In my previous post, I argued that deep states of meditation can be likened to reaching your own natural frequency. The stillness facilitates a spaciousness that can be felt. I also make the case that moving from presence is an easier way to move through life than constantly reacting from a worried or restless state.
Continue reading “Meditation and Emotions”
When you vibrate a horizontal plate with sand on top, the sand mostly just dances around. But when you vibrate it at one of its natural frequencies, an organised pattern emerges. These patterns can be quite complex, depending on the frequency.
Continue reading “A Foundational Principle for Life”
I started meditating circa 2010. Six months later I noticed fundamental changes in myself. My baseline anxiety went down by a very noticeable degree. Large crowds no longer freaked me out. I slept better. I quit smoking. And tests and exams became a breeze.
Before discovering meditation, tests were the bane of my existence. University level math is not a joke, and I’d had panic attacks in a bunch of tests. Always math. In one of those, I had to walk out after writing only my name and a scribble of a matrix. Not being able to breathe in a large lecture hall is horrible.
Continue reading “The Benefits Of Meditation”
“Many of us are afraid of going home to ourselves because we don’t know how to handle the suffering inside us”
Thich Nhat Hanh – Silence
Set the bar really low so that you can’t fail. For example, if you’re a beginner, start with five minutes today and feel good about it. Feel good about showing up no matter what. If your mind was all over the place and you hardly focused at all, that’s still a successful meditation session because you’ve observed something about yourself.
Continue reading “My top 4 meditation tips”
I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while, but I’ve also wondered if I have something new to contribute regarding the subject. There is so much information out there on why one should meditate, and what the benefits are, that I’m not sure there’s a lot left to say about it. So, I thought that I would write this from the perspective of why I meditate.
Continue reading “Why meditate”One question, courtesy of the Waking Up Meditation App, has been particularly helpful to me lately: Check your attitude in this moment? More often than not, when this question comes up during one of the daily guided meditations, I realise that I’m in a state of waiting, or wanting. Waiting for my meditation task to be over, or wanting to be somewhere different. I actually forget that I like meditation, that it’s more than just something to tick off my to-do list. For some reason, I completely forget that I want to be meditating. But when I realise this, I shift back into being more grateful and present.
Continue reading “A helpful little mindfulness tool”After doing various drafts of this post I realised that there is really only one thing to say here, and that is that the neediness inside us will never be satisfied. Something inside—call it the ego, call it the small self—whatever that thing is will always want more, always need more, and will never be satisfied. So, we might as well be at peace now.
(Related Articles: Two modes of being: The locust and the lotus.)
I’ve been meditating for years but I guess you could say that at times I wasn’t really meditating as much as just having conversations with myself while sitting still.
Continue reading “When you no longer have to finish the arguments in your head.”Sometimes during my morning meditation I get this sense of urgency to feel that calm centredness I often associate with being present.
Continue reading “Chasing Presence”