Smile as you take a deep cleansing in breath, feel it flow into your belly, relax, focus on the moment between the in breath and the out breath, and slowly breathe out and let go. A simple mindful practice that we can do many times a day.
People often ask me how to meditate and why do I meditate? My meditation is as simple as this mindful practice. Each in breath and out breath last a few seconds, but as I string them together I increase my practice a few more seconds. Breathing in and out, as I always do, my mindfulness to my breath is the gateway to my meditation practice. Sitting at home or in a public place my breath is always with me and my focus on it for a moment can remind me to relax and let go.
Meditation is a practice of releasing; letting go of my thoughts and witnessing me from the point of the observer. This simple practice of focus on the moment between my in breath and my out breath is a millisecond of meditation. That place between breaths is my point of entering meditation. With time and practice that millisecond grows.
I began my meditation practice by counting my breaths. I would think "I am breathing in one I am breathing out one, I am breathing in two I am breathing out two" and so on. When I lost the count I had entered meditation. When I realized that I was no longer counting my breaths I had lost my meditation. So I would begin again, and again, and again....
My breath becomes a sound that helps my meditation deepen. My in breath is the sound of "so", my out breath becomes "hum". The sound of "so-hum" resonates with each breath and becomes a cadence that allows me to release my thoughts and be present in the moment; no past or future - only now.
Much more than any other animal, we humans have evolved the ability to live in our own thoughts, detached from the demands of our immediate actions and experiences. Many people report that they dislike sitting quietly without distraction. Perhaps this is because it leads to rumination, brooding on unpleasant experiences, or it leads to anxiety and worry about the future. In either case these thoughts pull us out of being here now.
When I experience this happening I refocus on my breath, which brings me back to now. I listen to the sound of my inhalation, "so", and to the sound of my exhalation, "hum", and I ride the wave of my breath back to now. Any time I feel anxious or troubled I realize I am not here now. My breath can bring me back to the moment.
Being in the moment allows me to live closer to my meditation as a practice in my daily life. This lets me be an objective observer to my life and allows life's situations to cause less reaction in me. When I observe rather than react to my life I am in charge of me. I find balance in the moment and am not subjected to thoughts that drive moods. Stepping away from and observing my thoughts I become the creator of my reality.
What a beautiful place to be.....
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