to relax as best as you can because this meditation is not an intellectual exercise.

And the main meditation tip that I can share is not to try too hard.

And don't wait until your meditation is perfect.

If you try too hard or think too much,

Meditation will not occur for you.

So the tips I'm sharing are not a to-do list.

And after you hear each meditation tip,

Just let it go.

Each tip knows whether or not it's time to have a meaningful relationship with you now.

The way knows the way.

And you don't have to worry about meditating.

I'm going to number the first meditation tip an effortless zero.

And call it don't overthink it.

Don't fall into the trap of making a neuroses out of your meditation practice.

Make no effort to control your learning or your meditation.

Simply showing up,

Taking your seat and observing your momentary experience as best you can is more than enough.

Simply be present to your experience,

Excluding no part of your experience,

Including all positive and negative experiences.

Compassionately acknowledging and embracing your challenges and difficulties.

Acknowledging and embracing your self judgments and self criticisms.

As well as any ideals you may have about meditation.

And maybe it's more real embracing your difficulties than embracing your achievements.

As you listen to this podcast,

My hope is that you may come more into an awakened state of awareness.

And listening to my calm and steady voice,

Your own nervous system becomes more calm and regulated.

Some of you may notice your state of awareness becoming more heightened.

More so than in your non-meditative state of being.

And this is because I am consistently inviting you to pay attention to your moment to moment experience in your field of awareness.

And your senses are working in each moment to offer you unique lived experience.

So let's pause for a few moments before we share meditation tips.

Meditation tip one,

Location.

It's helpful to meditate in the same place each day.

In an area of your home where you can be alone with your experience,

Undisturbed by external things.

Set aside a specific area of a room for meditation.

Or a specific quiet room in your house where you won't be disturbed.

Meditation tip two,

Setting.

Your meditation space should be comfortable and inviting with natural light and fresh air.

Somewhere that's quiet,

Calming and peaceful and that supports your meditation practice.

It might include plants,

Stones and artwork or a shrine if you include ritual and spiritual and religious dimensions in your daily meditation practice.

Meditation tip three,

Sitting.

Begin by finding your seat,

Whether that's sitting on a chair or a cushion on the floor.

So physically find your centre of balance.

Let your weight drop downwards into the floor and settle into your seat as best you can.

You might need a blanket to keep warm,

A small folded blanket or the edge of a small cushion to support your knees or ankles if you're not used to sitting on the floor.

And if you're sitting in a chair,

Make sure that your spine is upright away from the back of the chair and that your feet are planted on the floor.

And you can put a firm cushion under your feet or sit in a low chair so that you can feel your two feet making contact with the ground.

Meditation tip four,

Posture.

Find a way to sit that's comfortable for you and don't make a neurosis out of your sitting meditation posture.

That's another resistance and distraction to sitting meditation.

Having an upright spine and an open chest and relaxed shoulders can help you stay present and aware of your moment to moment experience.

And finding a comfortable posture to sit in and just sit.

Meditation tip five,

Defocus eyesight.

Once you're sitting comfortably,

I invite you to defocus your eyesight so that you're gazing softly downwards into a middle distance in front of you.

Find a spot in front of you to rest your gaze on.

And you have options here,

Either having your eyes slightly open,

And this will allow light to enter and help you stay focused,

Aware and alert.

Or if you prefer,

You can have your eyes closed and this can help you stay concentrated on your inner experience.

Having your eyes closed may mean you become drowsy.

But if it helps you stay focused on your internal experience,

Use the method that's helpful for you in any given moment.

So if you're feeling drowsy,

You can open your eyes gently and use your visual perception to help you stay aware and alert.

And if you feel too distracted,

Closing your eyes can help you tune into your breathing and focus on the sensations of breathing in your body.

Meditation tip six,

Awareness.

Awareness is a fundamental in meditation practice.

It involves being present and observing your experience.

By experience,

I mean your thoughts,

Fantasies,

Memories,

Feelings,

Bodily sensations,

Desires,

Etc.

Observing all these inner experiences without judgment.

When we meditate,

We are aware of whatever we are experiencing in each moment.

Whatever internal experience arises,

Pleasant or unpleasant,

Just being aware of what is occurring in your psyche,

In your body,

In your field of awareness.

Meditation tip seven,

Awareness of breathing.

So I invite you to notice if you are aware of your breathing at this moment or unaware of your breathing.

The noticing is more important than the way you are breathing.

So breathing naturally and observing each in-breath and out-breath from beginning to middle to the end of each breath.

Aware of the pause at the end of each in-breath and at the end of each out-breath.

Aware of the pace and quality of your breathing,

Just as it is now,

However it is.

Whether it's steep and slow or shallow and quick.

Not needing to change or manipulate your breathing in any way,

Simply being aware of how it is now in this moment.

And with each breath,

In-breath,

Filling your lungs as you experience awareness.

And with each out-breath,

Exhaling as you experience release and being unaware.

And you can be aware of being out of contact with your breathing and you can be aware of being unaware of your breathing.

Meditation tip 8.

Anchor.

Meditation involves focusing on one object as an anchor for your attention.

A neutral reference point that supports your presence and mental stability.

The anchor is what you pay attention to during meditation.

It's a reference point that helps you focus your attention and stabilise your thoughts and emotions when you meditate.

A meditation anchor can help restore your presence when distracting thoughts and emotions arise.

Examples of meditation anchors include focusing on the sensations of your breathing,

Such as the rise and fall of your chest and your abdomen.

Or you can use your hands as an anchor.

The position,

Weight,

Texture and temperature of your hands in each moment.

Aware of all the sensations in your hands and the weight of your hands.

Some people use meditation beads to help anchor their attention in their hands.

Some people use a mantra,

A word,

A few words.

A mantra or a ghata,

Such as clear mind on the in-breath and don't know on the out-breath.

Breathing in,

Saying clear mind silently to yourself.

Breathing out,

Saying don't know silently to yourself.

Clear mind.

Another popular mantra is saying in with the in-breath and out with the out-breath.

In-breath,

Deep with the in-breath,

Slow with the out-breath.

In,

Out,

Slow.

So the anchor is held in the foreground of your field of awareness as a focal point in the centre of your field of awareness,

Directly in front of you.

There may be other things in your field of awareness,

But those other things,

Whether they be thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations,

Memories,

Fantasies,

Desires.

Those other things are not central in your field of awareness during meditation practice.

They may be in the background of your mind,

On the periphery of your mind,

Above or below your mind,

But they are not a central focus of your attention.

Meditation tip nine,

Sensation.

Meditation is a practice that involves using your senses as an anchor to draw your attention to your present moment experience.

By focusing on what you can hear or see,

Smell,

Taste or touch,

You can enhance your awareness of your present moment experience.

And you can counteract the stream of thoughts and affective emotions that hijack your attention.

Being aware of the sensations of your body and using your five senses to stay aware of present moment experience is something tangible.

That can help you be present in the here and now and not somewhere else,

Lost in thoughts,

Emotions,

Memories and fantasies about the past and the future.

So we are using our five senses to help us stay in present moment awareness.

Meditation tip ten,

Embodiment.

Embodiment involves being present with your body to connect to the present moment.

Being embodied is being in contact with and aware of your bodily sensations to help you develop a deeper presence and awareness of yourself.

Being aware of any sensations or vibrations in your body,

Such as the pace and rhythm of your breathing,

Of your heartbeat and your pulse.

Sensations,

Vibrations and sounds in your mouth and throat,

In your stomach and abdomen.

Aware of all parts of your body,

Including all experiences,

Sensations of tension and relaxation.

Sensations of tightness and ease,

Of warmth and cold.

Meditation tip eleven,

Check-in.

Take a few moments now to check in with yourself.

With your body,

Your heart,

Your mind.

With your breathing.

You might like to start checking in with your body first.

Noticing any sensations in your forehead,

Your eyes,

Your facial muscles.

Noticing your neck and shoulders and back.

Areas of ease and relaxation.

And areas of discomfort and pain.

Noticing areas of tension and relaxation.

And making any adjustments you need to make to be comfortable and at ease.

And you can use your upright spine to support you,

To help you relax and stay aware and alert.

And if there's a particular thought or story that's repeating,

You can be aware of that narrative.

And if there are particular emotions and feelings with that narrative,

You can be aware of the emotions and desires.

Perhaps worries or fantasies that are part of that narrative,

That may be plaguing you for some moments.

Meditation tip twelve,

Attitude.

In meditation,

We practice certain attitudes that are helpful for us to become more aware of our experience.

So,

In meditation,

We need a fresh approach to each moment and to help us stay fresh and aware.

Attitudes such as honesty,

Acceptance,

Non-judgment,

Self-compassion and patience can be helpful for our meditation practice.

And some of these attitudes might feel unfamiliar to you if you haven't practiced them before.

And others may feel more familiar and easier for you to practice.

And with time and consistent practice,

These attitudinal seeds that lie deep in your subconscious,

They can begin to grow and flower.

And you can pick one attitude a day or one attitude for a week or a month and build your relationship with that particular attitude.

Start getting to know it,

Befriend it,

Find out how you can relate to it and use it.

You can write it on a post-it note and stick it where you can see it often,

Many times during the day.

And practicing getting to know an attitude can be an experiment.

So be creative and notice what happens to your mind,

Your heart,

Your psyche,

Your behaviour,

Your way of being when practicing with this attitude.

Meditation Tip 13 Intention Setting an intention as part of your meditation involves focusing on a state of being that you want to embody during your meditation.

So you can set your intention with a few words or with one sentence.

And your intention can be used as an anchor for your meditation practice.

For example,

I might use the sentence,

My intention is to gift myself half an hour of silence and stillness as best I can and not judge or criticise my meditation practice.

So I could keep that intention at the foreground of my awareness.

So if I get distracted by thoughts,

Feelings,

Worries,

Fantasies,

I have my anchor and intention to come back to.

My intention can help me become present and aware of my experience in that moment.

An intention can help you identify what's important to you.

And it can help direct your attention throughout the meditation back to your intention,

To your anchor.

Be clear and consider what aligns with your values.

Make sure your intention comes from a place of compassion.

But be ready to adapt your intention as your meditation practice evolves.

Being adaptive and flexible here in meditation practice is akin to being kind and compassionate towards yourself and your meditation practice.

And it counteracts the tendency to try and get something right.

So we're focused and flexible at the same time.

Meditation tip 14.

Presence.

In meditation practice,

We open our mind and our heart to our present moment experience.

Just as it is,

Without needing to change anything or get anything right.

We are not seeking to be present.

We're not seeking any special experience,

But simply being present to whatever experience is presenting itself in our field of awareness,

Positive or negative.

We notice what is here now.

And we also notice when we are not present and unaware.

And noticing the lack of awareness and present is equally as important as noticing your present moment experience.

So there's no judgment of your ability to be present and not in the present moment.

Meditation tip 15.

Attention.

In meditation,

We are attentive to our moment-to-moment lived experience.

And to help us stay attentive,

We focus our attention on one thing.

Noticing what our experience is now.

An example of focused attention during meditation is awareness of your breathing.

Or it could be awareness of a flame,

Of a candle in front of you.

Or awareness of a sound or a mantra that you may be repeating in your mind.

Notice where your attention is right now.

Notice what state your attention is in right now.

Is it still or moving?

And if it's moving,

How is it moving?

Is it moving slowly or quickly?

Does it feel relaxed or tense?

How is your attention in this moment?

Is it being cooperative?

Or is it being rebellious?

Again,

Not judging your attention.

Accepting exactly how it is in this moment.

Meditation tip 16.

Attention.

Inner space.

In silent meditation,

We turn our attention inwards by becoming aware of our breathing.

And allowing ourselves to connect with and relate to ourselves,

Our mind,

Our body.

Turning our attention inwards.

And you can release any anxiety or fear that you may have about meeting your internal experience.

About meeting yourself.

Getting to know yourself and coming into peace with yourself.

Abiding in inner space.

Being aware of your internal experience.

Is naturally abiding in pure awareness.

Pure consciousness.

Which is the essence of who you are.

And in meditation practice,

Becoming aware of yourself is inevitable.

Being true to yourself.

Practicing self-awareness and self-care.

Meditation tip 17.

Listening.

Listening inwardly to your internal experience.

Listening to your inner world.

Of thoughts,

Feelings,

Desires,

Fantasies,

Worries,

Expectations,

Judgements.

Listening to all positive and negative inner experiences without judgement.

Listening sincerely.

With honesty.

To make contact with what really matters to you now,

In this moment,

In this day.

Cultivating awareness of what's meaningful for you in this moment,

Now.

As you meditate.

Meditation tip 18.

Observation.

In meditation practice,

Observation is noticing what's happening in the present moment.

An observation is somewhat akin to analysis.

In that its focus is acute and clear.

Clear-sighted.

Observation is breaking things down and separating out experience into its integral parts.

Getting a clearer and truer knowing of your present moment experience.

Separating out sensory stimuli from desires,

Emotions,

Fantasies,

Thoughts,

Worries,

Memories,

Traumas.

Being clear-minded about what you are experiencing in each moment.

Observing exactly what is present for you.

And what is really happening to you,

In you,

In each moment.

Meditation tip 19.

Concentration.

Concentration in meditation involves focusing your attention on a single object in your field of awareness.

To become more focused and concentrated.

And less distracted.

Concentration is about honing your mental focus on a single point of reference,

Such as your breathing or a mantra.

And it heightens your awareness.

Allowing your mind to become more attentive to your present experience.

It can help you stay present and grounded.

Reducing your worries about the past and the future.

Practicing concentration.

You can learn to guide your attention back to the object of your awareness.

Whenever your mind starts to wander.

Concentrating.

Concentrating on your anchor,

Your point of reference.

In each moment.

It can help to reduce the internal chatter.

It can help to reduce your absence from being present and aware.

And it can help you become more stable and grounded.

Meditation tip 20.

Holding space.

In meditation practice,

Holding space is a practice of being present with yourself,

For yourself,

As yourself,

Without judgment.

Holding space involves listening to your experiences,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations.

Accepting what is happening and present.

And becoming more compassionate with yourself.

Holding all your various experiences,

Positive and negative,

Without self-judgment or self-criticism.

Holding space for yourself can help you become more authentic and true to yourself.

More accepting of all parts of yourself without judgment.

More respecting of all your experiences equally,

Whatever they are.

Meditation tip 21.

Relaxation.

So let's just take a moment and see how you are now.

What's your relationship to relaxation at this moment?

Without making the assumption that you and I are relaxed.

As best you can.

Relaxing in any way you can at the moment.

And letting the rest of it be as it is.

And make any adjustments you need to make to be comfortable.

Notice your facial muscles,

Your shoulders might need to drop.

Noticing the weight of your hands and arms.

The weight of your body making contact with the surface you're sitting on.

Noticing your breathing.

Noticing the muscles in your face,

Jaw,

Neck,

Shoulders.

And letting the relaxation flow down your back,

Through your legs,

To your feet.

Meditation tip 22.

Freedom.

At the core of meditation is resting in pure being.

So we don't need to confront or transcend any of our inner experience.

Because it's all part of us.

And in meditation we learn to practice freedom from judgment.

Freedom from rejection,

Resistance and avoidance.

Freedom from striving and grasping.

Freedom from distraction and freedom from attachment.

We are practicing openness.

Allowing our open mind and our open heart to be free.

To accept whatever is present without judgment,

Anxiety or effort.

Meditation tip 23.

Detachment.

In meditation practice,

Detachment is a shift to a mental state of observing your experience.

Instead of being involved with your experience.

Simply observing,

Letting go,

Being free from the experience.

Not touching your experience.

Not getting involved with your experience.

And not becoming consumed in your experience.

Or lost in your experience.

Detachment is shifting your attention away from automatically involving yourself in your experience.

So that you can simply observe what is in your field of awareness.

Without embellishing or embedding the experience in a positive or negative narrative.

So there's no need to judge or interpret your momentary experience.

You can leave it alone and remain detached from it.

Each momentary experience stands alone.

Unattached to other experiences.

Meditation is about opening up an empty space around each momentary experience.

So that you can have moments of doing and being nothing.

And I haven't numbered this meditation tip,

This next one.

I'm improvising here.

And I'm going to add meditation tip spaciousness.

Or we could call it emptiness.

Is there something to say about spaciousness and emptiness?

About the concept or theory or uses of spaciousness and emptiness?

Let's just take a few moments to see if we can tune into or notice,

Become aware of any spaciousness in our breathing.

In our thinking.

In our emotional body.

See if we can become aware of any spaciousness in our mind and body.

Let's give ourselves some space to do that.

Meditation tip 24.

Non-judgment.

When we meditate,

We're stepping back from the constant stream of thinking,

Feeling,

Judging,

Reacting to our experience.

We try not to judge or categorize our thoughts,

Feelings,

And sensations as positive or negative,

Good or bad,

Right or wrong.

The habit of categorizing and judging our experience locks us into automatic reactions that we are unaware of and that have no objective basis.

And these judgments and categories tend to dominate our mind and make it difficult for us to experience inner peace.

So the invitation is to see if you can begin to soften the tendency to judge and criticize and categorize your experience,

Even though you will inevitably judge yourself.

So don't worry about judging your judgments.

Accepting your judging and categorizing tendencies as one small part of your field of awareness.

So the judging and categorizing tendency is losing its power and decreasing in size.

And the spaciousness of your field of awareness is increasing and becoming stronger,

Wider,

Deeper.

Meditation tip 25.

Equanimity.

In meditation practice,

Equanimity helps you achieve a state of mental balance and even-mindedness.

Especially when faced with distraction and agitation,

Or faced with intense pleasure and joy,

That's equally a distraction.

So practicing equanimity during meditation is about observing all of your positive and negative experiences non-discriminatively,

Paying attention to your automatic reactions and learning to detach yourself from experience.

And just observe.

Equanimity helps us maintain an inner calm and steadiness,

Regardless of whatever positive or negative experiences occur during meditation.

Meditation tip 26.

Self-referencing.

Self-referencing is a cognitive tendency,

A mental tendency,

Where we use ourself as a benchmark for understanding our experience.

And we see ourselves in a narrative way,

Making up positive and negative stories about ourselves and our life and other people.

And we do this to try and understand ourself.

Meditation can help us develop an experiential approach to self-referencing that focuses on momentary experience,

Rather than seeing the experience as part of a narrative,

As part of a story of your identity,

Of your personality,

Of your life.

So noticing our momentary experience,

Rather than getting caught in the story.

The experience doesn't have to be part of a story of who you are,

What you are,

How you are.

And meditation can help us view our thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations as transient events,

Rather than being intrinsically good or bad in themselves,

Or being an integral part of yourself.

So the word impermanence comes to mind here.

Our experience is transient,

Ever-changing,

And impermanent.

So there's no need to create a structure in the form of a narrative,

A story.

Meditation tip 27,

Self-connection.

Self-connection is part of meditation,

And it's part of the nature of meditative experience.

Meditation practice enhances self-connection,

And self-connection in turn brings meditation.

And to be clear,

Without needing to go into the concept and theory of self,

By the term self,

I am not referring to your individual ego identity.

I'm simply referring to your own momentary experiences.

So the experiencing is more important than the individual having the experiences.

In meditation practice,

We are concerned with the experience.

We are not concerned with the experiencer.

In meditation practice,

We are connecting to our experience.

But we don't need to make a story up about who that experience belongs to,

And what that experience means for that individual,

Etc.

Etc.

The experience,

Standing alone,

Detached from other experiences,

Is enough.

And we are trusting to present moment experience,

Because the way knows the way.

And the cognitive mind is usually the most deluded and the last to know truth and reality.

Trusting to momentary experience,

To guide,

Teach and love each moment of your life.

Meditation Tip 28 Patience There's no need to be impatient with yourself when you're meditating.

For example,

Because you're tense or agitated,

Or distracted or judgmental.

It's completely normal for the mind to be judging things all the time.

It's completely normal to become distracted when you're meditating.

So you can give yourself a break.

Give yourself some time and space to have both pleasant and unpleasant experiences during your meditation.

Because it's impossible to have positive experiences without negative experiences.

And patience is helpful in meditation,

When we are agitated,

As it reminds us that you don't have to get anything right.

And being able to be with unpleasant experiences may be more real than being with pleasant experiences.

So patience allows us to be with ourselves honestly and compassionately.

It allows us to be in touch with the true nature of our reality.

With acceptance and compassion and understanding that change takes place in its own time.

Meditation Tip 29 Self-compassion Meditation cannot occur without kindness and self-compassion.

That is fundamental to meditation practice.

Self-compassion helps us to accept our experience just as it is in each moment,

Without self-criticism and self-judgment.

Or imagining yourself to be wrong or a failure at meditation.

So I invite you to notice if you're being judgmental of your meditation practice.

And I invite you to notice if you can recognize your need to get it right.

And be in a special way of being that you imagine you ought to be.

Those expectations and ideals can do as much harm as good.

And I would argue often times do a lot more harm than good.

So in our meditation practice,

We're creating a meditative space in which we can honestly and unashamedly,

Without fear or guilt,

Connect to ourselves.

Just as we are.

And learn wholehearted acceptance of our present moment experience,

Just as it is.

Meditation Tip 30 Gratitude Practicing meditation with gratitude helps us to notice,

Value and give thanks for the little wins.

Like appreciating that you showed up on your meditation cushion or chair.

Appreciating the time and space that you created for yourself,

For self-care.

Appreciating your heart,

Lungs,

Spine and other body parts working for you and supporting you.

Throughout your meditation,

Throughout your day and night.

Grateful for all your experiences during meditation.

Gratitude for the sun shining through your window.

Slowly moving across the floor or across the wall.

Gratitude for the silence and stillness around you and within you.

Noticing seemingly insignificant momentary experience that,

When imbued with presence and awareness,

Are not insignificant but are miraculous momentary experiences.

Let's pause for a few moments now and see if we can notice the wonders of life within us and around us.

Noticing your experience at this moment,

Just as it is.

A miracle.

See if you can feel a sense of gratitude and smile and say thank you for this moment coming,

Appearing and presenting itself for you in your field of awareness.

Before it goes out of your awareness.

Meditation tip 31.

Acknowledge distractions.

So when you're meditating,

It's not unusual for your mind to wander off into thinking,

Imagining and fantasizing and worrying about the past and the future.

Which is inevitable and completely natural.

And of course,

Our thoughts,

Imaginings,

Fantasies,

Worries are fuelled by our emotions and our desires.

So thoughts are not separate to feelings and emotions.

Fantasies and worries are not separate to our desires,

Our emotions and our genuine needs.

In meditation,

We notice,

Become aware of and acknowledge the distraction without self-judgment and self-criticism and without frustration or disappointment.

Practising meditation,

Getting in touch with yourself,

Listening deeply to yourself,

Naturally brings up emotions,

Memories,

Traumas.

Because you've given yourself the time and space to be honest with yourself.

And the invitation is to acknowledge what's there that you are experiencing,

Whatever the emotion,

Worry,

Thought,

Fantasy is.

Acknowledging your human lived experience in that moment and gently being present for it in your field of awareness.

And guiding your attention back to your anchor,

Your focal point,

Whether it be noticing your breathing,

Noticing the sensations in your hands or feet.

Awareness of the beads in your hand and redirecting your focus onto your mantra.

Acknowledging the distraction is there,

Whatever it is,

Positive or negative,

And returning your focus onto your anchor.

Returning your attention,

Your present moment attention,

Onto your reference point.

Taking your attention away from the distracting object,

Whether it be an emotion,

Fantasy,

Worry.

Shifting your energy from the distracting object back to your anchor,

Your reference point,

Which is the object of your meditation.

Meditation tip 32.

Don't overthink it.

You don't need to overthink your meditation practice and don't expect any particular meditative experience or outcome.

Just let it be exactly how it is.

It doesn't take forever to learn how to meditate.

One moment is enough to awaken to your true nature.

In the words of the poet Mary Oliver,

You don't have to crawl on your hands and knees for hundreds of miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves,

Trusting to your awareness of your embodied experience.

I invite you to be present and don't worry about meditating,

And I hope that sooner rather than later,

Maybe even now,

Who knows,

You will gift yourself.

The experience of meditation and let go of any anxiety.

So don't overthink it.

It is what it is,

And indeed what it is,

Is good enough,

Just as it is.

All experiences are the right experiences.

All conditions are the right conditions.

Meditation tip 33.

I thought it would be nice to end on a master number.

Consistency.

In meditation practice,

Consistency of meditation practice is much more important than the duration of your meditation practice.

So it's helpful to meditate at the same time each day,

Even just five minutes in the morning and maybe five minutes in the evening,

If you're a beginner.

And it's very well known across many different disciplines and sectors and professions that whatever you're learning or practicing,

It's best to do a little every day rather than doing a lot occasionally.

So if you can,

Try to practice a little meditation every day.

And you can experiment with this until you find a routine that's helpful for you.

But don't become neurotic about creating the right meditation practice or creating the right meditation conditions or experiencing the right meditative experience.

As I already said,

In meditation practice,

All conditions are the right conditions,

All experiences,

Positive and negative.

All experiences are the right experiences.

And it's helpful to bear in mind,

Perhaps in the foreground of your mind,

That meditation is not meant to be for peaceful situations.

Meditation is meant for difficult situations.

So really trying to achieve an ideal meditation is nonsensical.

Okay,

So we're coming to the end of this episode three on meditation tips for everyone.

I hope you find some of these meditation tips helpful.

No doubt there are many more that could be taught,

But I think we've covered more than enough for now.

While I was making this recording just now,

It came to my mind that I haven't listed silence and stillness as two meditation tips.

And I hope it goes without saying that silence and stillness are the two wings of meditation.

So I invite you to invite silence and invite stillness into your meditation practice,

Opening the door to them,

Opening yourself to them.

Welcoming silence and stillness into your meditation practice,

Perhaps shaking them by the hand or giving them a hug.

Beginning a new friendship,

Beginning to befriend silence and stillness,

Becoming acquainted with getting to know the experience of silence.

And the experience of stillness.

Thank you for listening to this episode and to other episodes in this podcast.

So good luck with your meditation practice and I look forward to creating the next episode for you.

So we'll meet again next time.

Bye for now.