“Every Breath you Take” How to get the “ahh” in meditation….

“Every Breath you Take”   How to get the “ahh” in meditation….

I have to admit, the first time I meditated, I quickly fell into a deep state and had a truly euphoric experience. I had literally sat down (in the days before cell phones) in a quiet area, thinking I would try to meditate for five minutes. When I “came to”, over an hour had passed. I felt peaceful, elated and refreshed!

That was beginners’ luck…

There were many, many, days after that first time that I tried to get back “there”, and the mind kept going; the thoughts kept coming. I did have some luck but not it was not every time I meditated. Quieting the mind took practice, and practice and a bit more practice. Even today, I have days when it just won’t shut up! But I keep showing up and more often than not, I can quite the mind and find my peace. Did I mention it takes practice?

One of the reasons I feel that I was able to transcend on the first try was that I was a practicing artist at the time. It helps when you are able to go into the right brain easily. If you are creative, you might know what I am talking about- hitting “the zone”, “the flow”, feeling “your mojo”. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the place where you zone out everything but what you are doing. It’s like you are in a trance because- well- you kind of are. Have you ever been reading a book and literally had someone calling your name several times before you “heard” them? Yea- that’s the zone. And when you are deep in thought, creativity or focus, you have activated the right brain. In meditation,  you are actually in BOTH areas of the brain at the same time (cool right?). Most of us have a hard time shifting out of our “go go go!” left brain and activating the right brain (or somewhere in-between) takes (you guessed it!) practice.

So, here’s a trick- or tip- I teach beginners: Focus on your breath. In yoga we call this pranayama. It is the art of breath work. If you seriously just focus on the breath, JUST the breath and tune everything else out you can start to get to that “quiet” place. Even if a thought arises – which it WILL- you can take the mind back to your inhale and exhale. Thoughts ALWAYS arise- so it takes practice to let them go. If you follow your breath, you won’t have time to follow your thoughts. People can literally only do one thing at a time.

Try it now.

With every inhale, breath in and just feel the inhale flow into your nose, down into your neck, and through into your lungs and, maybe, even deep into your belly. Then feel the exhale, gently leave your center, rise up out of your lungs, out through your throat and then, out through the nose or the mouth. “Ahh”

Repeat that 3-5 times. Just keep noticing the FEELING of taking a breath.

The body makes us VERY aware of our present moment. These thoughts (or the mind chatter) are anchored in two places: either in the past (“ did I remember that?”, “ why didn’t so-and-so say hello to me at the grocery store”) or in the future (“if I don’t get this done I won’t have time for…”, “my 10,20, 30 year reunion is coming up, what should I wear? what will so and so look like, etc.”). In very VERY few moments of our day are we actually aware of the present moment; are we focused on the here-and-now to the exclusion of all else.

Once we can be truly present, we can meditate, because meditation is being TOTALLY present.

Another great practice to bring the mind into the present moment and into a meditative state is the practice of yoga nidra. Yoga nidra means “yogic sleep” or “psychic dreaming”. It is the state between being awake and being asleep, it is a trace state, a meditative state, a state of quieting the mind.

Yoga nidra is a guided meditation that brings the awareness back to the body and into the present moment. It is a practice that is thousands of years old and steeped in the yoga tradition. You practice yoga nidra as you would a guided meditation.

In fact, it might just be the first type of guided meditation ever recorded.  As you follow the meditation you will become more and more relaxed and calm. In fact, an hour-long yoga nidra session is equivalent to four hours of sleep!

I recorded a yoga nidra because SO many people have told me they just can’t focus enough to meditate.  In my 10 years of teaching yoga and meditation, yoga nidra and breath work are the #1 tools to initiate the deeper states of consciousness, the meditative state, and to get out of the seemingly ceaseless mental noise.

Interested? What can it hurt? AND you can get the benefits of some extra Zzz’s (and don’t we all need that?!?) Sign up here and the free yoga nidra video will be delivered directly to your inbox.

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I hope these tips and practices can help you to find that moment of flow where the mind quiets down and you can just feel free to be you. Right here. Right now. Relaxed, calm and present. The way you’re truly supposed to feel.

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