Analogy of the day. Imagine this - An overfilled wardrobe, not enough hangers, clothes on the floor, expensive mistakes that you never wore, two cardigans you repeatedly visit for comfort, jeans for thin days, jeans for fat days, so many shoes you feel a bit guilty, designer bags you thought you'd love forever, accessories to accessorize your multiple personalities and alot of things you promise yourself you'll one day get rid of but havent managed yet. And the doors dont shut.
Right. So now imagine your mind crammed full like that wardrobe. Redundant thoughts hang around like unflattering jeans which we just don't need.
The deal with meditation is that for as little as 10 minutes a day you empty your mind. The result is that you make room for exactly what you want in there. Clean, organized and enhancing.
I always thought I was too superficial to meditate, a mystical self-exclusion because I drank Cosmopolitans and lusted over expensive shoes. But you can like shoes and meditate! In fact you'll make wiser footwear choices as a result.
I started meditating following a weekend workshop in Primordial Sound Meditation at the Chopra Center in Manhattan 6 months ago. PSM is mantra based and the idea of the mantra is that it helps to clear your mind. Popular mantras to repeat (in your head so no added pressure here of people in the next room laughing at you) include 'I Am' or 'So Hum'.
You repeat the mantra sitting comfortably. Being propped up in bed surrounded by pillows and bedcovers is allowed - disciplined practise does NOT have to be punishingly uncomfortable. Focus on calming your breath and relaxing your body, and in time you 'release' the mantra. In time you'll also find it easier to slip into blissful emptyness. To begin with however its a battle. I never realized 10 minutes could take so long. I'd will it be over so that I could 'do' something, I'd will my mind to empty, or cheat and think about dinner or how long my hair would be by Christmas.
But then I started to notice the changes. Its spooky. Great things start to happen in your life, you bump into friends (you like) who you havent seen in ages, opportunities arrise that you never thought possible, health problems fade away, you like yourself far more, your boyfriend / boss / husband / child becomes far less annoying. Your thighs shrink. Its brilliant.
Its like finally tuning the radio in to hear your favourite song in crystal clarity when for months before you'd settled for listening to fuzzy rubbish.
The theory is that meditation allows you to become more intune with the vibrations of the world and therefore be in the right place at the right time, in the right frame of mind more often.
I urge everyone that I like and love to try it - two weeks - you'll see a difference.
xx
http://www.chopra.com/meditation
Monday, September 14, 2009
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3 comments:
Sounds just like what i need to start doing...wonder what changes will come my way when I start??? Hopefully all the positive good things will start flooding in!!! xx
Ah, So Ham. The mantra we're born with - the sound of breath in and breath out. I always have good intentions about meditation, but never stick with it. At least yoga tends to be meditative for me, same mind state in many ways! Glad it's working for you Sam!
Hi Sam - I read your post a few days back (entertaining and insightful! imagine that) and finally roused up the nerve to try it today! I always had the same view of meditation... i'm not peaceful enough, my mind is a jumbled mess, it would never work, I drink dirty martinis.. excuses, excuses... but reading about your experience with it has opened me up to my own.
thanks for the link to the chopra center site. he's got a list of guided meditations there that i can't wait to try! hope to see you soon,
Susie
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