Welcome to MindBodyYe.
Thank you for landing here.
This is the place to come to refuel your vibe and nourish your mind,
Body and spirit.
I am Kate Zoukas,
The host of MindBodyYe.
I am a conscious business leader,
Yoga and mindfulness teacher and coach.
And I'm so excited to be here sharing my energy with you and holding the space for you to nourish yourself in this podcast.
The goal of MindBodyYe is to provide podcast topics that nourish your mind,
Body and spirit,
Uplift your energy and ultimately invite the good into your life.
So let's get those positive vibes flowing and get started with today's podcast.
So the topic for today's podcast is how do you start your meditation practice.
So this is a guide for people who are wanting to start their meditation practice.
So this is if you're curious about meditation,
If you have tried meditation before and not quite sure if you're on the right track,
Well,
This podcast is for you.
So when I tell people that I'm a yoga and meditation teacher,
The most common question I get is,
Oh,
How do I start meditating?
Or someone told me that I should look at meditating because it's good for your mind?
How do I start?
And it is a question I always,
Always get.
And other people also say,
Oh,
I tried meditation once,
Didn't work,
I couldn't silence my mind.
So I stopped.
And so firstly,
I want to give you some tips in this podcast to help you start your own meditation practice,
And also bust some myths around meditation.
Because meditation isn't just about silencing your mind.
And if you're like me,
You've got lots of different tabs open at the same time in your mind.
And a lot of the time,
It's really hard to close each of those tabs.
So for me,
My meditation practice is more about observing what's going on in my mind,
Trying not to attach myself to my thoughts,
Or being a participant of my mind.
It really is about trying to calm the monkey mind,
If you know,
Which Jay Shetty talks about,
And I love that term monkey mind,
Because I think it really does describe sometimes what goes on in my mind.
But it's really about trying to calm your mind,
Be more aware of what is going on in your mind.
It's not about having to completely quiet and silence your mind.
So if you if we're able to step away from being that participant of our mind,
It helps us to actively rest our mind and give ourselves some more mental space,
Which I know that's just such a luxury nowadays with everything is so busy,
Our mental loads are so huge.
And which is why I first started with meditation is because it really helped me to find space and create space in my mind.
It also helped me to reduce stress,
Reduce anxiety,
And really stop,
Not completely stop,
But it's helped me,
You know,
Overthink and overanalyze.
So that's really for me why I started to meditate.
And I really do want to bust that myth upfront that meditation is all about silencing the mind,
Or you have to be sitting on a lotus flower.
In order to be able to meditate,
You don't have to,
You can meditate,
You know,
Before you go to sleep.
You can meditate at lunchtimes,
You can meditate on public transport,
Pretty much the only place I tell you not to meditate is while you were driving a car or operating any heavy machinery.
But other than that,
You know,
Meditation helps you to be more aware of the present moment.
It helps you to be able to control what is going on in your mind,
Be friends with your mind,
So that your mind doesn't control you.
So I think that is just such an important topic for us.
And right now it is October 2022,
We are entering into Mental Health Month.
And next week is Global Mental Health Day.
So I think it's such an important time for us to be focusing on our minds,
Investing in our mental health.
The other myth I hear people say is I don't have time to meditate.
It's like you don't have to have a lot of time to meditate.
A couple of minutes a day where you're focusing on your breath,
Closing your eyes,
Centering yourself,
Is a huge investment in your overall mental health.
And often I found that when I meditate,
I'm able to go back to work and I'm a lot clearer and a lot more focused and I'm a lot more productive.
And most people that I follow,
So these,
You know,
When I would call them successful people,
So these are people that,
You know,
Are highly productive,
That follow their dreams,
That are living their life that they don't need a vacation from because,
You know,
They are just successful in their own right.
And they're meeting their own definition of success.
So,
And most of these people have,
You know,
All meditate,
They all have some type of meditation practice that they do to center themselves and to help align their mind,
Body and spirit.
And that is really what meditation does for you.
So I know that for many meditation can seem really difficult.
And we live in a fast paced and very energetic world where we do need to be on all the time.
And I often tell myself,
You know,
Often tell people that it's okay to take a break,
You know,
And give yourself permission to put yourself first.
And that once you put yourself first,
Once you give yourself some mental space and a bit of a mental break,
As I mentioned before,
You are going to be more productive than you have been before.
So often take the time to slow down and rest your mind,
Increase your awareness,
And then you are going to speed up.
So meditation.
So that's giving you a little bit on on why I do meditation and some of the myths that I hear people saying or some of the blocks that people say when I mentioned,
You know,
I'm a yoga and meditation teacher.
So I have put together some practical ways that you can help yourself to start your own meditation practice.
And now these are simple and practical techniques for beginners or anyone that is wanting to explore different ways of meditation.
And so my number one is meditation takes practice.
Yes,
It is called a meditation practice.
So it needs to be regular.
So look at your own lifestyle,
Look at your own schedule and see when you should be meditating during your day.
So when can you spend 10 or 20 minutes a day meditating?
So for me personally,
I prefer to meditate in the evenings.
I have a very good
