#3 Keeping Meditation Practice Alive

In this talk, Simply Cosmic invites us to cultivate our Meditation practice and how to keep it alive. Especially remembering to keep our Meditation explorative and fun. Simply Cosmic inspires us to try different Meditation techniques while making sure we stick to them long enough to understand them and also using meditation tools like singing bowls and instruments.

Transcript

Namaste, My brothers and sisters. I am your brother, Simply Cosmic, In the moment, Welcoming you home to the loving vibes of the moment. Right now, I'm actually at Triklam Meditation Center in Houston, Texas, Bringing you some connection through this experience called the Coronavirus Lockdown Quarantine Mode. And I'm here to stay engaged with spirituality, To stay engaged with the practice of mindfulness, And stay engaged with simply just being productive. And I have a topic today that I have created, And today we're going to be talking about how to keep your meditation practice alive. Because many of us, We use insight timer to stay engaged in meditation. The point system, The star system definitely helps. But not everyone actually cares about the star system, But it has helped me in the past. But eventually I grew out of the star system and find an organic, I would say, Find an organic interest in daily meditation practice. I want to share with you how I personally kept my meditation practice alive throughout these years. And I would say I've been a committed practitioner for about four years. But I've really been practicing meditation starting since I was a kid because I was raised at a Theravada Buddhist temple, Or Thai Buddhist temple. And I've enjoyed meditation ever since I was a kid, But I didn't continue to practice. But when I started it was rocky. I really got into it deeply about seven years ago, But it wasn't really as consistent up until the past four years. And today I'm here to share with you what I do to stay engaged with meditation and what makes me stay interested in it. So number one, I'm just going to make it, Unless it's not number one. The first reason is that we have to make meditation fun. That meditation can be quite boring if we don't keep growing. In the beginning I would use the same style of meditation which is using Anapanasati, Which is just focusing on the breath, Going in and out. The first mantras that I used were let go, Breathing in, Let, Breathing out, Go. And I did that for about two to three years. But eventually I realized, You know what? I needed to grow and I needed to explore what kind of meditation was out there. And so I went on YouTube and looked at the different types of meditation practices and got engaged with different practices like fire breathing or breathing in different styles. Breathing longer, Exhaling shorter, Breathing in through my nose only and out through my nose only, In through my nose and out through my mouth. But I would be doing these practices for about a week to experiment. And some of them I would really do for a month so that I would continue to cultivate and explore meditation instead of doing one style of meditation. And this exploration, This variety allows me to feel a little bit more alive when I'm doing this because it feels like I'm doing my experimental work as a practitioner. But once it did get boring, The next thing that I used is I started using music. And if you use Insight Timer, It comes with music. So many of us start the practice of meditation to keep us engaged, To keep our practice alive, We use music. Try using variety types of music. Used by Nero Beats, I meditated on Bob Marley, I meditated on the sounds of nature, I meditated in many types of sound. But once you have done, Once you have done many, Once you have used audio or sounds to guide the meditation, Sometimes it's really powerful to let go of using music and to simply sit in silence and be with your breath, To be with your breath. What I found and started enjoying is listening to mantras that feel beautiful, Listening to mantras that feel relaxed, Listening to mantras. I used to not really be into the mantras. I'm talking about Buddhist mantras here. But the truth is that any mantra would do. It helps you to feel more connected to the moment or whatever goal you would like to achieve during your practice, To keep your practice alive. Another tip that helps me really keep my practice alive is that you want to practice consistently in the same spot, In the same room, Lighting the same incense for a certain amount of time because when you have a consistent practice, It allows you to go deeper and deeper and deeper because you're mentally preparing yourself to be, To connect, To feel alive. But now that you have done that for a while, Break that pattern and go outside and sit where you normally don't sit and explore the varieties of new experiences because the consistency helps us to go within easier. But when we have deepened our practice enough, We've got to break the box and go outside our frame, Our shell and explore what it's like to meditate in nature, To listen to the sounds of the birds, To listen to the sounds of the leaves ruffling. And from time to time, If that practice gets boring or that practice doesn't really engage you as much, Break another pattern. Usually we close our eyes during the practice. Open your eyes and do an open eye meditation. See what's in front of you. See the insects, See the birds, See the squirrels, See the sky, Be with the sky, Breathe with the sky. And as you can see, To keep our practice alive, We have to keep breaking our pattern. Once we get familiar with a certain pattern, Break it and do something else. Break that pattern and do something else. Break that pattern and try a new teacher. Listen to a new teacher. Listen to new styles. Listen to new music. Listen to new environments. And that for us to meditate, We can engage meditation more deeply when we practice throughout our day by being mindful. When you're using the restroom, Be mindful that you maybe are urinating. When you're washing your hands, Especially during this time where we're recommended to wash our hands, Be mindful that you're washing your hands and you count to 20. That's a meditation. Another meditation could be when you put on the hand sanitizer, Wave your hands in the air and be with your hands. When you're driving, Be where you're driving. When you're cooking or eating, Be where you are doing because if you're not present throughout your day, You miss most of your life, Says the Buddha. And that when we practice throughout our day, Our life feels enlightened. It feels deeply present because we're constantly present. We're constantly engaged in the moment when we're walking. We're walking left, Right, But we're not so serious about mindfulness. It's a loose practice, But not so loose that we're in our heads, Loose enough to enjoy what's here. When we come into meditation, Our minds are already clear. In my personal experience, My meditation gets deeper and more still and more present and more beauty and more relaxation. What also helps is that once you have developed enough of this practice and you've been meditating for some years, Or even if you're new, I invite you to try group meditation, Especially taking turns to guide meditation and letting each person express their own heart on what they want to express during the meditation. We shouldn't structure meditation so much. We should let flow happen. We should let go. But when we let go together, And when we become present with our brothers and sisters, It feels amazing because when we're present with other beings, Other friends, Other mystics, We feel so connected to them. When we meditate in nature with our friends, We become connected through our surrounding, But we connect to our internal environment and we expand that to our external environment and we feel lightness together. We feel relaxed together. We feel love together. Or maybe you have already done all the things that I've said already. To keep your practice alive, You must keep trying new things. For example, Make turning your yoga practice into more of a meditative practice. Slow down when you do your yoga. But what I really want to say is try out different tools. What do you mean by tools? I mean singing bowls, Tibetan singing bowls, Chimes, Different sounds, Crystal singing bowls, Different instruments, Drumming. I love drumming. I love singing bowls. I actually have about 18 singing bowls. And if you've been on my live stream, Cosmic underscore unwind, Just plugging a little, Twitch dot tv slash cosmic underscore unwind. We play the singing bowls, But mainly the Tibetan ones. We play the chimes. We have a little frog, A wooden frog that we play. We have different types of chimes. I like different types of incense to keep me engaged in the moment. I sing as meditation. I chant. Sometimes I do a throat singing. Sometimes I just make up noise. I sing all of yourself and breathe. Your voice is a tool. Your body is a tool. Working out, Hugging, Speaking softly, Speaking mindfully. All these mindful practices enhance our meditation. That when we're present throughout our day, Our meditation, Sitting meditation becomes amazing. Walking meditation, Endless tools. You can make up your own. We can pour tea, A tea ceremony, A tea pouring. But the main part that I want to let you know, Have fun with being mindful. That don't be so tight with your practice. Loosen up. Enjoy the little things and that every single thing can be a meditative practice. Today I invite you to keep your meditation alive by practicing throughout your day. Trying out different tools. Trying different styles. Try different chants. Try group meditation. Try singing bowls. Try oming. Try singing. And try having fun. I hope you have a wonderful, Wonderful day. And if you want to find me, You're welcome to find me on twitch. Tv slash cosmic underscore unwind. And I'm also on YouTube, Cosmic underscore unwind. And if you have any questions or comments, I invite you to engage with me. I love engagement. I invite you to ask questions. I invite you to do your work because I love doing this stuff so much and I'm here to connect with you. Because connecting with you connects me to myself too. And I'll end with a little song. We are the guardians of planet earth. Protectors of the water land and above. We are the angels of planet earth. Be the change, Meditate, Spread in love. This is the kingdom of planet earth. This is our kingdom, Our mother earth. Nanananana. Thank you so much. And if you like these podcasts or talks, Please let me know. Thank you so much. I'll see you next week.