Blessings dear reader and welcome to another post from Yoga Inspires. Special welcome to new visitors and readers. Thank you. Feel free to browse around the different inspirational and yoga posts on offer.
Before Easter I wrote a couple of posts about “finding inner peace” and looked at five ways to find peace in troubled times. Today we look at one of the best ways I know how to ease stress, tiredness and worry – meditation. Over the next few posts I would like to share with you my experience of meditating and in the process, offer you tips and suggestions which can help you start your practice or deepen your commitment to your current meditation routine.
If you have a regular meditation practice I am sure you can vouch for the effectiveness of meditation to help you clear and calm our mind and reduce tension in your life. However, if you are tired of feeling tired and looking for a simple way to relax your mind and quieten your thoughts, then meditation could well become your New Best Friend.
Is It Easy To Meditate?
Meditation looks so simple, yet from personal experience learning how to meditate and stick to a daily meditation practice is probably one of the hardest things I’ve done.
Are You Overwhelmed And Stressed?
People often ask me “how long have you been meditating?”
Here’s my story.
I came to meditation through grief. In 1995 I lost my cousin, Sherry aged 26 years and 18 months later my brother John died. Both deaths were totally unexpected.
There followed a period of other unhappy and “unfair life experiences” which led to me losing my natural optimistic perspective on life. Without realising it, I became depressed and unhappy which led to me believing I was a failure as a mother, a wife and an employee.
At the time of my grief I was working as a Probation Officer in a manic part of South East London supervising young and adult offenders in prison and in the community. Even when I was in top health the job is extremely challenging and emotionally draining. However, with my grief, I struggled to stay on top of my work, case records got left undone, I couldn’t concentrate on writing clear and concise Court Reports and had little or no compassion and understanding for my offenders’ behaviour. The mood I was in, every one of my offenders was getting a rough, unsympathetic supervision service.
Thankfully, my manager was able to quickly recognise my work was slipping. She was concerned at the effect my grief was having on my health and work performance and during supervision recommended I seek “professional support” for my troubles.
What Happened Next?
Through a series of timely coincidences, I arrived at my then first spiritual teacher – a Bereavement Counsellor whose response to my question “how do I stop this pain?” was “Look Within” left me looking at him in bewilderment and frankly on the verge of walking out in digust. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and thought he was being rude and being there was just a waste of my time…
Tomorrow, I will share with you what I did next.
And if enjoyed reading this post and keen to experience the benefits of meditation, be sure to sign up for my free 7-Day ecourse Marvellous You! which offers you practical yoga and meditations techniques to calm and clear your mind.
I’d also love to hear your comments and views about meditation, what challenges and problems do you find with meditating and if you meditate please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.
Till next time, be peaceful and take special care of you.
Ntathu
image, with thanks by h.koppdelaney via flickr.com
Thanks for sharing such a tough time. It's so hard to lose people you love isn't it.
I'm not a great one for sitting and meditating but love to walk by myself and just be present on the walk. I always return home refreshed and invigorated in a new frame of mind.
Look forward to reading more – Jan x
Yes Jan, being outside walking in nature is a great way to refresh and energise self; I especially enjoy being by the sea and either walking along the shore or sitting down and gazing out at the horizon. Timeless pleasures. Look forward to reading your posts too.