Fearless Friday: Stop, Drop + Meditate

As I have explained in past posts, meditation is one of the hardest things for me in living my yoga but its a necessity. As one of my inspirational teachers, Gabrielle Bernstein, states, “If you think you don’t have time to meditate, my response to you is do you have time to feel like shit?” And it’s true, when I’m not in the habit of meditating everyday, I do feel like shit, total shit in fact. My head feels like it’s going to spin off my body and I have a hard time grounding down.

One of the biggest barriers that gets in the way of meditation is not only the element of time but also how we view meditation. When I first began to meditate, I thought it had to be this big magical event. I needed to have the special pillows. I had to light candles and it had to be this very special intimate experience with myself. It became more of production to do then to actually to do the meditation.

I then approached my meditation in a complete different way. I viewed it as just something I did in the morning, just like brushing my teeth. I get up (still in my pjs), head to my couch, sit down, place a pillow on my lap, set my iphone timer for 10 or 15 minutes, close my eyes and I’m in. A  prayer I like to say as I begin my meditation is  “Where would you have me go, what would you have me do, what would you have me say and to whom?”> something I also learned from Gabrielle Bernstein. I find that this statement is a reminder for me to let go of control and trust that whatever happens is meant to be. A great way to start the day.

My meditation experience is never perfect and it never should be. In fact, there are some days when my mind just races and I’m overcome by anxiety. Weird stuff comes up, like worry over returning library books, parking for a class later in the day, an e-mail that I need to write, but this is all part of the experience. For me, meditation is a powerful way of bubbling my anxiety up to the surface and rinsing it out. No judgement. No expectations. Just letting whatever come up, come up and breathing through it. And with this, things happen. I find stillness with myself. I feel at ease and I feel energized in a relaxed way ready to take on my day.

Stop, drop + meditate and share your experience.