It’s a funny thing. We want to meditate because we feel better about our experience of life when we do, but life can be so crammed and busy as to make meditation seem a luxury. I had this in mind creating the 5 easy peaces. What simple, practical, effective lessons can we learn in short sits, both to make the most out of our meditation time and to get meditation’s benefits more fully?
The 5 easy pieces of meditation advice and practice are intended as both basic mediations and as tools to enhance your meditative experience. We cover the essentials of posture and mindful awareness, and we explore how to use our bodies and minds to relax, look inward, and become fully present. Assuming that’s what you’re looking for—meditation is all kinds of things to all kinds of folks.
But here are five meditations to try. Use these peaces alone, as individual tools or exercises, or together as a program for a daily or weekly meditation practice. You might find one peace benefits another peace, and that they speak to each other in interesting ways. They are meant to give you useful and skillful meditation practice in an of themselves, but you might find they can improve other meditations you do, assuming that’s useful to you.
But what more do we need than slowing down, being more purposeful and aware in the experience of the present moment? The peaces offer that, and I hope they offer you some peace. I assume that’s useful to anyone.
The 5 easy pieces of meditation advice and practice are intended as both basic mediations and as tools to enhance your meditative experience. We cover the essentials of posture and mindful awareness, and we explore how to use our bodies and minds to relax, look inward, and become fully present. Assuming that’s what you’re looking for—meditation is all kinds of things to all kinds of folks.
But here are five meditations to try. Use these peaces alone, as individual tools or exercises, or together as a program for a daily or weekly meditation practice. You might find one peace benefits another peace, and that they speak to each other in interesting ways. They are meant to give you useful and skillful meditation practice in an of themselves, but you might find they can improve other meditations you do, assuming that’s useful to you.
But what more do we need than slowing down, being more purposeful and aware in the experience of the present moment? The peaces offer that, and I hope they offer you some peace. I assume that’s useful to anyone.
It starts with posture. Yes, you can meditate in any position. And it’s actually beneficial to practice in variety of postures and positions. But we always want to practice skillfully. So I think having a default mediation posture, one we use in and for any mediation, is a good place to start.
For one, it’s an act of basic mindfulness of the body, becoming aware of and present for the sensations of the body as we build and maintain a posture. And it signals to our mind, body, and being that we’re doing something different. Something purposeful and dignified.
So whatever meditation you do, do it from this posture and you’re bound to get more out of it. Or just practice the posture because it feels good.
For one, it’s an act of basic mindfulness of the body, becoming aware of and present for the sensations of the body as we build and maintain a posture. And it signals to our mind, body, and being that we’re doing something different. Something purposeful and dignified.
So whatever meditation you do, do it from this posture and you’re bound to get more out of it. Or just practice the posture because it feels good.
Our second peace gives us breathing and centering techniques to calm down and de-stress. Stress is no good for mediation, and it can be downright harmful to other parts of our lives. If we can quickly change the excited condition we find ourselves in, we can then relax our mind and practice being centered or present. This is a much more useful state for meditation, and a very useful state for the rest of our day.
Peace three teaches you to use your breath to sooth your body and mind from pain, stress, or any discomfort. It's also a great way to start a meditation of your own, imagining your body is hollow and filling it up with cool, clean air. Very relaxing!
Our fourth of The Five is our Stone Box exercise. You'll learn to create, in your mind, a stone box to put all your worries and cares of the world into while you meditate or while you work on some task. Not everyone can see images clearly in their mind, so don't worry--all you really have to do is sense or intuit that the box is there. Just know its there and give it the power to work for you!
Our final peace lets you practice awareness of breath and then encourages you to expand your awareness to include your surroundings--and everything else! Use this when you think some perspective would benefit your stressful or otherwise situation.