Meditation - The Unicorn of the Wellness World
It's mysterious, intriguing, and has the potential to bring magical transformation to your life. At least, that's how I feel about it!
Meditation is my jam! If I could talk about it all day, I absolutely would. I have been meditating consistently for about a year and a half now and it's become a vital part of my daily routine. But it wasn't always that way. For the past seven years, meditation has come and gone in my life. I've tried different apps and learned what works best for me. It's just like any other aspect of life; you have to try different things to figure out what resonates with you.
I vividly remember being curious about meditation but not being able to sit still for more than a minute without feeling fidgety and uncomfortable. Then, I discovered yoga. Not the trendy Y-7 kick-your-butt kind of yoga, but the kind that focuses on the flow and foundations of the practice. And it was at Jivamukti in Union Square where I first experienced the harmonium and chanting. I could literally feel my body, mind, and emotions shifting. It was like something clicked, and I knew there was magic in this practice.
What's crazy is that even though I love meditation, I don't have any advice for anyone other than just to try it. I try to avoid the topic sometimes because I get too excited and I know not everyone wants to spend the next 30 minutes talking about it. But meditation is not about clearing your mind. It's about sitting with your thoughts, observing them, and recognizing that they are just stories and thoughts and not the boogey man coming to get you.
During my meditations, I still have thoughts. I think about everything, good and bad and in between, and sometimes my meditations lead me to nowhere and to more thoughts. But the more I practice on a regular basis, the more relief I find from being too attached to those thoughts. And when I am triggered, I can take a beat and pause before reacting.
If you're interested in giving meditation a shot, here are a few apps that have worked for me: Peloton (seriously, they don't receive enough credit for their amazing meditation classes), Calm (which has been okay, but I'm not a big fan of the voices or the music), and Dr. Joe Dispenza's meditations (which are a whole other series that I'll share more about soon).