Morning Mantra Cuatro: Back to Basic

My last mantra felt rushed and sloppy. Practicing everyday was about making new neural pathways, but it became something I recited, not felt. Therefore I made this to remind myself to make space and collect myself. The following is an introduction to meditation. There's no right way to meditate, and I need to remind myself this.

Transcript

Without intention,

A mantra just becomes repetition.

This is what I struggled with prior to Mantra Trace.

My hope was that morning Mantra Trace would help me refocus.

Instead,

Something else happened when I was doing a mindfulness exercise one day.

There's a difference between knowing something and actually feeling it.

For example,

With my rational mind I can say to you,

My father passed away several years ago.

Should I allow myself to open up to my emotional mind and say that same sentence my voice could crack,

Or my eyes could tear up?

So knowing that I need to be kind to myself as part of Mantra Dose,

And actually feeling that through the mantra,

Is different.

Does that make sense?

This is why making space with meditation and mindfulness is so important.

Thus,

I'm taking a small break from the morning mantras to share what I've learned about mindfulness and meditation.

As always,

This is my practice to find my own path,

But I'm sharing it here with anyone who has interest.

Right now,

I want to talk meditation and in a week I'll share a mindfulness exercise for those that aren't down with the stillness of meditation.

Plus,

I personally like a bit of variety in my own practice.

So what is meditation?

One misconception is that you're clearing your mind as blank as a white sheet of paper.

Nope,

A popular meditation app puts it very simply.

The example is imagining thoughts and feelings as cars on a road,

And in meditation we're just watching them go by instead of jumping in for a ride.

For example,

I might hear,

I'm not a good writer.

I might be one of my thoughts.

I could continue down that train of thought with nobody likes my writing,

I should give up,

I'm pathetic.

Instead I simply watch that thought go by in meditation.

Maybe very quickly labeling it as criticism,

But not engaging in it in any way.

In meditation,

We're observing,

Not reacting.

We're stepping away from the daily tasks,

Worries,

And what happens next when we're done trying this.

We're going to just sit and listen to our bodies and our mind.

I know it sounds a bit new age,

But I don't know how else to explain it.

Just trust me for the duration of this audiophile,

And after it's done,

You do what you want to do.

Other misconceptions of meditation include sitting in a pose,

Being completely still,

Closing your eyes,

And being in a quiet room.

None of this is key.

The goal is to make space for ourself without the distractions of everyday life.

So yes,

We want to be comfortable,

But if you have a cramp,

Move.

You can sit in a chair,

Lay down,

Or stand.

So for those of us with low self-esteem and anxiety,

Don't worry about perfecting this.

It's called practice for a reason.

Most guided meditations begin by asking you to monitor your breath.

This is something our body does on its own without us thinking about it.

So it can be used as a bit of a doorway into yourself or into this observer state.

It's also a way to give our thinking mind something to do,

A focus.

So instead of thinking about the appointment tomorrow,

The need to do laundry,

Or the horrible way someone spoke to you today,

And a billion other things,

We simply find a way to watch our breath.

The breath isn't the only way to bring a singular focus.

Again,

There's no rules to this meditation stuff.

I often like to sit on my balcony in the summer and meditate,

And I focus on all the noises of the city.

I don't spend energy trying to be a detective,

Thinking,

Where is that noise coming from,

Or was that an ambulance or a fire truck?

I simply note traffic,

Sirens,

Or even the breeze on my skin.

Again,

Meditation is a practice.

The siren,

For example,

Could startle me.

That's why they choose such alarming sounds.

So I note the distraction and go back to observing the sounds.

Or if I chose to focus on my breathing and I hear the siren,

I would gently remind myself again to focus on my stomach rising with each breath.

I say gently,

Like so many guided meditations do,

Because our inner critic would love to say,

Hey dummy,

Ignore the sirens and focus on your breath.

You can't do anything right,

Can you?

You know,

Maybe that does go through my head during meditation,

And that's okay.

It's a practice.

So I start again.

Meditation works because it calms those fight or flight biological systems that used to protect us from danger,

But now go insanely haywire because of something as simple as stress.

I believe in this more centered state of mind,

Clear from those distractions of the day.

This is where I can feel those morning mantras rather than just repeating them rotely.

It's in this calmness that I can not only create an intent for my day,

Like being kind to myself,

But I can emotionally feel that I want to be kind to myself.

So what do you say?

Do you want to give a short meditation a try?

Okay,

Find a comfortable space.

We're going to focus on our bodies,

A body scan meditation.

So sit upright,

Get the wiggles out,

Maybe shake your arms,

Stretch,

Roll the shoulders or your neck.

All right.

Gently close your eyes and take note of your breath.

How you do this is up to you.

I'll give you a few examples.

Can you feel the air as it passes through your nostrils or lips on an inhale?

Cool air enters your body,

But the exhale is warmer.

Maybe your chest rises on an inhale.

Your shoulders,

Do they rise and fall with the breath?

The easiest thing for me to observe is my stomach.

It rises and it falls.

Stay with your breath for a few moments in whatever way you choose.

Now let's check in with the body,

Starting with the head.

Remember,

There's no right or wrong way to feel.

Observe the muscles around your eyes.

Are they clenching closed?

Or are your eyelids resting over your eyes?

Is your jaw clenched?

Your mouth tight?

For me,

I always seem to be clenching without noticing.

When I observe that,

I like to relax it during meditation.

There's no need to understand why I'm clenching.

I just observe and let go.

Moving down,

Let's check in on the neck.

I notice mine is tight.

A yoga instructor once had me breathe into areas of tightness.

Sometimes I can do this.

I'm imagining focusing my inhale onto my neck and exhaling away the discomfort.

Sometimes it doesn't work,

And that's okay.

Next,

The shoulders.

How do they feel?

Moving down your back.

Do you sense any strain,

Tightness,

Pain?

Using the spine from mid-back to lower back as you keep focus on your breath.

Okay,

Let's move up to the chest.

We store lots of emotions here.

Is your chest rigid,

Tense?

Maybe it's open or loose?

Check in with your stomach.

Feeling swollen from a recent meal?

Is it upset?

Are there any thoughts distracting you?

I'm hungry.

Or maybe you're judging yourself because you couldn't breathe into some pain.

Perhaps you're judging me in this exercise.

That's okay.

Gently return to your breath.

In.

Out.

Reserve your breath.

Remember there's no right or wrong way to do this body scan.

Move your awareness to your sit bones.

Can you feel the chair,

Floor,

Or cushion you're sitting on?

Now let's check in with our arms.

Are they heavy at your side?

Any aches or pains you observe?

No need to fix them or puzzle why.

Just observe.

Wrist.

When was the last time I intently focused on how my wrists were feeling?

Oops.

I have to be careful not to get caught in that question.

Back to my breath.

Now focus on hands and fingers.

Through the stillness in meditation or focusing attention I can sometimes feel a buzzing at my fingertips.

Other times I can make out my heartbeat there.

Upper thighs.

I often feel tension here.

I just make note of it.

With the lower thighs I like to again focus on the feeling of the support of the chair.

Knees.

Are there any sensations here?

Maybe not.

The muscles in the lower legs are always working hard.

Today there's nothing calling to me with my lower legs and that's okay.

I'll check in with my breath again because I'm getting caught up in questioning the absence of any feeling in my lower legs.

Now we've reached our heels,

The foot,

And our toes.

We just went from head to toe.

Return to focusing on the breath for a few moments.

Make some movement to your fingers,

Wiggle your toes,

And slowly open your eyes.

How do you feel?

Are you more relaxed?

Frustrated?

Are you glad that it's over?

Any part of the body that surprised you?

A pain you didn't know about?

Or like me,

You found yourself clenching your jaw or some other muscles?

It's difficult to focus your attention away from all the things going on in your life right now,

Isn't it?

If you think meditation isn't for you,

Check out mindfulness practices.

They're based on meditation but something you can do eyes open and in the world.

I'll give you two short exercises and then the next morning mantra.

Have you found today's exercise useful?

Search for other guided meditations.

I prefer to use the Insight Timer app.

Have a look there and search for body scan if you want to try another voice,

A different pace,

Etc.

I encourage you to find what works for you.

Finally,

I wanted to say thank you to those of you who have encouraged me throughout my journey.

Your support has been amazing and I am absolutely floored by the number of well wishes and comments I've received.

So thank you so very much.

I'll be back shortly with two mindfulness exercises and remember,

Be kind to yourself.

Reviews

I loved this. Thank you!

Enjoyed listening to talk could relate a lot to what was said especially the focusing on pain and breathing it away. Like speaker sometimes this works other times it takes longer to relax.found bodyscan very relaxing