Meditation & Mindfulness

These days, my meditation is wandering the garden and tending to the plants. I rarely sit still unless I’m reading, napping or sitting at my computer typing a blog post.

Some say meditation is clearing the mind. I say meditation is allowing the thoughts to flow through the mind so that the mind is calm because it’s not forced to be silent.

Ways to Meditate

You can meditate in any way that brings you mindfulness and serenity. It doesn’t have to fit any rules or check any boxes of anyone else’s definition of meditation. It just has to work for YOU.

Walking Meditation

If you can’t sit still, don’t force yourself to. Find a way to bring peace to your mind and body through movement. Get outdoors in the fresh air where you can smell the trees and feel the dirt beneath your feet - or just walk around your neighborhood.

Allow yourself the freedom to explore new paths and play in the natural world around you. Find a local garden or trail if you so desire, but just BE with nature. Let her move you.

Sitting Meditation

Indoors or out, sitting in meditation is a beautiful practice. I especially love when I’m out walking and feel the call to sit and enjoy my surrounding. I take it all in for as long as feels good, then continue wandering intentionally.

Practice mindful meditation routines if you feel you need more structure and guidance to focus your mind. Personally, I find I have this in my martial arts and yoga practices, so when I have free time, I like to really be FREE. But I have that structured practice that I think we all benefit from, and if you feel you need it, a more concentrated meditation could be the place to start.

Lying in Meditation

It’s a thin line between savasana and napping, and sometimes I do fall asleep during a lie down meditation like a kundalini activation. I drift in and out of consciousness while placing awareness in my body and how I feel. I find it helpful for connecting and integrating my practices and thoughts of the day.

Sometimes I practice alone and sometimes with a facilitator to hold intentional space for a journey inward. Both are beneficial because what I learn through practice with a facilitator, I weave into my own practice. Any type of surrender-based practice like a sound bath, breathwork or kundalini activation is a good place to start for this type of meditation.

Meditation to Music

When I’m outdoors, the birds and wind are my music, but when I surrender to lie down practice, I’m guided by some kind of intentional sound. Kundalini activations are a playlist of music designed to shift brainwaves to allow for the body and mind to connect in a way that frees expression. Other techniques like sound baths use different frequencies from a variety of instruments in a similar way.

The sounds are helpful for surrendering for shifting the focus of the mind, helping us relax by using the intentionality of the tones to trigger particular physical and emotional responses. In kundalini activations, movement and releases are more common, and once you’ve opened up through kundalini activations, you’ll likely find your mind and body more readily respond to other sound practices as well.

Breathwork Meditation

Breathwork engages the body and mind to stimulate emotional and physical releases of emotion. Many times, this is paired with sound healing as well. When we bring breathwork and physical activity into our practice, our bodies are more willing to surrender - especially immediately after when we’re tired.

The mind no longer has as much energy to think, and the breathwork has intensified sensations in our body. When we step into a surrender practice after this, we surrender more deeply with less resistance.

Finding Your Own Way

Any meditation route you choose that works for you is valid and right so long as it works for you. I still experiment with different practices as I find them, and I learn something new about myself from each of them. I have some that I return to often and others that I try once and move on from. You get to choose the meditations you feel most called to, and you get to change it up when you feel you’re ready for something new.

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