Introduction to meditation.

Introduction to Meditation.

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Introduction to meditation by Narelle Hunter

“Meditation is the practice of moving towards an inner stillness. Some days this feels easier to achieve than others. Therefore, there are many ways to adapt our practice, depending on how we feel and what commitments we have on the day.

Meditation can be anything from sitting in stillness, focusing on the breath for a few moments to walking in nature, drawing our attention to the trees or other details we enjoy.

If practiced regularly, meditation has the potential to anchor us to an inner steadiness that can serve us well when during times of stress.

Learning a breath focused meditation can be particularly helpful. The body is watching the breath, therefore if we can maintain a smooth, calm inhalation and exhalation, even in the face of a hard day, the nervous system is more likely to be more balanced.

An overactive nervous system can lead to anxiety, worry, low energy and unclear thinking. When we feel grounded in a calmer state, sleep can improve and our challenges can seem more manageable.” Narelle Hunter

Today we will practice 3 types of meditation. You might find you prefer one over the other.

1/ BREATH AWARENESS

2/ MOVING MEDITATION

3/ AWARENESS MEDITATION.

Let’s begin by noticing the breath, just for a moment.

1/ BREATH AWARENESS – The first step to improving our breath during times of stress is noticing how we breath. It can be shallow and short or deep and relaxed.

During our practice of noticing the breath today, your mind may wonder and that is very normal, just draw your attention gently back to the breath with curiosity. This is a short practice only.

Let’s begin:

Sitting upright, relax your shoulders a little.

Your eyes can remain open or closed, whatever feels more comfortable.

Drawing your attention to the body.

- Feel the seat underneath you, your feet on the floor, the clothing on your skin.

- Take a breath and see if you can notice your inhalation and exhalation moving your body.

- Does the breath seem like it is high in your chest or expanding in your abdomen area?

relax

- Is the inhalation cooler than the exhalation?

dizzy curious

Let’s just take another few breaths.

pause

Well done. Let’s open our eyes and have a stretch.

DO YOU FEEL MORE PRESENT NOW, COMPARED TO WHEN THE CLASS BEGAN?

It’s not easy to go straight into meditation like this, therefore we only practiced for a few minutes.

Let’s do some movement now and see if our next meditation practice seems a bit easier.

2/MOVING MEDITATION – Always listen to your body and only do what feels comfortable.

You can choose to sit and stretch or stand up now.

I invite you to notice your feet and with the support of your chair, lift up onto your toes, circle your feet in one direction and the other, alternate from one foot to the next.

Shake both legs, march slowly on the spot if that feels comfortable.

Open and close your hands, gently shake the arms, lift the shoulders up and down.

Turn your head from side to side. Smile and relax the jaw area.

Now choose a stretch that feels good for your body right now.

Come back to sitting and let’s practice the ‘Ocean Waves’ breath.

Imagine you are holding a ball of light in front of you. Let’s expand that ball from a tennis ball size to a basketball. Expand the size of the imagined ball and then draw your hands closer together again. Keep expanding the size of the ball wider. You might like to inhale as your hands go out and exhale as they draw back. Let’s repeat this a few more times, slowing drawing the hands closer and closer until we are focusing on a small tennis ball size again.

Relax the arms at any stage.

Before we move into our third practice would you like to choose a word that represents your inner steadiness. Perhaps something like peace, calm, strength, wisdom, courage or light. You may not feel like these things represent how you feel right now but let’s simply choose a word to take into our next practice.

3/ AWARENESS MEDITATION

I invite you to notice something in nature. If you are indoors, try to find something in front of you such as a colour or image that you can focus on for a few minutes. Take a really good look at your chosen subject. Perhaps there is something about this, you haven’t noticed before. How is the light sitting on it? What colour is it? Try not to label but simply notice its detail.

Now I invite you to close your eyes and recall this detail. Can you remember its shape, colour, texture and detail? Open your eyes again if you like and notice the object with curiosity, close your eyes and try to recall its detail once again.

You can choose another object of focus on or remain with your eyes closed, whatever feels comfortable. Come out of the practice at any stage and choose a stretch or to open and close your hands for a few minutes, noticing the body and breath.

IN SUMMARY

We have noticed the breath, we have moved our body and noticed something in our environment in detail. We have been present and even just for brief moments at a time, we have taken a break from our concerns. I hope you have enjoyed these simple meditation practices. There are many meditation tools that offer a very simple technique in situations that can be frustrating and stressful. They can be reassuring to the body and to our mental and emotional states. It is well worth exploring what we ‘can do’ when so much of life can feel out of our control.

IF YOU WOULD ENJOY NARELLE'S AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS POST, PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO THREE RECORDINGS ON SOUNDCLOUD:

Introduction to meditation by Narelle Hunter

Moving Meditation AUDIO by Narelle

Awareness Meditation AUDIO by Narelle