Self-care is the practice of sufficiently prioritizing what helps you feel well. As one option for self-care, meditation provides a wonderful balance for the frantic pace of modern living. Even 5 minutes per day serves as a faithful reminder that life favors not only movement, but passivity and wise stillness as well. In fact, those aspirations greatly enhance the creativity and enjoyment that make most goals worthwhile.
How do you do it? How do you meditate? There are differing approaches that typically emphasize either concentration practices to bring the mind to stillness or surrender practices to expand inner permission about doing nothing at all. To get started, simply combine these approaches. Do them anywhere. Designate a regular location in your home and also try them out wherever you happen to be when you feel the inner call to reconnect with yourself and your well-being.
For a short period as you try a sitting, pay more attention than usual to your breathing. Come back to it when your mind wanders away, as it may often do. As you begin to feel more settled, notice and inhabit that part of you that can witness what is going on, and practice witnessing whatever arises without overly objecting to it, or trying to change or eliminate it. Observe. Breathe. Be.
The numerous benefits of meditation include:
Graham Best, Psychotherapist, LMFT #109687
Member of CENTER FOR MINDFUL PSYCHOTHERAPY
Quality Psychotherapy
©2019 Graham Best