Daily meditation practice changed my life irrevocably! Every day I am becoming a better version of myself!
Initially, it was a struggle because I didn’t know how to meditate. Having read so many research papers about the benefits of meditation, I desperately wanted the magic of meditation to change my life’s difficult situations.
I tried many different meditations – silent, guided, breathwork, walking, eating, etc. The more I tried it with an expectation of an outcome, the more I struggled to get anything out of it!.
Everything changed when I let go of my expectations, surrendered, and started being kind to myself. The self-compassion sent the necessary signal to my autonomic nervous system to calm down and feel safe. In turn, this created space for my mind to “be” with the different thoughts and feelings I had every time I sat for meditation.
The 20 - 30 minutes morning meditation practice at Yoga my love is a foundation level meditation based on my experiential process. Follow these four steps to get the maximum benefit from my meditation classes.
Step 1: Ask yourself, “What do I want?”
You may want many things from the external world. But this is about your deepest desire, the fundamental principle of how you want your life to be. Choose a keyword for yourself. It doesn’t help to get suggestions from Google for keywords such as “self-realisation”, enlightenment”, etc. It will not create the authenticity required for change.
It must be a word or phrase that you choose for yourself that captures the spirit of your deepest longing. Once you have it, hang on to it. How to get there will emerge on its own time through your efforts when you are ready to receive.
Important!. Steps 2 to 4 below are not to be rushed. Be kind to yourself and practice at your own pace as you develop the skills at each stage.
Step 2: Foundation - Be still.
Sitting still is not easy. But if we can’t train our body to remain still, how can we train our mind to stay still?
Find a comfortable sitting position, with your spine straight, either on the chair or cross-legged on the floor. Initially, your only goal will be to stay still for the entire 20 minutes while listening to my words and practising breathing. It is okay if, initially, you can keep your spine straight and sit still for only 5 mins. Then, slowly increase the time to 20 minutes and then to 30 minutes. Once you can sit still for 20 minutes to 30 minutes, you are ready to start the practice of meditation. Until then, you are only preparing to meditate.
Step 3: Diaphragmatic Breathing
Once you can sit still with your spine straight, then practice diaphragmatic breathing. It is one of the most foundational practices for meditation.
Breath is intimately connected to our autonomic nervous system and mind. Unfortunately, most of us develop abdomen and chest breathing habits due to our stressful lifestyles. This creates a vicious cycle of impaired breathing, physical tightness, and troubled minds.
As you practice diaphragmatic breathing, you will reach a motionless state over time, where the motion occurs only in the diaphragm area and your upper chest and lower abdomen are motionless. Your autonomic nervous system will rest in its ventral functioning state of relaxation and ease. You are receptive and open to new ideas to reprogram your neural pathways in this state.
Step 4: Affirmations
Once the mind is relaxed to receive new information, we will start with affirmations for self-compassion. Self-compassion is NOT self-pity. Self-compassion is central to your mental health.
Our expectations that things should be in a certain way or should not happen in a certain way makes us feel isolated and at times ashamed. Being kind to our inadequacies, shortcomings, and personal failings gives us a sense of relief that we are part of humanity – which is not perfect. And it opens our hearts to love, wisdom, courage and generosity.
From self-compassion affirmations, we will proceed with other affirmations that will help us stay positive, focused and calm throughout the day. From Monday to Friday, each day’s meditation class will have a different theme to keep you anchored and act from the place of the peacefully centred heart.
What next?
Consider this class at the Yoga my love as a pleasant time for learning the method of meditation. Even at this early stage, benefits will come from the practice.
Over time, you will reach a stage where you can easily regulate your breath, balance your energies, and calm your mind. Congratulation! You are now ready to move to the intermediate stage to incorporate & integrate other techniques.
And slowly and surely, you will reach a stage to move onto advanced practice where you will be able to leave behind memories, pictures and words and reach stillness! And then, you want to go there again and again and never leave the place.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to walk with you on your journey for a short while. My liberation is bound with yours.
Namaste.
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