Meditate – Why should I?!
The truth is it opens the doorway from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind and then into the superconscious…what?! Basically, in a nutshell the practice of meditation gives you the tool to quieten your mind, to enable you to tap into the highest version of yourself, to universal consciousness, the source of infinite intelligence which is where all the answers lie. If you learn to meditate properly you will eventually find the answers within, and you will discover your own guidance system. The more present you are in life the healthier and happier you will be. Living too much in the past creates depression, living too much in the future creates anxiety, living in the present creates peace. Meditation is the practice of being present. It is a source of healing; mentally, physically and emotionally. So, the question I ask now is why should I not?
I spent most of my life fighting against meditation. I hated it more than anything. The thoughts of sitting with myself and my overactive mind instantly filled me with dread, and I suppose I was also afraid of what would surface once I started going within. So, it took rock bottom and the appearance of a Spirit Guide to convince me to give it a proper shot and I am so glad that happened. I have said many times it was a game changer for me.
Let me just clarify one thing before I continue, it was not an overnight success. I am habitually meditating for over a year now and yes it now comes easier but that took months of consistency to get here. I started off aiming for 5 minutes a day… I could only sit still with no distractions for 2 minutes, I kid you not! But I realised that was ok. This was where I was going wrong before, it was not ok then and so I gave up before I began. So, I did 2 minutes every day and then gradually that went up to 4 minutes and then 6 minutes and so on and now I do 20-30 minutes every day. The problem is that most people don’t sit with it long enough and just give up, but every minute of stillness has an effect on the overall picture. I call it a silent game changer, you think it’s not working, it’s having no effect even though you have been doing this for many months and then all of sudden you start seeing little examples here and there of how your outer world is changing because it is silently transforming who you are inside. You are reacting to things in a more positive way than before or in some cases not reacting at all, your perspective becomes more optimistic, so your reality becomes a better version. All because you made a bit of time each day for some self-care. That is what meditation is.
The Science Part
The first thing to understand is that it is not outside forces that create our reality, it is our inner world; our thoughts and belief systems. It is our brain wave frequencies that effects our state of mind. It is in these frequencies that the meditative state resides and where we have the power to reprogram our subconscious which is where all of our limiting beliefs are stored. To make it easier to understand I have listed a brief description of each brain wave type below:
- Beta brain waves is waking consciousness, this is how we function in our daily activities. It is the decision making, problem solving part. The downside – it is here where stress and anxiety originate. Most adults reside in the beta state for most of their day if not all which is why so many people are so stressed. Meditation is not possible in this state.
- Alpha brain waves are when things get calmer in your mind. Usually present in deep relaxation and light meditative state. This is the gateway to your subconscious, it’s where you can tap into your intuition more. So you see it does not take much to get to higher states of consciousness.
- Theta brain waves are when you are in a deep meditative state or a light sleep and this is where REM resides. It’s this state that you can really connect deeply on a spiritual level. This is where the subconscious is and where you can really go deep with changing those belief systems that don’t serve you. People in hypnosis are in this state. Children up to 7 years old are also in this brain wave state which is why many of us have limiting beliefs as adults because we are highly malleable in this state.
- Delta brain waves are the slowest frequencies, this is when you are in a deep sleep and this is also the frequency during transcendental meditation. I believe delta is where the superconscious is, where you can tap into universal consciousness, infinite intelligence, where you can receive information that you cannot receive on a conscious level.
Ok, that’s as far I go with the science bit but if you are interested to read more on this, I recommend you check out Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work as he is an expert in this field and his work is fascinating. https://drjoedispenza.com/
My Meditation Practice
I usually meditate first thing in the morning for 20-30 minutes to Theta wave music (I listen with earphones to get the maximum benefit of this music). This music obviously helps get my brain straight into the theta state. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CreU9g302yU I start off my meditation, by breathing deeply and holding for around 5 seconds and releasing gently, I do this until I feel deeply relaxed. I recommend concentrating on your breathing to quieten the mind. Mantras are also a great way to close off the chatter of the conscious mind so try both out at the beginning and see what works best.
Just before I go to sleep I put on Nicky Sutton’s guided 2-hour sleep meditation. Check it out herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp-pKvQhNgY The idea of this meditation is that it helps to reprogram the subconscious mind with positive affirmations while you sleep (remember delta brain waves!) The subconscious mind never sleeps so that’s why it’s most effective to have this type of meditation on while you are in delta/deep sleep as the conscious mind is asleep and can’t get in the way.
I have now also introduced a chakra balancing meditation by Deepak Chopra to my practice which I do once a week. It’s about 50 minutes long and it is a mixture of meditative music and guided meditation. It only feels like 10 minutes! A lovely method to keep the chakras all in good order which is vital to our mental, emotional and physical health. Light some candles, burn some incense and get yourself in the lotus position for this beautiful meditation. Download it here https://open.spotify.com/album/59JPOCg3EQylr7zBevTmSl?si=5BQ2gtH5TdiG_355xfkdeQ
Some other guided meditations that I highly recommend:
- Beginners guided meditation – I recommend the following guided meditation if you really struggle with meditating on your own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBI_4zGmTqc
- Cutting ties with past relationships/friendships– If you are struggling to move on from a relationship the following meditation is really good – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50_UTSNeAEc
- Inner child healing meditations – John Bradshaw’s ‘Home Coming’ Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Home-Coming-Audiobook/B004EVM1W6?source_code=M2M14DFT1BkSH082015011R&ds_rl=1235779 and The Holistic Psychologist, Inner Child guided meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIg9hBsU1v8
- Kundalini/mantra meditation – I recommend Jai Jagdeesh https://www.jaijagdeesh.com/ and Gabrielle Bernstein https://gabbybernstein.com/
- Local meditation groups – It is true that it is much easier to meditate in a group, the collective energy of a group will make the meditation more powerful so check out your local area for meditation groups. I was very lucky that my friend and mentor, Fiona Greenheart (IG @fionagreenheart) set up a guided meditation group shortly after I started regularly meditating and this really helped me on my way. For those that are living near Naas, Co.Kildare, she will be starting up her guided meditation group again this Autumn. Details will be confirmed shortly. And if you haven’t read my previous blog (Part 2), I did an interview with Fiona Greenheart, so check that out too.
I believe that meditation comes in all different forms. Going for a walk in nature is a form of mediation. Anything that puts you in the here and now is a form of meditation, so that could be painting, playing your favourite sport, listening to your favourite music basically doing what makes you truly happy and puts you in the present moment.
When I look back to this time last year, it amazes me to see the personal transformation I have been through. Meditation was a big part of that, and yes there were many other things that got me here from there, but meditation was the thing that grounded me and gave me the courage to venture down ‘The Rabbit hole’ further and to keep going. Aside from this my intuition is on full blast these days and even in uncertain times I have full faith that everything will work out for my highest good. The majority of the time I am calm and at peace with or without distractions (that in itself is a miracle for me). If someone had told me two years ago that I would be writing these words in a blog all about meditation I would have thought that person was insane. Funny that!
Meditation is life changing.
I hope you found this blog insightful and as always please reach out if you have any questions on any of these subjects that I am writing about or leave a comment below. In Part 4 I talk about how my desire for a ‘healthy’ romantic relationship led me to my inner child and discovering how the subconscious mind is really the one in the driving seat of our lives until we become aware of this, that is.
Much love
Yvonne
xx
Taken from the Wild Unknown Tarot Guide Book
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