OK, I’m just going to come right out and say it…I don’t really like meditating!
Collective intake of breath…what?
Yeah I know, you don’t really hear too many people own up to that. That is not to say I don’t understand the benefits, or that when I meditate I get nothing out of it, I do, I really do. But I can’t say that I really like it. I’m the guy in mediation class who fiddles and fidgets and can’t get comfortable, huffs and puffs and, when we are all supposed to be in deep meditation opens one eye to look around and see what everyone else is doing. I find it really difficult to clear my mind and concentrate on my breathing and connect to… well, to anything, let alone my higher self or the universe. Despite all that I have really persisted, I have gone to numerous meditation courses, listened to heaps of podcasts, I even spent a week at the Chopra Centre doing a meditation immersion. And while I have learned a lot and practiced from hours…I still don’t like meditating all that much. My problem is I am easily distracted personality. I can’t sit down in a meeting without jiggling my leg after the first minute, so sitting still and silent and quieting my mind for 30 minutes is like climbing Mount Everest with dumbbells in my backpack.
We ALL know that meditation is really good for us right? In a recent article, Meditation is good medicine, the Mayo Clinic claims:
It has been shown to lower levels of anxiety, anger, depression and tension. Physically, people find they have improved mood, they sleep better and have better memory and concentration. The body is healing itself and starting repair.
Even the doyens of all things intelligent and successful at Harvard University are singing the praises of meditation. An article published by Harvard Medical School, What meditation can do for your mind mood and health, claims:
Taking a few minutes to focus your mind each day can reduce stress, pain, depression, and more.
Who doesn’t want all this good stuff? Who doesn’t want to be more centred, calm, peaceful and considered?
But — meditation is not easy for us distracted personalities
I’m a Type A personality, the type that is the most easily distracted. For the record the American Psychological Association defines Type A personalities as competitive, impatient, domineering and overly ambitious and are prone to stress-related health problems, hypertension, and social isolation. Sound like you or someone you know? Well, if so you can probably understand why this type of personality struggles to see the value of sitting still, calm and silent for any length of time at all. But, of course we are the ones who need meditation the most.
On my journey over the last couple of years I have found three approaches to meditation that have helped me achieve a more meaningful practice, despite my great propensity for distraction. While these approaches might cause meditation purists to shudder in their fisherman’s pants or Lulu Lemons, they can certainly help those of us who struggle with the traditional concepts, to still get the benefits.
Guided meditation
If you are at all like me, sometimes when you sit down to meditate you just flounder around wondering where to start. You spend a lot of time getting comfortable, crossing your legs this way and that (I’m coming clean — I can’t sit cross legged for ANY time without getting stuck painfully in that position so, I just sit on the lounge or a chair), turn on the fan, open a window, relocate the incense (I don’t use incense either), rearrange the crystals (or crystals). Then eventually sit there…and…nothing.
Guided meditation is just fabulous for meditation newbies or for those of us who have been at it for a while and STILL have trouble getting it right.
Guided meditations go something like this, they start with some new age style music and after a few seconds someone starts talking you through a meditation practice with a very soft, calm, melodic and spiritual sounding voice. It’s all very relaxing, you don’t have to think about anything just do as they instruct you. Usually they go for 15 or 20 minutes which is perfect for us Type A’s, relaxing, soothing, compact…dusted. You have to love guided meditation. All of the benefits and none of the stress of working out what to do yourself.
And even better, there are heaps of guided meditations available on YouTube for free! It seems like every yoga teacher, life coach and aspiring hypnotherapist has jumped on the bandwagon. Just type in ‘guided meditation’ and you will find hundreds of them. Find one you like, give it a go, it makes meditation really easy and fulfilling.
Movement meditation
You probably have an image in your mind that meditation involves sitting cross legged in a lotus position with your eyes closed wearing loose fitting clothes — still, for hours at a time. The idea of moving during meditation or opening your eyes seems, well just a little odd. That’s what I thought, but then I discovered that there is a long history of movement in the practice of meditation including Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayer rituals, T’ai-chi where the moves are designed to attain a state of harmony, balance, and unity. The Sufi order of whirling dervishes is a spiritual meditation to seek union with God.
So, it seems it’s OK to move during your meditation and people have been doing it for thousands of years.
This was another great discovery for this distracted personality, the benefit being that it is possible for me to distribute my nervous energy through movement while at the same time connecting with my higher self, the universe, and any number of the wonderful energies that are vibrating around me. My favourite moving meditation is walking. I live right near a wonderfully long beach and there is nothing so exhilarating for me than to slip on a pair of board shorts, get my feet grounded in the sand, pull a few deep breaths to ground my self and then start a slow, rhythmic, relaxed walk, head down (so I am not tempted to say g’day to the passing locals and their beautiful doggies) breathing steadily, totally absorbed in the present moment. Then to top it off, a stimulating swim in the ocean that connects me to nature, and cleanses my aura. Just fantastic.
There are a bunch of movements you can incorporate in your meditation practice as mentioned above, the important thing is to quieten the mind and find that place of stillness and to be in the present moment. That state of nothingness — when everything happens.
(WARNING: You can’t do this while driving or operating heavy equipment. Or using sharp, or instruments, or ironing. You get the picture.)
Binaural beats — music as a meditation tool
In the spirit of full disclosure, binaural beats is the best ‘meditation enhancement’ I have experienced in, well, ever. Quite possibly the meditation purists amongst us are rolling their eyes already, however, while there is not a lot of scientific research around to verify the effectiveness of binaural beats, from personal experience I have found this technique to be very satisfying. Whether it’s the binaural beats bit or just music as an enhancement I can’t really tell, but I do find it helps me relax and get into a deeper meditative state faster, and to stay there longer.
Certain music has a special way of soothing us and taking us to a place of peace and calm which is inducive to meditation.
I have found it can help me cut through any ‘brain disfunction’ that might be going on in my mind as I approach my meditation, which is every time and one of the greatest challenges I have, and it also triggers other physical responses that fast track me to a deeper meditation.
Heinrich Wilhelm Dove (1803–1879) was a Polish meteorologist who contributed significantly to his profession and developed theories on many topics from magnetism to the distribution of heat over the Earth’s surface. However, his most known paper was published in 1839 and explained his discovery that when two different frequencies were played in a subjects separate ears they “could hear the difference, but they could hear it as a combined sound — one slow beat, now known as a binaural beat.” A paper by biophysicist Dr Gerald Oster in 1973 renewed interest in Doves work and particularly his theory central to his thesis that binaural beats involved different neural pathways than conventional hearing, and they could evoke neural responses — even when both frequencies (to the left and right ears) are below the human hearing threshold. Since then, binaural beats have been widely used in meditation practice and many claim they assist with things such as reducing stress and anxiety, increasing focus, concentration, and motivation, improving confidence and more.
A scientific study conducted in 2017 by Frontiers in Human Neuroscience states “Our results do not support binaural-beat stimulation as a potential tool for the enhancement of EEG oscillatory activity, nor to induce changes in emotional arousal.” Which is a bit of a bummer, however, whether it is the binaural beats or just the nature of the music, I have found listening to this music with headphones can certainly enhance my meditation experience. As with guided meditation just type binaural beats into You Tube and you will find heaps to choose from. You can even select different frequencies for different things like, ‘increasing your brain power, or ‘removing mental blocks’…I can’t attest to these working, but the music certainly does help me.
Just a few points to wrap up, if you have not developed a meditation practice as yet, get cracking. There is so much benefit to be gained from setting aside a regular time to be still, peace out and let the universe add value to your live. If you are a distracted personality like me and you find it hard to sit still and get focused — you can ‘pimp’ your meditation practice through:
· Guided meditation — which is great for beginners, where someone else talks you through a short meditation and does the heavy lifting for you
· Movement meditation — you don’t have to sit in an excruciating lotus position, movement is an option…but not while you’re driving OK!
· Binaural beats — introduce some music into your meditation it really can make a difference and while the beats might not add value the calming, relaxing music certainly does
Thanks for taking the time to explore this topic with me, as with most things in life, I suggest you just get busy meditating, have fun and experiment along your journey.
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Previously Published on medium
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