How to Build Meditation into Each Day
A simple list for you to pick and choose what will work for you
Finding ritual, routine,
a practice that allows you
to center your mind and
heart inside your body
while releasing all expectations.
With a brief moment of complete focus,
acceptance of the chattering mind, wandering thoughts…
To “try” is all you must ask of yourself.
Morning
Before rolling out of bed, lay quietly with your focus on breathing. Inhaling. Exhaling. Expanding your lungs, chest. Offer a thought of gratitude, a commitment to surrender, a request for peace. Breathe. Smile lightly as you step into the day rested, refreshed, resigned to all the goodness that’s coming your way throughout the day.
Brush your teeth. Sip your coffee. With closed eyes and a focus on your senes - taste the toothpaste, smell the coffee’s aroma. Place your mind on the routine movement of cleaning your teeth. Softly center your eyes on the beverage in your hands. Breathe. Expand. Repeat.
Listen to a guided meditation. Allow yourself to be transported into mental focus through a visualization, a Yoga Nidra, a song, a service. Commit yourself to being silent and still for the entire practice.
Noon
Exercise. Take a walk. Give your mind over to the rhythm of your body in motion. Notice when you walk…your right leg steps as your left arm swings…your left leg steps while your right arm swings. Breathe. Watch your feet. Watch the trees.
Practice Japa…sitting or walking with a beaded bracelet or Rosary, mentally reciting an intention, mantra, or prayer for each bead.
Focus on a hobby or task. Place your mind, eyes, hands on the hobby or task that is before you. Allow yourself to be in a silent environment and work with your body to focus completely on what you are doing. The mind will roam, as is typical, but return to the task, return to the task…time and time again.
Eat a meal. In a quiet place, with yourself or among others. Take small bites. Chew completely. Taste all the flavors. Smell all the scents. Find, in your body, how the meal nourishes your cells and soul.
Wash dishes. Cut fruit. More focus. More breath. More movement of hands and arms. Use of eyes to carefully watch. Quieting of the mind to allow your body to wash, peel, serve.
Night
Shower. Cleanse. Place your awareness on the water. The sensation of the water as it moves over your body. Stand under the shower-head, with water as the only sound. Inhale, exhale with the movements of soap, shampoo. Give yourself over to the cleansing, healing effects of the water. Breathe. Inhale :: Warm. Exhale :: Cleansed.
Write or journal. Set a timer or don’t. Place your pen to paper and write freely. Mind centered on the act and movement of writing, not the words coming forth onto the page. You may always read what you’ve written later. Now is a time for movement over the page, without borders, edits, restrictions.
Before drifting off to sleep, eyes closed, lay in bed and gently scan the body. Begin at your toes or the top of your head. Work your way over all the parts of your body, bringing an awareness to any tension, tightness, or…just breathe and notice, acknowledge…your toes, feet, ankles, shins, knees…
Pray. Give Thanks. With a letting go of what was and what is, find focus in what lives at the center of your heart, what tugs on your gut, and pulls your in your mind…then let it all go. Inhale. Ask for what you need. Exhale. Offer what you have to give.
Inhale :: Thank.
Exhale :: You.
Final thoughts…
Twenty years ago I had no idea meditation was something I could ever learn or do. I’ve never been good at sitting cross-legged, much less sitting in Lotus Pose (my knees just won’t allow it).
But today, after seven years of practicing meditation, I’ve tried each of these practices listed here and I’ll have to say my most favorite, effective way to practice is to perform some movement - yoga on my mat at home or a brisk walk - and then sit on my meditation cushion and breathe with my mantra.
Over the last year my practice has decreased, and I can tell my general life focus has as well. So, on my birthday I committed myself to a renewed, daily meditation practice.
But you don’t need a milestone moment or a New Year’s resolution to begin. All you need to do is pick something you do daily, pair it with a few moments of focus and breathing…and build from there!
I hope you’ve found this helpful!
Let me know if any of the meditation options on this list are appealing to you!
Here’s to a quiet practice and a practice of quiet this week!
xoxo Michelle
Breathe.
Release what was.
Become what is.
I. Am.
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