“Oh. I can’t do that.” “I’d like to be able to do that, but I don’t know how.” “I haven’t got time & I couldn’t sit still long enough for that.” “That’s just for new-age, woo-woo types!”
I think I’ve felt all of those at some point about meditation. But now I know differently – and I’m hooked!
The thing that switched it all for me:
We experience life and generate emotions, some of which feel amazing, some of which feel bad - & a plethora in between. Or is it the other way around: we feel amazing or bad, and then experience life that seems to fit – ie it’s life that falls in line with our emotions?
Whichever way you believe it is, most of us tend to end up following certain patterns of repeated thoughts, behaviour and emotion. Those patterns have been developing within us since birth, as we’ve moved through the many influences & experiences that life has offered. We’ve inadvertently conditioned ourselves to them. And those patterns can feel almost unshakeable. A really difficult position to be in if you don’t like or want the patterns you continue to experience.
That’s where meditation comes in.
Setting yourself up with a daily schedule for meditation gives you the opportunity and possibility for shaking off those patterns:
One of the goals of meditation is to keep bringing yourself back into the present moment by repeatedly bringing your focus onto your breathing, aiming for it to be longer, slower & “from the belly”.
As you sit there, as comfortably as possible with your eyes closed, every time you notice your mind wandering off (to past difficulties or future worries/tasks), gently bring your attention back to your breathing. No doubt, your mind will wander off again… and again… and again… and again… and each time just calmly & “sweetly” bring your attention back to your longer, slower breathing (no self-admonishing allowed!).
As fear arises, as discomfort arises, as frustration or other negative feelings arise, know that this is not unusual to feel (especially in the early days of practicing) and remind yourself that you are indeed safe where you’re sitting. Adjust if you really need to, but do your best to hold on in there, focused on breathing “long & slow”, until you get to the other side of that swell of sensation or emotion.
The Neuroscience of how & why
The neuroscience-backed theory is that each time you bring yourself back to your present moment breathing, you’re deconditioning yourself away from unwanted neural circuits in your brain that have been repeatedly reinforced over the years through repetitive thoughts (often subconscious), behaviours and emotions looping to recreate more thoughts, behaviours and emotion looping to create even more thoughts, behaviours and emotion… etc, etc, etc.
By meditating this way, you are breaking that loop & feeding safety back into your system. You are allowing the fight and flight response to turn down its volume and encouraging the rest and repair system to come back online. You're bringing your mind & body back into better balance.
Now that I understand this, that I’m not practising “wrongly”, and that I’m actually helping get rid of my unwanted habits of thought and negative emotion, I meditate every morning (sometimes with Spotify’s Sounds of Nature) straight after waking up. Experts advise between 15 and 60 plus minutes, once or twice a day, with best effect on waking or just before sleep. I suggest perhaps do what feels right for you but with this advice in mind.
Meditation has many proven health benefits & is one of the strategies we encourage clients to embrace into their daily rituals as they gain relief & recovery from chronic pain & other conditions. If you’d like to find out whether our live and interactive online programme, Freedom From Pain, could help you too, please do go to back into www.CatherinePollitt.co.uk.
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