Meditation: “to think deeply or focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.”

Now, I know the word “meditation” can trigger a deep sigh or eye roll. But it’s truly an ESSENTIAL aspect of the self-discovery journey. It’s a way for you to connect with your higher self, calm your mind and align with the Divine.

The best way I can describe the benefits are like Neo from The Matrix. The way he was able to move 10x the speed and anticipate things before everyone else.

That is literally what life is like with meditation. 

You suddenly are less reactive. It’s almost as if you can step outside of a situation and consciously choose how you want to respond instead of just “in the heat of the moment.” It’s fucking beautiful!

I know that meditation can be daunting when first starting out. Like many of you I thought I “wasn’t the meditation type” until I realized I was practicing meditation all along. It was just in different ways than most of the books I read had taught.

In fact, I hardly sit down in criss-cross applesauce on the floor to meditate. It’s difficult for me. Physically, I have an injured knee that doesn’t like that position for an extended period of time and it’s actually more exhausting for me to meditate in that position at times.

A few of my favorite ways to meditate are actually by playing my sound bowls, practicing yoga, making flower arrangements for my place, and going for hikes in nature.

You see, this is Mindfulness Meditation.

Mindfulness  “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”

As you can see from my personal favorites, mindfulness meditation can be practiced while doing virtually any task. It’s being “in the zone” that makes it meditation. I want to give you a few tips for creating mindfulness in your daily life without sitting down in silence. Here are a few ways to begin your practice:

1. Digital Detox

      Yes, I’m sure you may have let out a small squeal reading this, but it’s a game changer to say the very least. It’s easy to wake up and grab your phone first thing in the morning to see what you missed in the last eight hours. Or if you’re an online entrepreneur like myself, you might find yourself running to analytics, overviews and checklists. But it’s important that we take the time to consider just how are beginning our days and how it reflects the rest of it.

    Try not to look at your phone the first hour of your day. Be mindful of your morning routine and what that looks like. What do you want to implement? With those few extra minutes on your hands you not only have more time to start implementing them but you can ground yourself before being influenced by the outside world as well. Again, the way you begin your day is often a reflection of the way your day will play out. Be mindful.

2. Mindful Walking

    This is actually one of my personal favorite forms of mindful meditation. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You take the time to ground yourself with the earth and ‘just be.’ Take five minutes to take off your shoes and walk around slowly. Acknowledge your body’s movement with each step. Feel the earth under your feet and notice your hips sway with each step. Take your time. Be in the moment. It only takes five.

3. Candle Meditation

    Okay, I know I said that the walking meditation was one of my favorites, but this is definitely top two (obviously this list is in no particular order because the preference is relative). Meditating was really hard for me in the beginning like I mentioned. But it was almost effortless with this particular exercise. Maybe the same will apply for you.

   I am and have always been a lover of candles. They make me happy. I love the ambiance and the way I feel walking into an aromatic room. They are also quite hypnotizing to look at. Take a few minutes to light a candle and watch the flame dance. When you notice random thoughts arise, but just come back to the flame.

4. Mindful Meals

    This is a practice that I actually learned during my Yoga Teacher Training while in Greece for a month. It was a spiritually immersive program that included silent lunch and dinner every day. For a month. It was quite odd to sit around a large communal table (who am I kidding, we actually sat on the floor old school yogi style) with strangers and never utter a word. Eye contact and body language became skill sets for us all that month. Want the salad at the other end of the table? Good luck conveying that without words. As you can tell it had a long-lasting impression.

  Often times as we eat together we occupy time and space with words that mean nothing. Too concerned with conversation to appreciate the blessing in front of you. Too often we take these things for granted. The meal in front of us. The cook who lovingly prepared it. The farmers that nurtured it. The animal that sacrificed their essence. Yes sometimes we ‘pray’ before meals but do we really show appreciation for what we are praying for. Try eating in silence every once in a while and see. Alternatively for those of you with kiddos, you can always try prepare you meal in the same mindful manner.

These are just a few examples of Mindfulness Meditation. I hope that you find these practices helpful and use them to begin a consistent meditation practice. If you’d like to see more meditation practices you can download a Free Meditation Guide here.