Mindful Meditation - NOT the sitting in silence kind
If you haven’t heard by now, meditation and mindfulness have been shown to have an abundant number of benefits. Emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual health are the big umbrella. Under this umbrella are benefits such as reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced self-awareness, reduced chronic pain, reduced blood pressure, and reduced symptoms of depression and panic attacks. The problem is, I’ve never been one for traditional meditation. I’ve tried it all, from apps and videos, to hacks and books. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe meditation is a very powerful practice that has an abundant number of benefits. But in the traditional sense, it’s just not for me.
Meditation is different for everyone, just like any other practice or exercise we do. Some people love playing soccer while others enjoy kayaking. Our personality types, lifestyles, and general preferences all come together to mold how we learn and grow. Some of us are super Type A personalities that can’t sit still for 20 seconds (guilty) while others are extreme Type B and go with whatever is happening in the moment. We’ve all been hard wired with traits that make us unique, but even more unique is how we learn, adapt, and execute.
If you don’t know much about meditation, I find it easiest to give the example that it is just like going to the gym, but for your brain. Similar to how your muscles get stronger if you have a regular workout routine, your brain will also become stronger with a regular meditation routine. On the flip side of that, let’s say your workout routine is very irregular and you only go for a run once or twice a month. Those one or two times is going to feel like pure torture. Your lungs won’t be acclimated, your joints will likely ache and crack, and at some point you’ll be convinced that your legs have literally turned into jell-o. So, why would you want to put yourself through that torture again? You’re likely to just stop running altogether after you have this awful experience, but this is where growth begins. We call these things “practice” because 99% of us were not born with these sort of skills. Soccer, yoga, running, mindfulness, playing the piano, being a wine connoisseur, and meditation are all things you have to practice in order to be good at. Sure, practicing to become a wine connoisseur is probably more fun than practicing mindfulness (although I’d bet that being mindful would help you become better skilled in your other practices).
As I said before, I just can’t get down with sitting in silence for a traditional meditation session. Personally, I practice mindfulness by having silent car rides to work and just paying attention to the other drivers and my surroundings. I practice by going for walks in nature and actually listening to the wind, the birds, the squirrels rustling in the leaves. Sometimes I do breath work, or I’ll do what’s called a body scan where you sit with your eyes closed and imagine that you’re scanning your body from top to bottom, noticing where you are tense or have any discomfort. I don’t set an alarm for it and I don’t have a special pillow for it, I just make it work for me and not the other way around. Here are a few types of meditation you can try if you’re looking for something different.
Walking meditation
Mantra meditation
Chakra meditation
Yoga meditation
Eating meditation
Loving kindness meditation
Breath work
The point of this list is not to overwhelm you, but rather open the door for a different kind of meditation for you in case you’re like me and have trouble with the traditional form of the practice. As I said, it is hard to get into because well, it’s a practice, but it’s well worth it. Find what works for you, and don’t limit yourself to any standard or practice that anyone else is doing. I promise, if you stick with it and practice regularly, you WILL reap the benefits.