Meditation
How to connect to your inner self.
It is a myth that meditation should be hard, but it is also a myth that is requires no effort.
We don’t really have to convince people these days that we should all be meditating. However many of us are still yet to incorporate meditation into our everyday lives, and whilst in meditation yet to experience that deep bliss state of transcendence.
It is my passion to revolutionize the way we perceive AND experience yoga/meditation (they are technically the same thing). The first stage, I believe, is de-programming ourselves from this idea that our bodies AREN’T powerful, that our minds ARE limited, and that we AREN’T plugged in a bigger grid of consciousness. The best way that we can finally understand all of these concepts to be false, is for us to experience that space of wordless bliss for ourselves. We can take ourselves into that cosmic place with our movement, our breath, and our mind focused in a specific direction. Then, we will really see things from a wildly different perspective.
It’s time to upgrade our meditation experience.
BREATHE
Breath is one of the magnificently simple but potent tools that we can use to dramatically up level our meditation practice. We can use yogic breathing techniques to revitalize our life force energy (prana) , soothe our nervous system, and flood our brain with oxygen; so we can use it’s full capacity.
But we have to experience it for ourselves to believe it.
Try this:
Inhale for 4 counts, hold the breath for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts & hold the exhale for 4 counts. Feel all of the sensations at each point of the breath. Let yourself melt into the sensations.
Keep repeating this sequence for 3-5 mins.
When finished, sit, and feel yourself inside your body, with long & deep breath allow your belly to round and pelvic floor muscle to relax.
I want you to try this, and then tell me that you don’t feel magnetic and calm.
It’s time to change our perspective of meditation.
MOVE
Meditation should be used in a practical way. It is meant to be used as a life hack to ensure that we become more magnetic in our job interviews, creative in our problem solving, expansive in our relationships and sovereign over our fears. We can and should use physical meditation practices, such as yoga or breath-work, to literally change our the inner workings and thought processes of our minds. And it doesn’t have to be beige or bland, if we have access to the right techniques we can actually come into a state of feeling high as a kite during our meditation practice.
Try this 25 minute Daily Practice with Alice
Sometimes things have to by-pass the mind.
MIND CONTROL
There is such an intelligence that is situated way beyond the rational, logical mind. Sometime’s things just can’t be comprehended or fixed mentally, first off. And the more we fill the mind with solving the puzzle, the harder it becomes. Do we ever find that when we stop thinking about our puzzle, the solution magically drops in? Yes we do. The reason? Good question, well reason is that when we are fixated upon a certain rhythm of thoughts we keep ourselves stuck in that loop and deny ourselves access to a different perspective, a higher, a wiser perspective. The irony is that the more we try to think really hard, the more resistance we get. For example, when stretching we opt to use brute force to get into the pose however the more fight for the stretch the more we shake and get a little sweary in the mind, it is quite struggle. If we opted to relax into the stretch and be with the intense sensations, using the intention of the mind and breath, the body will in fact decide to open. Another example with writers, is that the more we overthink the words the harder it is to let the words come through and the words that do in fact come through read stiffly and without flow. Our over-thinking creates a mental block. A good exercise for this is just start writing without thinking and then watch as the words flow through you. When we relax the effort from the reductionist mind, we gain access to the intelligence wants to come through us from the cosmos. When we can’t make sense of anything, then all there is to do is to come into a state of neutral and be a vessel to the charge of intelligence that will eventually guide us forward. We have to be less in charge and make it a collaborative effort with the cosmos.
What does this have to do with meditation? Well nothing really. Except that we might use our meditation practice to become an empty vessel and to plug ourselves into the vast intelligence of the cosmos. Maybe we use it to experience that which can’t be put into words and can only really be felt, such as the bliss of an orgasm. Maybe we use this concept to make writing, exercising or singing a form of highly practical and effective meditation.
Meditation means awareness. Awareness can only really be captured if we are on the channel of the true present moment, and not replaying the past or broadcasting the future. The easiest way to literally pull ourselves out of the chaotic mind, is to change the course of the mind direction from thinking to feeling. This is em-bodied meditation. The mind can still be entertained and we avoid the game of trying not to think (which ironically means that the thoughts start to slow and clear themselves). What also happens is that we naturally create avoid between ourselves and the thoughts - and the realizing ‘we are not the our thoughts’ scenario shows up. We then have the ecstasy of choosing between focusing our attention on one of the many positively charged yogic technologies, such as concentrated listening, powerful breathing, the creation of sound frequencies (chanting mantras), drawing in light with intention, generating energy with movement and tuning into sacred geometric patterns. Each one of these yogic technologies will give us access to see beyond the imprinted overlay that causes our current reductionist state of mind.
TRY THIS:
In a seated position, with palms pressed together (to activate the left & right side of the brain), eyes closed & focused at the 3rd eye, recite the mantra SAT NAM (a long SAT, and shorter NAM) repeat 3x
As you do so, focus on physical feeling of the sound vibrations being generated within the head and the rest of the body.
You must also intentionally listen to yourself making the sound.
Finish with an inhale, hold the breath in for 5 seconds, whilst focusing at the third eye, squeezing the pelvic floor & pulling belly button in. And slowly exhale.
Now Meditate. Sit for a few moments directing your mind to become solely focused on the feeling of the brain and the rest of the body. Tune into the subtler sensations.