I’d like to talk about making a meditation practice easy on yourself as well as easy to integrate into your daily life. I’d like to start with what I consider the three easiest forms of meditation, which are guided, mantra, and zen.
In a guided meditation you are prompted so you’re not losing the battle with the monkey mind. YouTube has a vast array of free guided meditations from which to choose. Play around with different topics, narrator voices, background music, etc. Find what most appeals to you, what is soothing, and doesn’t distract you. Here’s a great one from my friend Colette Baron-Reid that’ll help you release stress.
Benefits of Meditation
Meditation has helped me in so many ways. I always recommend meditation for new students or if you are trying to develop. I also recommend daily meditation for stress relief and relaxation among many other things. Here is a list that I found many years ago that may enlighten you to the practices of a daily meditation.
Here is the definitive list of benefits that meditation can provide you with:
Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure. [Read more…]
Centering Yourself: Two Quick Ways To Relieve Stress
Do you ever get the feeling that something is not right about your body, but you can not put your finger on it? You just don’t feel right, your usual standards appear sub-par. Some may find that they are a bit woozy, but not quite dizzy. Maybe you’re sluggish and unmotivated, or in a perpetual nasty mood. Are you going through a stressful period? Have you recently been in an argument – or anticipate one?
There are many benefits to centering yourself; one of the first things I teach my students is [Read more…]