EditorsThe lovely folks at Silatha, the app that guides you through meditation for beginners, share how the practice can help you tranform your life.
Taking time out to meditate daily may sound luxurious, but a mere 15 minutes a day has huge benefits. It clears your head, changes how you interact with others, but more importantly it changes how you feel about yourself. The more you delve into this the more you’ll find your perspective shifting massively.
There are many ways to meditate and incorporate it into your daily life so you can reap the rewards. There’s the classics we all know and love like mindful breathing and self-observation. Tr try your hand at journaling, setting an intention or meditating with gemstones.
Mindfulness
Once sitting in your comfortable posture, close your eyes. Take a long deep breath through the nose and then fully exhale through the mouth. As you exhale let go of everything that makes you feel heavy and worried.
Gently breathe in and out, taking time to feel your whole body relaxed. Start silently counting your breath. Once you reached the number ten start counting again. If you notice your thoughts start counting again from one.
Keep in mind that having thoughts is completely normal. We cannot stop our thoughts. If your mind gets distracted focus again on your breath. Stay in that place as long as you can. When you feel ready open your eyes and come back into the present moment.
Self-observation
Self-observation is a way to bring you to the fullness of the present moment. It’s the process of gazing at the self without judgement, leaving thoughts of disapproval and labels of good and bad at the door and watching the full self, in its most miniscule movements and grandest feelings, with honest awareness.
It is, first and foremost, a neutral gaze. Where the eye turns inwards on itself and watches the internal movement of sensations and feelings. It observes the flow of thoughts, noticing when they are fluid and when they catch, stick and repeat. This is a practice of watching without digging or excavating through the inner happenings, or seeking out sources and clues of inner meaning.
Self-observation is a spaciousness. An opening within, where you witness all as it is being. No desire to change, manipulate or participate in what you find. It is you, simply sitting with yourself.
Journaling
A journal is a great way to extend your meditation and mindfulness practice. It releases the power of past stresses and future anxieties, helping to ground you in the moment.
There is great power in writing. When you spill words from the heart and let them flow out, it brings great calm and clarity. Journaling allows us to start a dialogue with ourselves about what is going on in and around us.
Studies have shown that regular journaling reduces stress and helps us sleep better. It increases our emotional intelligence, thus helping us to understand our feelings more clearly. There is something about physically using pen and paper that enables us to connect more deeply with what we are writing. It also signals to our brain that we deem it important. The act of writing something down makes us more likely to achieve it.
There are several journals out there that support you in what to write. The one from Silatha also adds a meditation series to it.
Intentions
Setting an intention is the intrinsic starting point for any new action or result. Any dream you want to create, or new habit you want to live, first starts with an intention. It’s the basis of all our actions, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Intentions are also the foundation of Silatha’s new 21-day guided meditations. So what exactly is an intention, how do we make one and actually work with them?
An intention is like a seed. Infused with purpose, it sets in motion that which we want to create. Like any seed, we want to plant our intention in healthy fertile soil. And for it to grow, we need treat it with a balance of trust in its innate nature, as well as continuing to nourish it with our actions.
Meditating with gemstones
Gemstones are beautiful treasures gifted from Mother Earth, not only to enchant but also to transform us with their positive and transformational energy. When meditating with gemstones, we allow its unique energy to heal us.
Gemstones provide a great tool we can utilise to carry our intentions and manifest what we really want. Choose your gemstone based on the qualities it encourages, or simply whatever attracts you the most. Trust your intuition and go with whatever you’re most drawn to. When you meditate with a gemstone for the first time you will want to feel its energy. Find a quiet space and lay your crystals out. Raise your right palm above them and see what you notice.
And finally…
So where to begin? It’s all about creating a new habit. Habits aren’t just born, they are created day by day. The Silatha meditation app leads you on a 21-day journey that incorporates meditation it into your daily life.
Choose one of their twelve intentions to grow and keep practicing every day. There is even a quiz that can easily guide you. Creating a new habit always takes time, but there’s nothing more rewarding than feeling the benefit of creating a more peaceful and mindful you.
Download the Silatha app that features 21-day journeys to help reach your set intentions. Or visit their website for more.
Also Read:
Mastering Meditation: 5 Ways Breathwork Can Change Your Life
Goat Yoga to Forest Bathing: 10 Health Retreats to Find your Zen
