Why and How I Meditate

Meditation:

I was taught to meditate by a woman who I admire. To describe her would be to use adjectives as strong, wise, intelligent, driven, and motherly. To me, being with her, always quieted my mind naturally. I wanted to listen to her. She connected with me and created a safe space for sharing and vulnerability. I reached out to her to help me settle my mind and we went for walks, we talked, we meditated and I left her feeling strengthened. I am so grateful for her.

Meditation is something that I do in many different ways. To start, my mentor taught me to always use my breath. Some people listen to music, light a candle, or go to a specific space. But, one's breath can be taken anywhere. One important thing to think about is to sit or walk in a way in which one's spine is straight and aligned. The reason is to allow the spinal nerves an uninterrupted or less stressed pathway. Meditation allows neurons to freely travel back and forth gathering information from your body.

The following steps were taught to me. (Rather than a chair, we used a meditation pillow with my bottom on the pillow and my knees on the floor and my feet tucked under the pillow.)

1.	Sit at your chair with your two feet evenly on the floor and your left hand crossing over your right… right hand holds your left thumb.
2.	Find and look at a focal point or close your eyes.
3.	Inhale through your nose.
4.	Exhale longer than you inhaled and count one as you exhale.
5.	Repeat inhaling and exhaling until you count to 10.
6.	Start over counting to 1 to 10 again.
7.	If you repeat this a few times, you may reach 5 or more minutes.
8.	Think about being in the moment, allowing your feelings or thoughts to run through you.
	Acknowledge them, accept them as present and they will pass.  It is okay to think about plans, worries, anger, or thinking about thinking…. The sooner you see your feelings or thoughts and acknowledge them as a distant presence, they will pass and your mind will have room to clear.
10.	When you get close to the ending, breathe in light using your imagination.
11.	The light is reaching up your toes, through your legs, circling your torso, your lungs, your heart, your neck and face and washing all over you.
12.	As the light stretches out into the sky above you, it carries any heaviness or negativity with it and leaves only light within you.
13.	You can always go in the opposite direction. Light from the sky washing slowly over you from above, wrapping around your head, your your eyes, your neck, your heart, your lungs, your torso, legs and feet...washing away negativity with it, leaving only light within.
14.	Take on the day with a little more peace and mindfulness.

There is really no one way to meditate.  Anytime a person can pause and connect with the breath is time well spent.  It is a practice, a journey, not a final end result.  For me, every bit of time devoted to meditation is like a prayer or a gift offering.  I have meditated at meetings, in my classroom, my home, my car, while walking, and while trying to get to sleep.  

Why do I do it?  I have learned to settle the glitter. My thoughts and fears are signals that I need to listen deeply to my spirit.  The thoughts and fears that I have are simple messages for my soul to cleanse.  I can see my thoughts and fears and my soul holds them with love, without judgement and in turn, I become my greatest source of strength.  My soul and spirit says, "Let go, all is well, you are loved."  To me, the Universe is speaking through me and I feel connected to the Earth and at the same time, I am learning to love myself more deeply.  It truly is magic.   

Why is this healing to me? Because for a long time, I would look for external sources of validation and worth.  I would look for others to accept me as I stood on such shaky ground of confidence.  All the while, I would feel empty and fearful.  Meditation and mindfulness has taught me to search from within and to recognize that my spirit, my soul, my life force, however you want to identify it, has always been present waiting for me to awaken it. Within "It", is a source of all that I am, all the love I can possibly feel, give and receive and where the source of all that I need, begins.  

Try it and I would love to here about your own experiences and stories as you try to meditate.   <3