Have Several Seats: Beginning Meditation
I never imagined myself as the person who could and would sit still to meditate. This isn’t because I didn’t believe I had the attention span or considered myself a hyperactive person that’s always moving around. (A hidden camera in my house and additional therapy may prove otherwise, but that ain’t what this is about.) I just never saw meditation for myself, even though I attempted to make it a part of my routine during various stages of my journey.
I’m not exactly sure what helped me initially decide to re-commit to my mediation practice, but here I am four months in and approaching over 70 consecutive days for more than 30,000 minutes—*mind-blown emoji*. My original intention (intention is EV-ER-Y-THING) was to create dedicated time to connect with myself and the one from whom all things flow, before going forth and interacting with anyone and anything of the world. Pour into yourself first, ya’ know? But as I think about it, I did take cue from my sis and co-creator of this site Ant, and confirmation from a reading with multi-hyphenate Stephanie Synclair.
Think you’re ready to begin your practice?
First, find a spot. Not just any spot. Somewhere you can completely relax with slim to none chances of being disturbed. Sit or lie down. Comfortably, of course. Close your eyes and breathe. Focus on your breath. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose filling your lungs, allowing your chest and belly to fully expand. Pause. Then exhale through your nose, pulling your belly button towards your spine, pushing every drop of air out of your body. Stay there a second, and repeat.
Sounds simple enough, right? Sit and breathe, and focus on your breath. Yet, it doesn’t come natural or easy for many. If it did you’d hear less of, “I can’t sit still and quiet for X amount of time,” and even more of people shouting in favor of the practice known to get stress up off you and keep you chill, connected, and vibrating high.
The majority of us struggle-struggle in the beginning. We struggle to carve out time for ourselves be it in the morning after waking or our luxe skincare routine, in the middle of the day when we need a break to reset, and even at night before diving into sleep to restore our bodies for another day.
Once we’ve managed to finagle it into our schedule, we wrestle with allowing our thoughts to come to pass and without judgement. Because I know you’ve heard there’s no thinking in mediation. The switch in your brain automatically flips off (flipped flipped *Drake voice*) and we’re supposed to stop thinking plain and simple. Yeah, no ma’am. That’s definitely not how it works, girl. There’s a pretty good chance you won’t be able to immediately quiet your thoughts, and that’s ok. Not to mention, perfectly normal.
So here’s what you do, sis. Observe and acknowledge your thought, not assigning anything to it, and return your focus to your breath. Time, and time, and time, and time again. With continued practice your thoughts will surface less, or maybe not (cuz it could be communication from your higher self or spirit team), as your experience will be unique and ever-changing. But your perspective will undoubtedly shift in more ways than one, and you’ll just feel good af.
As you delve deeper into yourself and meditation practice, be encouraged that you have the support of our good sisters and community through:
And remember it’s a practice chile, and practice is defined as the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again with the purpose of improving or mastering. You got this.