Do you meditate regularly?

If you do, you know how invaluable it is to your wellbeing.

If you don’t, you probably know you “should” but either cannot seem to start or stick to a regular practice.

There is tons of research that shows the positive impacts meditation has on our health, productivity, sleep, and even weight. We know it is a great way to calm anxiety and tap into our intuition but when it comes to actually doing it, we often face resistance.

I get asked a lot about how to meditate or keep meditating. People think the biggest reason they have trouble meditating is because they cannot stop their thoughts; however, that is really not the biggest block. There are two deeper reasons why meditating is hard.

The first block is unprocessed emotional stuff. Sadness we have stuffed away. Anger we have repressed. Shame we have kept hidden. When we get still and look within, we may begin to feel emotions we have locked away for years which can be scary. So we quickly allow ourselves to be distracted and jump out of a meditation before we really even start.

To overcome this block, emotional release work is needed. We may need to physically hit or scream into a few pillows before we hit the meditation pillow. This was absolutely the case for me when I first attempted to meditate. I wanted to bypass my emotions and just feel calm inside but every time I sat down to get still uncomfortable feelings would come up. So I gave up on meditating.

After I learned how to actually release emotions and do so regularly, a meditation practice became an actual possibility. Until then, it was more like torture. If you relate to this, the emotional section of the treatment plan in Expectation Hangover will help.

The second block to meditating is negative self-talk. Getting quiet can be more challenging if you have to listen to the voice of your inner critic. The quieter you get, the more the inner critic picks! I have a lot of clients who resist meditation because listening to themselves think, is painful. They’d rather work, eat, watch TV, shop or Facebook (is that a verb?!?).

What’s the solution? Work on your self-talk!! Throughout the day, practice redirecting your thoughts toward affirming, positive thoughts instead of being so hard on yourself. The nicer you are to yourself, the more pleasant your experience with meditation will be. You can even make redirecting your self-talk part of a meditation practice. Sit still for a minimum of 5 minutes. Listen to your breath. Every time a negative, critical, or fearful thought comes up repeat: “I love and accept myself exactly as I am. All is well.”

As you take steps toward a meditation practice rest assured there is no perfect or right way to do it. The only wrong way to meditate is not to do it!  (Tweet this!!)

And, remember, it is called a practice. It takes time to develop a deep meditation practice. Do not set the expectation to be all zen, levitating, and talking to your Spirit Guides or you may end up with an expectation hangover. If you get even 2 seconds of feeling present and connected to your breath, you are meditating!

I have seen how much meditation has enhanced all aspects of my life and the lives of my clients. My encouragement to you today is to consider these blocks and if they resonate, commit to taking steps to get over them. Head on over to the blog and ask me any questions or share your comments.

Finally, if you’d like some guided meditations from me, you can download my meditation MP3 album here.

With love,
Christine