I wholeheartedly believe a daily mediation practice is necessary for both personal development and spiritual growth. Meditation connects you to your higher-self, to others, and to the reason you incarnated in this lifetime. And good news! You do NOT need to sit in silence like a monk for hours on end to have a sufficient daily practice.
Below are my favourite 2 quick and easy meditations to recharge, get grounded, and to become focused.
5 Senses
This practice gets you grounded in your body and takes you out of the monkey mind of continual thoughts.
You will tune into each of your senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste) for a few moments each and then focus on all sense at once. You can do this at any point in the day; at your desk, standing in line, in a meeting room, on public transit, on a walk, sitting in your living room...ANYWHERE. All it takes is the intention of doing so.
*Important: Try not to attach any judgement and simply NOTICE each sense*
Step One: Bring your full awareness to what you *hear* in the present moment. Notice the dominating sounds. Notice the subtle sounds around you. Stay here for 15-30 seconds.
Step Two: Bring your full awareness to your sense of *touch*. Notice your feet and any sensations around them. If you are sitting down, notice the pressure of your body in the seat. Notice where your hands are and the sensation of what they are touching. Stay here for 15-30 seconds.
Step Three: Focus on your sense of *smell*. Notice the predominant scents first, then search for any underlying scents. Notice how these scents make you FEEL. Stay here until you intuitively know to move on.
Step Four: Even if your eyes are closed, notice what you can *see* with your eyes. Notice the colours and movement of light around you. Stay here until you intuitively know to move on.
Step Five: Notice the *taste*(s) in your mouth. What can you notice here? Move your tongue around and can you pickup the taste of what you last ate or drank?
Step Six: Notice ALL the senses at the same time and sink into all the feelings and sensations at once. Vibe with it, notice how your senses take a life of their own. Sit here for as long as you'd like.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
(In Sanskrit this is called Nadi Shodhana or Anuloma Viloma)
This practice brings your attention to the present moment and calms the mind.
In a few minutes you can get yourself grounded using this quick pranayama breathing technique. You can also choose to sit in silence for a few moments afterwards to see what emotions get illuminated to your conscious self after the mind is silenced.
Use your right hand for this exercise and leave your middle and pointer finger resting in the middle of your brow while you alternate your other fingers as described below.
Step One: Close your right nostril with your thumb. Exhale through your left nostril and then inhale again through the left.
Step Two: Close the left nostril with your pinky and index finger. Release your right nostril and exhale fully through the right.
Step Three: Keeping your left nostril closed, inhale through your right nostril.
Step Four: Close your right nostril, release your left nostril and exhale through the left to complete the round.
Perform 10-15 rounds or as many as feels good to you.
Below is a video I created showing various methods of pranayama breathing, including the alternate nostril breathing technique which starts at 0:39.
Calming the mind is important to ensure we connect with our higher-self. The higher-self is the part of us that knows why we are here in the third dimension and it gives us constant feedback as we move through this lifetime. If our mind is calm then we can pick up on these subtle messages and move through life with ease while we live out our true purpose.
I'm currently taking a program to become an Immersive Meditation Leader through Guided Meditation Framework. I know there are lots of resources out there for guided meditations, but mine will be primarily for my clients to support them in their spiritual journey. I've taken many meditation courses and paid for apps and programs such as Headspace and they all gave me nuggets of information and were very useful. However, I want to create something unique to what I see people around me needing during this time of mass spiritual awakening and I want to get you CONNECTED to yourself. I'm super excited about this and will release a meditation as soon as I can.
Reach out to me or comment on this post if you've tried either of these techniques as I'd love to know how they worked for you!
May you love and be the light.
~Mandi
P.S. Check out the rest of my website while you're here!
