Use this short and simple meditation guide to make your everyday life more peaceful and stress-free. (Not for beginners)
For many years, people are trying to figure out how to include meditation in their fast lifestyle. If you are one of those people, this article will surely benefit you. After years of practice, I have come to a realisation that it’s not easy to sit silently even for 10 minutes when you have so many things to do and your mind is completely occupied with all kinds of stuff.
So, when you are so busy doing things that are essential to you, how can you think of meditation which has no direct and visible impact on your life?
Of course, in this perspective meditation seems like a trivial thing and most people ignore it.
Some people start meditation practice forcefully because they are convinced that meditation can free them from physical or mental pain.
So this is the most important thing to keep in mind. Let’s not start meditation practice with such expectations.
Otherwise, you would feel dejected when you don’t get the expected results. Meditation is not some activity to cure, but it simply gives you a blissful feeling. If you really want to see what meditation can do, then just start practicing. Meditation can only be experienced, it cannot be explained in words. One can guide you, but you have to experience it on your own. It’s like to know the taste of a dish you have to eat.
One minute practice
Always remember that you don’t have to take giant leaps to begin, just keep on taking baby steps. For starters, you must know how you can meditate while running nonstop in your day-to-day life.
Take a pause every now and then
When you’re working, doing household chores, about to attend a meeting, or just chilling out at home, take a sudden pause for a minute or two.
Be still and silent
Whether you are in standing or sitting position, become still like a statue. Remember the game you played many times in your childhood, where someone would call you ‘statue’ and you’d instantly stop moving like a still figure. In this practice, you have to command yourself to stop, become still, and remain silent.
Close your eyes and take deep breaths
Breathe from your stomach (do diaphragmatic breathing). Watch your breath. You don’t have to focus on your breath. Just become aware of your breath. Be conscious of each inhalation and exhalation. Watch the breath coming in and going out.
Loosen up your body
Free your body from any kind of stress. Like loosening up your shoulders, face, eyes, arms, wrists, fingers, feet, etc. Let the energy flow freely inside the body. You will realize how much you were holding up. You create tension in your muscles whenever you do any activity or when you go through some emotions. Later you forget to release it.
Become watchful of every passing second
Don’t think too much about the time duration. Separate yourself from the activities around you. Your main focus should NOT be completing this activity of meditation. You just have to sneak out of what you are doing at that moment. This sudden sneaking will allow you to separate from your mind. Watch whatever is happening in your body (the silence, the movement, breathing, joy, thoughts, any other feeling, or whatever it is).
Go deep inside
You will get the glimpse of silence in these moments. Meditation can happen to anyone, anywhere and anytime. It’s ‘happening’, not ‘doing’. Just remember that. You are not meditating, you are just giving it a chance to happen by withdrawing from the outer world. It’s like going deep into the ocean, leaving the waves behind on the surface.
Observe that all the chaos outside is separate from your inner silence
After some days of practice, you will notice that all the hustle is outside of you, while you are peaceful, silent, and stable at your center. Outside hustle has nothing to do with your inner peace. The problem arises when you convince yourself that you are one with every activity around you. Once you realize that your center is still, you will start entering the state of meditation. If you do this practice every day, you will start feeling that stillness all day long, even while working.
Be conscious of the present moment
The sudden shock generated by this pause will make you become more aware of the present moment. Most of the time, your body is awake, but you are sleeping inside. Your body is being run by your subconscious mind. Practice that you are present at this moment of pause and don’t get carried away with the thoughts of past memories. Be present at the moment. This moment of consciousness is the part of your life which you have lived.
Come back
After a minute or two, open your eyes and get back to whatever you were doing and continue doing it again. You will feel relaxed, more energetic, and calm inside afterward.
Things to keep in mind when you do practice
Practice regularly
You may feel crazy when you start doing it. You may think that why are you wasting your time. But let these thoughts pass, don’t stop the practice. You can do it anytime while working, eating, running, or walking. Just do it. Stop for a while and look inside you.
Carry this feeling all day long
Once you get the taste of silence, carry this feeling throughout the day while living your routine life. Now that you know you are not your routine and it is separate from your inner silence, you will start feeling stability in your daily life too.
Feel the joy
These momentary pauses will create the same state of mind you had as a child. When you were always playful and present at a particular moment. Can you feel the same joy now? You will feel it during these pauses. Don’t make it a serious practice. Be playful and enjoy these seconds of your life as if these are the only moments you are alive.
To reach the state of meditation, you don’t have to take one hour out of your daily life. If you can, it’s great. But if you can’t then just start with some seconds.
Sitting silently for an hour seems more difficult than taking silent moments out while working. These silent moments will lead you and show you the path to reach total awareness. Though, you should try using extra minutes in your schedule for longer duration of practice sessions (maybe on weekends).
Also read these Meditation Tips before you start doing this one minute practice.
These small sessions of meditation practice are a need for this hour. Don’t just wait until you get hours of free time. Start practicing and take pauses.
Remember “State of nothingness is meditation.“
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