If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say Meditation is not for me, I don’t enjoy it, It’s so boring… well..I’d be a very rich woman. I totally get it. I said these words for decades!
I grew up hearing I should meditate. I resisted it. I said those words above and then some more. As I got older, my stress relief strategy was focused solely on fun escapes – time at the beach, massages, relaxing get-aways. But the stress was still there when the escape ended. Perhaps this sounds familiar?
I started my yoga practice at Breathe Together Yoga during their first year and their first 60 day challenge. During that year, it was 60 days of any combination of yoga and meditation classes. I was in! Except..I had a super busy schedule at that time, it wasn’t a calm and quiet year. But, I had a few friends who were all in and so was I! I had both determination and the ever so influential #FOMO, fear of missing out, on my side.
Yoga was an hour+, meditation was 30 minutes. Meditation wasn’t my preference, there were no arm balances, no sweat, no music. But, it was a no-brainer. I was short on time and meditation would “check the box”.
As I checked the boxes though, some amazing things started to happen:
- 7 days in, I no longer dragged my feet into meditation. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
- 15 days in, an awareness formed to habitual patterns I hadn’t noticed before.
- 30 days in, I noticed my first calm pause amidst chaos and noise. Just a few magic memorable seconds but it took my breath away.
- 45 days in, I seemed to flow through my day a little lighter, with a little more ease.
- 60 days in, I began to understand the term ‘moving meditation’ as I noticed changes to my physical asana practice.
Post the 60 day challenge, I started making space for more meditation in my schedule. Sometimes it was 20-30 minutes, sometimes only 5 minutes in my parked car, before heading into work or coming back home. It didn’t matter – I was starting my practice.
Recently, I’ve been thinking back on that challenge as I took the Summer Meditation Intensive with Breathe Together Yoga. Along with new styles of meditations and a new understanding of the science and studies of meditation’s impact on the brain, I had a few moments of déjà vu. The familiar sensations of a new level of self awareness, magic memorable moments of calm pause, and finding myself making space for more.
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