Meditation Basics: How to live a more beautiful life

There are so many different ways to meditate

Some are related to the breathe, others to the repetition of chant, sound and mantra, others to guided meditations to calm, uplift and manifest.

Every form of meditation all have the same basic requirements that enhance the flow of balancing energy throughout the body and therefore the benefits of your meditation practice

Here are the basics to check before you begin your meditation

Your posture

• Whether sitting on a chair or cross-legged, your back needs to be comfortable, supported, straight, upright, relaxed
• If on a chair, your feet are flat on the floor or supported on a cushion or folded rug
• Once comfortable, check your face is relaxed, your shoulders are relaxed, your arms and elbows resting comfortably on your thighs, your eyes gently closed

While there are other postures for meditating, the above are the most used (and practical) in our culture

Your Finger Mudras

Finger Mudras direct subtle energy to your chakras and throughout your body

Different Mudras send energy to different parts of the body for emotional, physical and mental well-being, balance and harmony

The everyday finger mudra for most meditators is Pranaykriya 1 mudra

The tip of your index finger touches the tip of  your thumb - this finger mudra sends subtle energy to your lower 2-3 chakras

Your Breath

Did you know your breath, heart-rate and thoughts are directly linked? 

Breath Awareness and Breathing-based meditations are powerful relaxors, calming the entire nervous system as well as slowing the thoughts and bringing the mind back to the present

Breath meditations also energise, uplift and shift the emotions very quickly from stress, anxiety (long and short term) and fatigue back to balance, harmony, peace and vitality - within minutes

In our 'Meditations Made Simple' Workshop we learn and practice at least 4 powerful and simple Breathing techniques for shifting your consciousness - here is one which is powerful, simple and brings you great benefits

Breathing Room.com is an expert App for simple, varied and effective breathing meditations

Your Eyes

While there are meditations where the eyes are fully or partially open, most of us gently and naturally close our eyes

For everyday meditators, closing our eyes helps us to -

• engage with greater awareness on our meditation
• deepens our presence to whatever we are practicing in our meditation 
• increases the benefits of each step of our meditation for us

The environment around you

Having silence to meditate is not necessary - some meditations invite you to expand into the sounds around you

• If your awareness is drawn repeatedly to noises outside, then gently and persistently return your awareness to the object you are focusing on - your breath, vizualising, chanting, whatever
• Gradually your thinking will slow down with your breathing, you'll experience more deeply what you are focusing on (you can't force this) and something else that's beautiful will start to happen naturally

Meditation is  not perfection, its practice AND a practice - the benefits are accumulative and related to your enjoyment, awareness and consistency

‘Thank you so much for the Meditation Workshop – it was a wonderful day, we loved it and learned a lot. ‘

I never thought something so easy could give such a profound sense of peace and calm.

It was truly amazing realising our own power of thought, mind and breath’

Maree & Brett, Te Mata

Meditation Resources

100 Benefits of Meditation

7 Minute Practice to Move into High States of Consciousness

Breathingroom.com

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