To me, meditation is one of the most important tools in the whole LiveWorkEatPlay equation. It's challenging for me though on two fronts. First, it's incredibly daunting to still or quiet my mind. Who am I kidding--I often happily settle for just slowing my mind or even just putting it in "time out". Second, where do you find the time? Yet--it is precisely because my mind is so frantic and I'm constantly in search of more time that I make meditation a priority.
So, I'll let you in on my little secret of how I work it into a "regular" practice. Well, two secrets really. One, I sneak it. Yup--I'll steal even as little as five minutes if that's all I can get because to me, five minutes of something good for you is better than no minutes of something good for you. And two, to coin a Sinatra-ism, I do it "my way."
My grade-school pastor once gave a sermon about being "cafeteria Catholics"--those who pick and chose what they liked from the religion and left the rest. Clearly his message was intended to rebuke this practice and fully commit. To me though, I thought the concept was brilliant and I've applied it to several areas of my life since.
So, I consider myself a "cafeteria meditator". If there were meditation police (which thankfully there are not because it is such a kind and supportive practice), they may be appalled by what I consider to count as "meditation" sometimes. But here's the great thing--I'm pushing 40, I work hard, I'm a good person and my intention for meditating is always positive. So guess what?? I get to define what counts as meditation for me. And so do you!
And for me, the answer is what I call "micro" meditation--mini meditation or mindfulness sessions that work with my life. And just so it's got some structure to it and not totally willy-nilly, I've come up with some guidelines for my micro meditations for them to "count":
- they have to last at least 5 minutes
- they have to incorporate some form of breath work (to reap the benefits of voluntarily calming my nervous system and pumping oxygen throughout my body)
- my intention (even if not successful) has to be to focus on "one thing"
- when my mind strays from my "one thing", I have to keep bringing it back
Pretty basic but these guidelines help me to be creative about when, where and how I sneak meditation into an otherwise time-filled life. So, one Monday a month (Meditation Monday) this blog will share some of the unorthodox ways I come up with to have a somewhat "regular" meditation or mindfulness practice. Don't get me wrong though, when I get an opportunity to sit on my seiza bench, in proper posture for a more formal and extended meditation session, I jump at it.
Today's Micro Meditation Idea:
Central Park is one of my favorite meditation playgrounds. Yesterday I took my daughter for a walk (yay--got me some exercise) and then to the little pond where people operate miniature remote controlled boats. With her on my lap we just sat and watched the boats. To bring focus, I picked one that I mostly followed (number 77--my birthday). There was also a tiny red speed boat that I shifted gaze to a few times--providing a nice slow/fast contrast. I also breathed in for seven counts and out for seven counts while sitting there. That's it!! I got about 15 minutes in before my small thing started to get fidgety. So, all that was required for this micro meditation was: breathing, staring and some fun objects to focus on. Even better, in addition to all of the usual benefits of meditation, I got time outside, cuddles with my daughter and pretty fall scenery!
