Mindfulness with the Senses

One of the simple meditation types I have been working on is mindfulness. Daily mindfulness is about turning yourself off of Auto-pilot and being part of the moment. I shared some detail on this in my other post from a few days ago but wanted to talk about it a bit more today.

We experience the world through our physical senses: Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Yet, being the very conscious beings we are, we typically do not focus on the senses unless we think they’re impaired. In cases where one is losing their hearing, or ability to taste, we give those senses full attention to find cures. Typically we use our senses without focusing on them, alternatively caught up in our minds contemplating the inputs we receive. We may think, “What does that sound mean?”, or, “I don’t like that taste because…”, or,”this blanket is so soft and I want to buy it but it’s 40 dollars which makes me sad”. I’m not denying it’s a good thing that we have instinctual quick-thinking. Humans choose to take action when they smell the odor of something burning. It’s good that we don’t just sit back and choose to let something burn just so we can smell it. No sane people anyway…….
Thanks to our instincts, we get up and take action when we need to. But it is too often that we go about our days without taking a moment to be aware of our environment. We receive sensory inputs from the environment constantly so it’s understandable that in order for us to think straight, we are able to ignore most of them.

However, a great way to meditate is to take a moment to turn yourself off of autopilot, while you are doing a simple daily chore for example, or if you are just sitting and relaxing, to help clear the mind of worries and emotions. Choose two or three senses to focus on that are appropriate for the task at hand. When you do this, food tastes so much better, warm water is so much more soothing, textures feel 3 times more… “feely”. It’s like you turn the volume up on this small moment and get rid of all the background noise that is your usual thoughts and worries.

I did this today while doing the dishes. Even though I was hungry–as I had just made dinner but had not yet eaten–I told myself I would do the dishes and not worry about being hungry or wanting to rush through them. Slowing down, I saw the colors that were in the sink, I saw the shapes of the pans and utensils. I felt the warmth of the water flowing from the faucet, the weight of a dish, the suds from the sponge. Even in this small moment I was able to think about the physical objects in my hands and nothing else. It was very calming. I forgot that I was hungry and just focused on how pleasant doing the dishes could be with focus.

Meditation on the Go!

Occasionally, we get the chance to travel away from home, escaping the sometimes monotonous rhythms of everyday life. But how do you meditate when you are away from your sacred space? I suppose you could listen to Shia Lebeouf and just ” DOOOO IT!”. But I decided to explore this question deeper and discovered a few solutions which I’ve listed below.

1. Create a portable altar.
Like your home altar, you can create an altar that has items you find empowering during your practice. The only difference is that these items are smaller and portable. If your altar contains pieces to represent the elements, maybe you have a smaller shell than usual for representing water, a feather for air, a small container of salt to represent earth, and a tiny tea candle for fire. Wrap all of these things in a decorative handkerchief which will be your altar cloth and….LOOK YOU’RE AMAZING!!! You have yourself a small, portable altar ready to set up on the go!

2. Go outside
There is nothing more natural than the outdoors, so if the weather persists, try and find a nice spot underneath a tree, or in a park where it’s green, shaded, and slightly breezy! No altar needed, you are already surrounded by all the good vibes of nature. 🙂

3. Music
If you are unable to go outside, I recommend finding a nice quiet spot indoors. However this can be challenging while travelling. If you are in an airport*, for example, and are unable to find quiet, grab your best pair of headphones and put on some nice meditation music! Some of my favorites–“Zen Garden” by The Sound Healing Center, “Across the Universe” by Terry Oldfield, and “Music for Healing (Sound Meditation Series)” by Steven Halpern–are all available for free streaming on Amazon Prime. Usually searching “Zen Garden” generally will pop up some nice choices anywhere you search. You can also find multiple hour-long videos on YouTube of nature or meditation sounds which you can listen and avoid the annoying commercial breaks you might find in a YouTube playlist.
*The Huffington Post has an article that shares which 5 airports in the U.S. have designated Yoga/Meditation rooms. How neat!

If you don’t have the ability to block out noise with music don’t give up! Allow this moment full of sounds to test yourself. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Unless you are driving, or walking, then definitely keep your eyes open. Allow yourself to listen to the sounds around you. Unavoidably, the sounds will invoke thoughts within you. For example, if you hear a phone go off in the distance you may think, “Is that my phone? Do I need to make any phone calls? How much battery life do I have left?”. Just allow yourself to let these thoughts go. Do not be upset that your mind wandered, just dismiss it and come back to focusing. Maybe you hear a sound and are anticipating that sound to happen again so you anticipate it coming. Perhaps certain sounds upset you, or even sooth you. Try to avoid thinking about how the sounds around you make you feel, and instead merely acknowledge that they exist. Do not let these sounds pull you out of center but if they do, simply dismiss that you were drawn away, and come back to your center.

So even when you are travelling, you can make meditation what you need it to be. If you can’t avoid something (like noise), instead of thinking it’s impossible to meditate, choose to integrate it into your meditation practice instead.

Day 2: It’s Personal

I didn’t understand the idea of Meditation being personal until my meditation today. I’ve thought of meditation as the act of focusing yourself. An act involving setting goals to meet, and  improving yourself just like going to the gym, or reading non-fiction books, or trying your best to not eat ALL the chocolate cake….so that there is still some left over for breakfast tomorrow. Today at work I mentioned to a coworker that I was starting to meditate everyday, and he replied that he tried to meditate a few times but it’s so personal. And when he struggled, it was difficult to find assistance with his private goals. I had his story stuck in my head for the rest of my workday because I just didn’t get it. Not until my meditation.

Today I listened to almost all of Deepak Chopra and Adam Plack’s “The Secret of Healing: Meditations For Transformation And Higher Consciousness” which was available to stream with Amazon Prime. During this 30-minute session I listened to many metaphorical concepts that resonated on a very personal level. It explained the transcendence to enlightenment, no longer fearing death, and understanding that being busy means nothing if you aren’t fully aware of the single, omnipotent consciousness around you.There was a lot more to it and the CD was beautiful to listen to. Very calming. I will definitely listen to this one many many more times so I can ponder these ideas more. I sat for a while just listening, focusing on my heartbeat while burning leaves of dried sage. Later I felt it would be best to lay down on my yoga mat and let a stick of incense burn so I could watch the smoke rise up to the ceiling in peaceful, swirling waves.

Pairing music with meditation is much easier than meditating with no sound at all. It gives something simple to focus on while clearing everything else from the mind. I will probably work with music in the background from now on because it gives me a sense of moving from the normal space at home to a spiritual, more….almost tribal space? It’s hard to explain.

The most personal bit of the MP3 was the explaining of healing. Healing means you are becoming whole again, or becoming Holy, which is becoming your whole self free from negative or limiting energies, beliefs, or conditioning. That right there is where it gets personal. You are making yourself holy when you meditate. You are healing your soul. You are healing your mind so that it may maintain your consciousness.

I didn’t realize how deep this was all going to get, but it pleases me to my core. 

The Sacred Space

Before initiating this daily meditation practice, I wanted to set up a sacred space. This space will only be used for my meditation and spiritual activities. Meditation does not have to be linked to any sort of religion but I’ve been wanting to set up an altar for myself in my new home since we moved in and found this opportunity perfect to finally do that. According to Madonna Gauding’s book “The Meditation Bible” having a “sacred space” for meditation marks a space where you will grow as an individual. A place where you will learn to focus, find peace, and explore a world outside of what you ordinarily see. You will always walk into this space knowing consciously and subconsciously that it is time for growth, empowerment, and answers to life’s questions.

So I created a thrifty altar! And you know what the best part is? There is no right or wrong way of creating that space and/or altar. So, I went into the guest bedroom/office/storage space….(we’re working on this room a bit)… and straightened it up a bit. It’s important that the space you are in is tidy so that you don’t feel distracted by anything out of place. Next, I literally took the empty box that our new vacuum came in, covered it with a thin blanket, and then topped it off with a pretty handkerchief. Then I took items that meant something special to me to help me achieve my meditation goals and placed them on top of this fancy-fied vacuum cleaner box. I chose items to represent the elements. I have a couple of shells to represent Water, a feather to represent Air, and an incense burner for burning incense. I also have a blue candle to represent Fire, with blue as the chosen color since it is said to aid meditation. And finally, I have a bowl to represent Earth which is filled with 2 inches of dirt, then an inch of salt, and topped with a variety of crystals which will come in handy later on in my practice. After transforming a box that I meant to recycle weeks ago into a fabulous little altar, I placed an exercise mat on the floor in front of it and voila! Sacred space created! Oh I also placed a small fan right next to the altar in case it ever gets warm. It’s good to be practical, am I right?

I’m sure my altar with alter (see what I did there?) as I change my goals for meditation, but this set up felt right for starting. Eventually I may write a quote a day that is meant to inspire me, and place it on the altar. I may also add some photos of important role models in my life to help me maintain focus on improving myself as an individual, or a business person, or a family member…it all depends on the goals for the day. Someone else may have a statue of Jesus, or Buddha, or Mother Mary, as I said before, there is no right or wrong way. There is only your way.

Time to begin!