Meditation Myths

Photo by Prasanth Inturi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-man-at-daytime-1051838/

A sign presented itself to me last night telling me that I had been neglecting my own Zen Den and my own meditation practice as I have continued to grow Working Mindfully. No, seriously, you know how you get targeted ads from various retailers when you are mindlessly scrolling through social media? Well, at least five times last night Amazon kept telling me I needed to purchase this little decorative sign that said, “The Zen Den”.

Heard. I got the message loud and clear. So, I began to ponder last night on what I wanted to share with all of you this week as I made sure to take time for myself. My brain went in overdrive and my monkey mind kicked into full gear. You know what that is like when you jump from thought to thought like a monkey swinging from limb to limb never pausing in one spot long enough to fully be conscious of the space you are in at that moment? That is your monkey mind taking over. How do you stop your monkey mind? Through meditation and breathing exercises.

I am sure many of you have seen these posts or read other articles about the benefits of mindfulness for stress reduction and scoffed. “Are you crazy? I can’t just sit there and think of nothing! I’ve tried it and it isn’t possible for me. I can’t meditate.” Or you have dutifully tried to meditate and found your mind straying and your monkey mind kicking in leading you away and reinforced that you can’t do it, or you began to beat yourself up mentally for doing it “wrong”. I am going to let you in on a little secret. You were not doing it wrong. That is a natural part of our human brain and of meditation.

When your mind begins to wander, and it will, you learn how to recognize it and pull yourself back into the present moment. We often do this by using breath as a focus point to bring ourselves back. This is the reason I have presented so many breathing exercises to you up until this point. Let me give you an example of my own personal meditation practice this morning.

I sit quietly, starting with a focus on my breathing and feeling the cool air enter my lungs on my inhale and the warm air exit on my exhale. After a few minutes of focusing on my breath I heard a car door outside. “The neighbor must be leaving for work”, I think to myself. I realize I am not focused on the moment and say to myself “neighbor” to acknowledge what I was thinking about and return to my breath. A loud vehicle goes screaming up the road behind my house distracting me. “Those people drive much too fast for that road” my thinking mind says as it tries to drag me away. “Car” I acknowledge then return to my breathing. The next distraction was easier, I heard a dog barking in the neighborhood. Before it carried me away with thought I simply thought “dog” and returned to the breath. I could go on about a myriad of other thoughts and distractions that went through my head this morning, but the point is I was not doing it wrong by thinking but rather I was doing it right by not allowing those thoughts to carry me away with them. Meditation is not the absence of thought but rather the practice of learning how to stay present in the here and now and observing the sensations and thought happening at that very moment.

You do not need a dedicated meditation space such as mine. Sometimes I use my space and sometimes I do not. If you carve out a “Zen Den” of your own fill it with things that bring you joy. Mine has plants as I am an avid gardener, pictures of my family, a handcrafted bowl given to me by a friend, little rocks, shells, and trinkets from our adventures as a family together fill that bowl. I have a meditation cushion and mat to make sitting for extended periods of time easier on my joints. These items bring me joy and peace. Meditation and mindfulness can be applied any time during the day.

Your challenge for this week is to attempt to be aware of your monkey mind swinging from branch to branch and acknowledge it. When you recognize its presence, state in your mind or out loud the thought. Recognize it, take a few deep even breaths noticing the sensations of that breath and refocus on the task in front of you. Then if you are willing to share your experiences please come back to this post and share how your challenge went this week.

As always, I thank you for allowing me to share my experiences with you and to potentially guide you through your own journey into mindfulness.

-A