by Alicia Parks
Certified Yoga Instructor
Aveda Institute Denver
Take a few moments for yourself. This doesn’t mean you have to roll out a special rug, light candles and burn incense and start rolling Om sounds. It’s simply about reconnecting the mind to the body with breath. We tend to breath shallow and not expand to full lung capacity-especially when under stress.
Walk away from your desk. Go outside in the sun if it’s possible. Or find a quiet spot in your work space to close your eyes. Notice how you are breathing now. Then begin to slow the breath and deepen each inhalation and exhalation. Try inhaling to the count of 4 and then exhaling to the count of 4. Then try to the count of 5 for a few rounds. Next move on to the count of 6 or 7, if possible. With each breath, ease the thoughts away from the mind. Your to-do list doesn’t need to exist for this mere 5-10 minutes.
There are many approaches to mediation depending on culture and spirituality. Some are more disciplined, some more relaxed. Bringing meditation into the workplace and home is both an act of discipline and relaxation.
Meditation is really allowing you a few moments to sit quietly, breath, and quiet the mind as much as possible. In the work and home where stress can be abundant, it’s essential to incorporate even a few moments to connect with yourself.
Set aside 30 seconds to start then work up to 2 minutes then maybe 10 and eventually when you have mastered being able to sit silently for 10 minutes you can bring the practice home and try up to 30 minutes twice a day, as recommended by Deepak Chopra’s Journey Into Healing Program.
I took a course in meditation a while back through the Chopra Center in which they began teaching us to meditate for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon or evening. Since class was structured around meditation and yoga, it was easy to start the ritual. Then when I tried to transition this practice into my daily life I began to have challenges. I tried setting my alarm 30 minutes earlier each day so I could wake up and have time to meditate for 30 minutes. Then I found at night I was falling asleep while meditating before my bed time. It wasn’t working out. I started to stress out about the very thing that was supposed to relieve me from stress.
I took a break from that approach and read a few more books about meditation. I tried a few other approaches like using a mantra, breathing in and out to the sound of the chakras, inhaling the sound “so” and exhaling the sound “hum,” using the mandala beads, sitting silently with music, sitting the same way in the same spot each day, sitting without music-just about everything including standing on my head.
The point, and I do have one, is that I tried. I made the effort and let what was best for me just happen. Now today I still struggle with making the time to meditate, that another goal to work on but what I don’t stress about is that “how.” I just let it happen, whatever it needs to be. Today I might sit quietly. Tomorrow I may use the mandala beads. The next day I might meditate with rolling oms.
Take a moment for you. Reconnect with your breath. Settle your mind and your heart. You are worth it.
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