HEALTH: Realising the benefits of meditation (Part 2)

Free your mind and the rest will follow


Yoga
Lee kennedy

Last week I discussed the benefits of meditation and described a technique for relaxing your mind and body and attaining a meditative state (see www.mayonews.ie/living). But how do you deal with those everyday thoughts and worries that pop into your mind unbidden, disrupting the peace and calm you crave?
A great technique is to visualise these thoughts and feelings as floating bubbles. Give each bubble a label like ‘work’, ‘home’ or ‘bills’ and allow them to merge into one big bubble with ‘my thoughts’ written on it. See it in your mind. By doing this, you’ll be able to comprehend that these preoccupations are a separate aspect of you – you are not your thoughts, and you are not your feelings. Isn’t that interesting…
Now allow your bubble and all the thoughts it contains to fade away, melt down into nothingness, disappear into emptiness. You are left with an empty, clear mind.
Feel yourself  just breathing in and out of this clear space; breathing in your own natural way, allowing your breath to come and go at your own pace.
Keep your mouth closed, breathing in and out of your nose. Feel the breath move through your nostrils and flow gently down your throat into your chest and maybe even deeper into your abdomen. Notice the rise and fall of your chest and your tummy as you breath in and out, the small subtle movements as your breath flows naturally making its way through your body, flowing so naturally and effortlessly.
Each breath you take in brings vital oxygen into your body, sustaining your life force; each breath you breathe out releases toxins from your system.
Simply observe the process. Watch your breath as if you were a detective, gathering information, watching the in and out movements, noticing the little gaps in between.
Keep your attention on your breath. If you become distracted by your thoughts, feelings, sounds or bodily functions, just acknowledge that you have been simply caught up by that feeling and take your attention firmly back to your own breath.
Stay here, with your body and its breathing, allowing yourself to just be.
Nothing to do. Empty mind with no thoughts.
Slowly become aware of all sounds around you again, the temperature of your skin, the taste in your mouth once again, become aware of your legs, torso, head.
Look into your mind now. Does it feel any different? Have the feelings changed in any way? Take a brief moment to notice whether you feel more connected to the life around you; a sense of being ‘part of’ rather than ‘separate to’.
When you are ready, take a deeper breath in, and as you breath out open up your eyes, stretch your arms and legs … and return back to your everyday life.