Introduction To Meditation

A simple first meditation for anyone who feels a bit intimidated by meditation. I explain some basic principles on what meditation is and how to start a practice, and then we go through a short mindfulness meditation together, tuning in to our 5 senses and our breath.

Transcript

Hi everyone. Welcome. I'm Pauline from Vola Yoga. And today I wanted to share with you a short and simple meditation practice. Meditation can be a bit intimidating if you have never done it before. That's totally fine. I will guide you through a few simple steps. And the goal really here is to bring awareness to a central point of focus. Meditation, I like to say, Is not about thinking about nothing, Because, Guess what, This will never happen. We cannot think about nothing. This is not how the brain and the mind works. So rather than trying to think about nothing, Which is impossible, We're going to try to focus our awareness on something, An object of meditation. We usually have the breath as the object. Why? Because it's something that we always carry with us. We are breathing in and out all day long without even thinking about it. But also because focusing on the breath allows us to take deeper breaths, And this will have a very calming effect on the nervous system. So simply come to a comfortable position. It can be a cross-legged sit, It can be sitting on a chair, Whatever is more comfortable for you. But try to have your spine long and erect. Try to lengthen the crown of the head up, And then we're going to release the shoulders down and away from the ears so that the arms and the hands can come to rest on the lap. And then close your eyes if you can. If that's not comfortable, Then find a soft gaze. So look at something that is not moving on the floor or on the wall in front of you. And then as you're sitting right here, Take just a few seconds to scan your environment. Eyes closed still, But take a moment to witness the lighting of the room that you're in. Maybe it's a bright morning, Maybe it's sunny, Maybe it's evening and the lights are dim. Whatever it is, Take notice of the lighting of the space. And then bring your awareness to the sounds and anything that you can hear from outside of the room first, So any street noises, And then inside of the room. Maybe some music is playing, Maybe someone is talking next door, Maybe a kid is playing somewhere around. Observe all the sounds surrounding you, And then bring your attention to your mouth and roll your tongue in your mouth a few times, Just to connect with your sense of taste. You may or may not feel anything, But just connecting with that sense. And then go ahead and connect with your sense of touch, Feeling the texture of the clothing under your hands, Under your fingers, Maybe texture of the floor under your feet, And even the texture of the clothing on your skin. And then feel the air brush off your skin where your skin is bare. And there may or may not be a slight breeze where you are, But in any case, Connect with that upper part of your body, The skin layer, And feel the temperature of the room on your skin, On your hands, On your face. And then last but not least, Connect with your sense of smell. Observe any scents in your environment. And then as you do that, Bring full awareness to the tip of your nose. Start feeling the air coming in and out of you through the nose. With every inhale, Feel your body grow a little taller, A little higher. Feel your shoulders rise. And with every exhale, Feel your body relax and release towards the ground. Feel your shoulders come down slowly. And for the next 10 breaths, I'm going to invite you to focus solely on these movements of the chest and the shoulders, And feeling them rise. As you inhale, And descend as you exhale. Don't force the movements. Let it be natural. You're just here to observe it and to feel it in your body. Continue doing that. Continue focusing on the subtle movements of the upper body with the breath. And then every time your mind wanders elsewhere, And it probably will because that's what the mind does, We sometimes call it the monkey mind for a reason. The monkey mind means it's always going from one branch to the next. But so every time your mind wanders elsewhere, See if you can bring yourself back to just the sensations of the shoulders rising and falling with every breath. Five more cycles, Just like that. I am inhaling. I am feeling my shoulders. My shoulders rise. My chest expands. My belly widens. I am exhaling. I am feeling my shoulders descend. The air leaving my body through my nose. And congratulations. This was your first mindfulness meditation. If you had never done it. We can continue to do that for a few more minutes. Or we can do that same sequence again tomorrow. What matters with meditation really is consistency in the practice. So I always say it's kind of useless to try to meditate for an hour one day and then do nothing for a month. I think it's better to do 5-10 minutes every day or several times a week to start to really see the benefits of the practice. And again, It's a practice. So no one is good or bad at meditating. Sometimes it comes easy. Sometimes it's very difficult. The goal is to keep going, To keep at it. Even Buddhist monks that have been meditating for decades still have days where it's a little trickier to meditate. So don't make a big fuss out of it on days where nothing is happening, Where your mind is too restless. Just sit with yourself for 5 minutes, See what happens and then let it go and then come back to it the next day. I think consistency over time is the only way to lasting results. So keep trying. One day maybe you will actually enjoy it. I hope this was helpful. I hope you try again. I'm going to record some more so we can practice more techniques but this one was introduction to meditation and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much. See you soon.