Meditation - am I doing it right!?!

This was a question that dominated my mind on a daily basis for years..literally!  

Meditation - we all know it's good for us and the health benefits are quite clear. However, there's so many different types/modalities out there!! Which one is right, and more importantly, which one can help us!

For around 3 years I was constantly on the search for the 'right type' of meditation for me.  Which 'type' would aid me in improving my health? Which 'type' could lessen my symptoms? I tried so many things - Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy tracks, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mind Calm..the list goes on! I had varying success, but what I really struggled with was the visual side of things - 'Imagine yourself sunbathing on your favourite beach feeling perfectly healthy...'  More often than not, I failed at achieving this states, primarily because my body was usually screaming with symptoms and ill feelings.  This in turn, often ramped up my anxiety levels because I couldn't achieve the desired relaxed state. I just got more and more anxious about my symptoms and frustrated that I couldn't change them.  So in actual fact, I often left a meditative session more anxious than when I started...and then I got anxious about being anxious. VICIOUS CYCLE!! I'm sure many of you have felt the same - a very head driven buzzy wiredness. Sound familiar?

I eventually stumbled across a form of meditation that was just right.  No visualisation, no breathing in feelings of health and sunny beaches..just being where you are and letting yourself know that that is ok.  When I first discovered it, this was a massive realisation for me, and everything started calming down a lot, in particular my mind! It soon dawned on me that all this time I had been trying to do meditation perfectly, and it was those perfection patterns that were actually hindering my progress with meditation.  As one with a bit of an Achiever personality, I felt I 'had to get it right.' Ironically, it was this 'having to get it right,' that hindered my progress health wise and in meditation.  
It was this learning 'to be' and accepting where I was at in that moment when I noticed shifts happening.  It's interesting isn't it, how we spend so much time in our heads and so little time in our bodies.  No wonder we get so stressed, and oftentimes lose control of our health.          

This type of 'Beingness' is one of just being present in the moment..separated from our thoughts, stress, and anxiety.  It sounds Spiritual almost, but it's really not.  It's just the process of being here, right now. A process of focusing on our breath, our arms, our legs, our muscles.  I usually do this 2/3 times a day, around 10 minutes each time and find it wonderfully powerful and rejuvenating.  On the other hand, Catastrophising thoughts, mental tennis, stress, are all pretty exhausting, and are certainly things we could do with less of, especially if you are on a recovery path.    

I came across a wonderful Meditation Teacher, Linda Hall, who has herself recovered from a Chronic Illness, M.E./CFS, after suffering from the condition for 8 years and making a full recovery. Her style is extremely soothing and therapeutic, and speaks to people at any level, no matter how healthy or ill you are.  

Here is a few of her short meditations (about 10 mins in length) Worth a go : 

Linda also has her own website, where she sells Meditation downloads that are specific for M.E.  I even did one of her telephone tutorial courses and it was great! All that and more are offered on her site : http://www.audiomeditation.co.uk/

Adam

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10 Simple Tips to Become A Master of Meditation Overnight

Following my first post, some of the great feedback I received was along the lines of, "I can't meditate because I can't stop thoughts buzzing through my head."  Sound like you? 

I completely understand where you're coming from, as initially I struggled with this practice too, but once you make the decision to actively engage with it, and practice regularly with gentle discipline, you will find it both rewarding and enjoyable.  

I like to compare it to body training at the gym...the more you work a muscle, the more it strengthens.  The same goes for neurons in the brain, as we are taught in Hebbian Theory, "Neurons that fire together wire together."  So, in effect, the more you practice meditation, the stronger the neuron connections become, the better you'll get and the easier it becomes.  

Here are my top 10 tips to ensure you develop consistent practice, and stay on track to creating a healthy body and a healthy mind!  

1. Meditate first thing in the morning or last thing at night (if possible!) - this is when you brain is most receptive to change, as it is in the alpha, dreamlike state
2. Aim to find a place at home or work suitable - somewhere quiet where you are unlikely to find distractions is perfect.  This will allow you to relax and focus much more easily
3. Make it a priority - this means putting it in the diary and committing to it in the same way you would to any other kind of meeting. Whether it is 10 minutes or considerably longer, nothing is more important than the health of your mind.  When people don't make this their priority, they often miss out and then become de-motivated
4. You don't need to 'still your mind' - above all, meditation gives your body the chance to relax and recover.  It is not useful, therefore, to resist having thoughts when meditating.  To resist thoughts is to resist relaxation, so just go with the flow!
5. To help yourself feel at ease - initially visualise a place you've been to in the past that evokes a relaxation response, perhaps a sunny beach
6. If you miss a day or two, don't be hard on yourself - this will surely undermine your efforts and motivation. Therefore, I suggest if you fall from grace one day, make the choice to get back into your routine the very next day without wallowing in failure and self-deprecation
7. Always spent a couple of minutes at the end of each meditation to reflect on its benefits - Notice how you feel, physically, mentally and emotionally. The more you establish the connection between training the mind and feeling better, clearer, or calmer, the easier it becomes to sit down and practice 
8. You only need to meditate 10-15 minutes per day - that's all it takes!
9. Have realistic expectations - Training or taming the mind is a skill to develop over a lifetime. There are some immediate benefits to be found, but some take longer than others. Just take it one day at a time
10. Have a scrap book and note any changes you feel - be it calmer, more confident, or healthier, these will be constant reminders of what you have achieved

Thanks, and remember...

Adam

p.s. Still struggling? There's a series of audios you can download from http://www.eocinstitute.org/. This is based on Dr. Heinrich Wilhelm Dove's discovery that when you introduce tones with certain frequencies into each ear, you could actually entrain the electrical patterns within the brain to resonate in very specific patterns, called brainwave states. These tones induce beta, and alpha wave states in your brain, which enables quicker meditative states.