Meditation for Everyone
By: Dale McD – BaseFive, Published on 08/02/2020
Special thanks to Reneta Jenik and Foodom for supporting BASE FIVE. Please be sure to follow BASE FIVE for more transformative practices, companion tools and mastery principals. Provided to you with love and gratitude.
Why Meditate
Each person is unique. So too, are their quests and challenges in life. Yet some of the issues we face as human beings are quite universal. Happiness, health, harmonious relationships, success in our endeavors, enhanced performance and spiritual awakening. One ritual stands alone as the much needed remedy to bring us closer to achieving all these and more.
At its most fundamental, meditation is the practice of observing the mind in action. What happens as a result of witnessing our mind (without judgment or commentary), is that we begin to realize that we are actually not that chattering mind, nor the thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and the countless other distractions waiting for us when we sit in silence.
We realize that the mind will happen on its own, generating content, with or without our participation. We realize that who we are, our very identity, is the one who is witnessing all that goes on. The purpose of meditation is not to change our mind, but to awaken the self that is aware of it!
And if you needed a neat little bullet list summary…
Demonstrated benefits include:
- Boosted ability to empathize with others.
- Development of positive emotions such as love, bliss, and gratitude.
- Greater self-acceptance.
- Increased feeling of purpose and direction.
- Enhanced focus and drive.
- Decreased tendency towards judgement of self and other
How to Make Time for It
Finding time is a challenge for all of us! Balancing home life, work life, time with your partner, and time with your kids can be sometimes exhausting. There is very little free time left when you look at the day as a whole. But, like pouring water into a bucket full of stones, with a little premeditation (Ha!) you can find some precious moments in the midst of the madness.
- Wake up 10 minutes earlier (it gets easier I promise!).
- Take 5 minutes of you-time during your meal break at work.
- Set time for it wherever you schedule your other important tasks and commitments, whether it’s Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, or on the white board beside your desk.
- Outsource everyday tasks, like grocery shopping, cooking, and clean up (here’s where Foodom can help!).
Take baby steps, be realistic with yourself. As you build your practice make sure to remind yourself that ANY time spent meditating – even just a few minutes – is better than no time at all.
How to Meditate
- Find a comfortable sitting position on a chair, a cushion or BASE BENCH.
- Become aware of your body, turn your attention to the level of sensation within your body.
- Begin to focus on your breath, attune to the sensation of air moving in and out of your body as you breathe. Let this be your anchor to the moment.
- Notice when your mind has wandered and simply witness the wandering mind without judgment.
- Be kind to your monkey mind. Don’t obsess over the content of the thoughts you find yourself lost in. Just come back to the breath.
- Close with kindness. When you’re ready, gently open your eyes and pause for a moment and take in your surroundings before rising slowly, mindfully.
Meditation Tips
- Designate a peaceful space to keep coming back to. Make this your ‘zen zone’.
- Meditate at the same time each day. To help make meditation a habit, carve out space in your schedule the same time each day and commit to following through.
- Take it slow and steady. When beginning the practice, you may experience anxiety and restlessness. With consistency, over time you will notice more space between wayward thoughts and the time will pass more quickly.
- Check-in with your posture, sit up straight so that the energy can move easily up the spine. Set your shoulders by rolling forward, up, and back, then relaxing into this new position. Drop your chin slightly, creating a slight stretch at the back of the neck to decompress the upper back.
- Try a guided meditation! These are the ideal way to begin a meditative practice. Freeing your mind to relax and follow along with the instruction.
Guided Meditations
Guided meditations are one the simplest ways to get started with a mediation practice. BASE FIVE recently partnered with Foodom to record 4 powerful meditations.
These are available on our YouTube channel for your listening pleasure, or see the links below.
Breathe Aware
A guided introduction to bring awareness and intention to that universal tool, the breath. Learn to find new space within, and surrender to the breath as you calm your body, mind and spirit. As you attune to the gentle flow, you will soon find that with aware breathing you can regulate your state of being!
Grounding
Calling down light from the cosmos, then grounding ourselves down into the earth below. This meditation is intended to strengthen our connection to the polarity that exists between the positive cosmos and negative earth. Restoring natural flow and harmony within the body.
Progressive Relaxation
A powerful meditation to take you to a state of deep relaxation by focusing on 6 major ‘bridges’ (areas of dual conscious and subconscious control) in the body. Able to be done sitting or lying down, this is the foundation of an ability to recognize areas of accumulated tightness and consciously release muscular tension.
Golden Orb
This short meditation will help you to bring your attention to the space at the center of your chest, where you can begin to generate feelings of warmth and presence yourself in the moment. This is a powerful practice to bring awareness to the heart space, radiate your inner light, and build compassion for self and others.
