Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Meditation to Get Unstuck

Read that title again; I bet you thought it read “Motivation” instead of “Meditation!” But maybe, just maybe, I can help you motivate yourself to try meditation, if it isn’t already part of your regular practice!

Oh, and for the record? I don’t give two hoots for what anyone says you should do properly for meditation. There’s no one right way to meditate. Does whatever you do to meditate work for you? Great! Then do that. Does what one of the experts says to do work for you? Great! Then do that.

Maybe it’s a minute in your parked car before you go in to your office first thing in the morning.

Or maybe it’s five minutes in your recliner after you’ve tucked your kidlet into bed for the fourth time after requests for “just one more story” or “I’m thirsty!”

Just maybe it’s first thing in the morning, on a bench in the back yard as the birds are singing up the sun at dawn.

And maybe it’s in the moments when you feel stuck, when you can’t decide which of the seventeen things on your to-do list need to be done next, and you stop to take a breath, repeat a favorite mantra, and then carry on with whatever.

I’ve blogged about meditation a few times over the years, and it continues to be one of the items in my wellness toolkit that I take out regularly and use at times other than my preferred morning meditation habit.

I have moments when I’m feeling just plain stuck. (Can you relate?) Can’t decide what to do next. Overwhelmed with ALL THE THINGS. In enough pain that I don’t want to do anything, no matter what’s on the to-do list. On occasion, I feel like my thoughts are a messy tangle, and I need to figure out how to slowly, carefully find the ends of each thought so I can roll them up into tidier balls.

At those moments, sometimes I’ll remember to take a deep breath and quietly repeat something along these lines from the late, very wise Thich Nhat Hanh:

In, out.
Deep, slow.
Calm, ease.
Simple, release.
Present moment, wonderful moment.

That is similar to this, slightly longer mantra:

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment.

Meditation has many benefits. It can decrease your blood pressure, improve your concentration, and help you loosen up tense muscles. Those are all good things. And best of all? It doesn’t require hours and hours to do. (If you WANT to meditate for an hour, absolutely go for it!)

It can be that minute in the chaos that you take for yourself to get unstuck.

What positive mantra will you repeat to yourself for a meditation minute today?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Meditation (Again...and Again...)

I mentioned last week that one habit I’ve done fairly well at maintaining over the past year has been my meditation practice. Typically, I meditate in the morning, then I journal, then I exercise. Sometimes, I’ll go outside and meditate in the hammock. (Yes, even in the winter. In fact, the thumbnail photo for this post is a recent pic I took while in the hammock!) Sometimes, I’ll repeat one of my mantras to myself to relax and fall asleep. I’m grateful for that practice and I’m grateful that even if it’s only for three minutes, I make time for it daily.

What does meditation do for the body, exactly?

Lowers blood pressure. Helps increase focus. Can provide clarity. May boost your immune system. Creates a general feeling of relaxation, which is never a bad thing.

And you don’t have to sit there saying “ommmmmmm” for an hour. :) I mentioned a mantra; my mantras vary and I take them from things I’ve read. They’re usually short, which makes them easy to memorize. While meditation isn’t strictly a religious practice, either, maybe your mantra is a prayer. Maybe it’s a poem. Whatever it is, make it positive, and something that is meaningful to you. For example, here’s one I like:

Forgetfulness is the darkness, mindfulness is the light.
I bring awareness to shine upon all life.
~Thich Nhat Hanh, PEACE IS EVERY BREATH

Sometimes, I practice the Small Universe meditation from my Qigong class, which helps me be mindful of and focused on many parts of my body. That also helps me relax and bring my blood pressure down.

So it’s highly varied, but the consistent thing is that I do it, in some form, every day.

I led an activity once for a virtual team meeting in which I talked about the benefits of meditation. As part of the activity, we meditated for one minute. One minute. Sixty seconds. Several people on the call were amazed at how fast it went. One person said “That was the worst minute of my life and don’t make me do that ever again.” That still makes me laugh to this day! Everyone’s experience is going to be different!

How about you? Have you tried meditation? What did you like (or not like)?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Meditation Is a Healthy Habit

Last week, I posted about building healthy habits. (It’s a theme for me!)

This week, I want to talk - again - about meditation. It’s a healthy habit, too, that helps me start my day in a positive way.

It doesn’t have to be for hours on end, although I know people who can meditate for an hour or more.

I do try to continue to increase the amount of time I spend meditating, and I frequently find myself being so relaxed with being present with my breath that I am surprised when the end chime sounds.

I still haven’t mastered meditating on weekends.

But otherwise? Everything in my post from last June is still very true!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Meditation

I’m having trouble comprehending something. I’ve apparently only posted a #winewellnesswednesday about meditation specifically twice; once in 2016, and once hypothesizing about reading as meditation. (I'm including the original text below.)

Even though I post a #mondaymeditationminute regularly on Facebook, and even though I meditate almost daily, I’ve barely talked about it! Zoikes!

I realized this morning as I was meditating just how much I needed it, and just how much I enjoy that part of my daily routine, usually my morning routine. I’m also going to be very candid; for some reason, while on vacation and on weekends, the meditation routine goes splat and I don’t entirely know why! It’s probably because routines in general go splat at those times, and it’s definitely something I’m working on changing!

I’ve been all the way up to 15 minutes recently, and then my routine went splat and I started over at 5 minutes, then 6 minutes, then 7 minutes, and so on. :) (I really enjoy the Centering Prayer app on the iPhone/iPad for its timer, sound, and background settings.) I’m back to 9 minutes and it’s amazing to me how fast those 9 minutes go by when I’m focusing on breathing and a mantra. Speaking of, this is one of my new favorites:

Kind hearts are the gardens;
Kind thoughts are the roots;
Kind words are the flowers;
Kind deeds are the fruits. (English proverb)

I know people who can meditate for an hour at a time, and I know people who think trying to meditate for a minute at a time is torture. We are all on that spectrum somewhere!

How about you? Do you have a meditation practice? What do you think about trying to start one?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

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Wine & Wellness Wednesday 01/06/16

For this week’s Tea (Wine) & Wellness Wednesday, I want to talk about meditation. (Yep, I’m still temporarily off wine. But I’m on the mend!)

Meditation is my favorite thing to forget to do every day. (Say…whaaaat?) Working with my own health coach, I’ve set a goal to meditate every day. And I’ve already missed more than one day in a row. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why this one is so hard! I exercise at least a little almost every day. I use essential oils every day. I drink good amounts of water every day, and I finish my shower with cold water every day. All of these are really good healthy habits to maintain. Meditation would be a great healthy habit to maintain, too, and I can’t seem to get it to stick!

Some of the benefits of meditation include (although the HOW it works isn’t clear) decreased blood pressure, decreased stress, and improved concentration skills. When I meditate at night, I feel clearer and more settled, more ready to be done for the day; I don’t have solid evidence for it yet, but I think I sleep better. When I meditate in the morning, I feel clearer and more settled, more ready to get into whatever the day may bring. (Are you sensing a trend yet?)

Meditation seemed like this big, impressive thing that would be hard to make myself do. (It’s still hard to remember to make time for, honestly.) It’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be!

Here’s my short version of how to start meditating. :) Pick a comfortable place to sit, preferably somewhere quiet. (Keeping the dogs out of the room when you’re meditating might be good too.) Pick a short timeframe, for example, five minutes, and set a timer. Start. That’s it. Start meditating. It doesn’t mean shutting down your brain. (I mean come on! :) You need your brain to function.) It means shutting out the brain rats and focusing on something. Pick a mantra, a phrase you’ll say over and over to yourself. Pick a breathing pattern. Do something you can focus on, and acknowledge to yourself that you’ll get distracted. You’ll think about things you didn’t get done the previous day, or things you want to do the next day, or…or…or…I’m sure you can think of a dozen things that you’ll think of. Allow it to happen, and go back to your focus. When the timer goes off, congratulate yourself for giving it a try, and commit to yourself to do it again tomorrow. When you don’t look at the timer every five seconds, increase it to six minutes. And then to seven minutes. And so on. (I’m all the way up to ten minutes!)

So what do you think? Do you meditate already? What benefits do you feel? Do you think about starting? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!