Hi friends! I’m excited to talk about meditation today because it’s been something that’s ebbed and flowed for me since yoga teacher training. I have gone through periods of a pretty regular practice, but it wasn’t something I did daily. After a lot of change over the last few months and an increase in my anxiety, I knew it was time to commit to a daily practice.
Monthly Intention
My August intention was to meditate every single day — it didn’t matter how, when or how long I did it, but I committed to doing it daily. I started off by using the Calm mindfulness meditation app, which I’ve talked about before. The Calm Daily meditation are 10-minute guided meditations that have a daily focus. The theme is woven into the meditation, which ends with a quote and a nugget of wisdom that I really liked.
The first few days I was excited to start, but around day four it got a little challenging and I had a hard time relaxing and quieting my mind. I saw that Calm had a walking meditation and I did that a few times during that first week when I was really struggling to be still. During those first few days I was kind of like oh yeah, I guess I have to meditate… It didn’t feel habitual or even natural, but I made a promise to myself so I kept doing it.
Photo by Precious Peach Photos
Some days, I felt the need for quiet, and didn’t use the app. I sat in silence or laid down on my back with one hand on my abdomen and one hand on my heart and simply focused on my breath. I really enjoyed doing this when I wanted to take a break in the afternoon from working when I felt overwhelmed.
Overall, I ended up using the Calm app the most and I really, really love it. I’m a words person so I love that every day has a new intention. I found meditating in the afternoon or evening to work best for me. I find that I’m too sleepy in the morning to focus on meditating and not drifting back to sleep haha.
Benefits
Here are some of the benefits I felt:
- Less anxiety. Taking a few minutes to reconnect to your breath and body is great for getting you out of your head.
- Better sleep. I wrote here about some of the sleep meditations I like, and I found it really helped me unwind before bed.
- Stronger focus. When I took an afternoon break to meditate, I was able to return to my work feeling relaxed and having increased focus.
- Less reacting. The Calm meditations guide you to check in with your thoughts. During conversations, I found myself pausing more instead of having a snap reaction.
- Gratitude. I wasn’t expecting this as an added benefit since I already have a gratitude practice, but I noticed that I was more grateful for all that I have have because I was taking time to pause and reflect.
Photo by Precious Peach Photos
Will I Continue to Meditate?
Short answer…YES! I’m happy to say that we are five days into September and I have meditated everyday. You’ve likely heard it takes 21 days to form a habit and after setting this intention, I believe it. During the last week of the month I really started to crave meditating. I look forward to it each day (I promise, not just saying this). Just taking ten minutes to be still and breathe has had such a ripple effect of calm in my life. I don’t see this practice going away anytime soon 🙂
Do you meditate?
Have you tried using a meditation app?
-Morgan