If you’re like I was, you probably have a preconceived idea of what “meditation” is. When I say the word “meditation”, you probably imagine a person sitting on a special pillow in a matching sweatsuit outfit with their legs in criss cross with their hands up in Mudra. While this is the most basic and common form of meditating, there is a lot more possible with this exercise. Mediation is one of the oldest practiced exercises - dating back over 5,000 years to its beginnings in ancient China. Formal techniques of meditation are first documented way back in 3,000-5,000 BCE. This is why I love it so much, it ties directly with Taoism and the beautiful, age-old teachings of Eastern Medicine. There is no actual medication involved, no substances, and it is a free expression that is meant to up totally for interpretation. Whoever is mediating controls every aspect of their experience, and they are the leaders of their session. In a future blog post, I would love to talk with you about Taoism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Eastern Medicine more in depth. Each of these philosophies have shaped who I have become over the last 2 years or so, they teach the importance of being present, calm, and in harmony with the world’s energy that flows all around us. 

Meditation comes in several shapes and types, for example, yesterday morning at 4:15am, I did a guided energy meditation. This was a simple 6 minute breathing exercise that used rapid and loud breaths to wake my body up naturally, for this, I was standing. This past Monday at 5:30am, I participated in a guided gratitude meditation. This was 10 minutes of slow, relaxed breathing paired with speaking out loud - saying things I was grateful for, down to the smallest and seemingly insignificant parts of my daily life. This one in particular was very emotional and evoked deep senses of feeling, to the point that I found myself bawling my eyes out. This morning, at 4am, I sat in on a more traditional guided meditation, one like you are probably picturing: I sat on the floor, on a pillow, with my legs crossed, and my hands in Mudra, and I simply focused on each part of my body. I focused on my forehead, my jaw, my cheeks, my chin, my neck, my chest, and so on. I paid attention to any signs of tension throughout my entire body while I took long deep inhales and long deep exhales. 

All of these are examples of meditations, but they each looked and felt completely different. For one, I was up standing and breathing fast, loud and forceful. Another, I was relaxed, but very emotional, and another I was completely still, calm, and present. A huge misconception with meditation is that it is solely practiced to feel calm or relaxed. This is not true. Mediation is practiced to just simply feel. To feel whatever may arise, and letting whatever emotion or feeling arise without judgement, letting whatever your brain thinks - think. There are energy meditations like the one I mentioned, there are sleep meditations to help fall asleep, there are gratitude meditations, workout mediations, anti-anxiety mediations, overstimulation meditations, work meditations that can be practiced while you are working. There are endless possibilities when it comes to practicing mediating. But through each of these, it is most important to just simply open yourself all the way up and accept everything that comes through you. 

I challenge you to start your meditation journey tomorrow morning, and I recommend downloading the Calm app or going to their website as they have great guided meditations for beginners and experts alike. 

Oh and if no one else tells you today, I believe in you and I am so proud of you. You are becoming the best version of yourself, Keep Going.