The 'Habit' of Meditation
Last night we had Class 2 in our six week Exploring Meditation course .. and I am loving our new space at Brighton Yoga School with the beautiful golden bamboo floors, tinkling water and soft lighting .. so refreshing and naturally calming.
It is always exciting to hear how everyone found their first week .. how much meditation did they do? what was the biggest challenge?
Making a positive change to our behaviour, or instilling a new habit into our busy lives .. takes quite a lot of focus, effort and positive reinforcement (no matter how valuable or prized the benefit). While we might 'wish' to include meditation into our daily life, in real life we quickly find that while our intentions are good, the difficulty often lies in remembering to do the practice!
The best suggetion I have for 'remembering to meditate' is to find a trigger that reminds you of your intention to practice.
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."
Jim Rohn
On week 2 I hand out little meditation bracelets which I suggest are visual reminders to encourage you to STOP, take a BREATH, and turn your focus inward. The traditional mala meditation necklace (mala is a Sanskrit term meaning 'garland') is a string of 108 beads used in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions as a meditation aid (to record the number of mantra recited, and an anchor to combat the mind's tendency to wander).
The mala itself is not a holy artefact; rather it's power is that of a visual reminder to us that stillness is always found within .. a reminder to practice. When we turn around, reach out for something or pick up our keys .. we see the visual reminder .. and the gentle whisper of our intention to set aside a little time to be still and meditate.
In this way we keep our intention to meditation in our thoughts throughout the day.
I now look forward to hearing how everyone went with their new bracelets .. what will be your trigger to remember to meditate?
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