Starting on a Strong Note

This year has started incredibly solid and rejuvenating for me. Maybe it’s because life’s events teach me to differentiate between the significant and the not-so-significant, maybe it’s because I did some healing work while I was back home in Germany, maybe it’s because I’m really thrilled by cooking and plant based eating (even more than before :) In any case, I feel a lot of grounding and connection, especially with my husband.

I graduated from my meditation teacher program in December and putting my newly acquainted knowledge and tools to good use. Yesterday, I started a meditation course for beginners on the island (that is, Roosevelt Island). First time, I go about leading meditations in a really structured, less free flow manner. With 15 people in front of me who have - in most cases - never meditated, it’s like teaching a science or a practicality in a step by step manner, void of too much philosophy and abstractness that the art of meditation is filled with.

Above all, showing others how to meditate on their own and without guidance (which should be the objective for everyone taking up meditation as a new habit) helps me a lot to straighten out my basics and to strengthen my foundation. After all, I developed some sort of a free flow meditation for myself and it does not always serve its purpose (more grounding, less up-in-the-air). Hence, I benefit a lot from researching, collecting, framing the knowledge I and other more knowledgeable have of meditation.

I myself am committed to increasing the amount of time that I spent on the cushion this year. More than the 20-30minutes I dedicate daily thus far. I reached a point in which I realise that I want my life to be more of the being, reality-affiliated quality that meditation brings, rather than the rushed, doing, and illusion (with worries, thoughts, distractions)-filled perspective that can easily take over.

Getting into the meditation is still the hardest part for me. It takes me a good amount of time and concentration to be able to focus on my breath or my heart (or whatever I choose the object to be), so I found that setting the stage in a more deliberate and committed manner grants me quicker access to the insights, calmness, concentration that I want to gain from meditation.

So whether you are a beginner or advanced, you might benefit from that structure as well:

Before meditation

Take your seat and relax your body and breath– breath consciously and deeply for a few cycles, sensing into your body as a whole

Gladden your mind with gratitude or other positive feelings

Have a strong intention in mind (“For the next x minutes, I will focus on my meditation. There is nothing else for me to do or think about during this time.”)

During meditation

Don’t beat yourself up when you get distracted. Simply note it and return to your point of focus. 

Find delight in the moments of concentration. Notice how it feels when your mind is calm, unified, and stable.

After meditation

Move out of the meditation gently. Move a bit, take some deep breaths and slowly open your eyes.

Take a few notes in your journal about your meditation experience and what came up for you – as always in meditation: no analysis or judgement re