Meditation for Fidgets

Are you wanting to begin an meditation practice, but don't think it's "for you"?

Maybe you have days you are just so busy that you skip meditation, subsequently feeling guilty afterward. Or, perhaps you just cannot sit and meditate without planning your grocery list or wondering when Outlander will return. Is it a part of your self care and mindfulness practice that you just can't get on board with? Regardless of the reason you think you can't, there are other ways to bring yourself into awareness and focus on your goals and what you want to send out. Even if you've got the attention span of a drunk squirrel. Here are 3 steps to making sure you're keeping your shit together, regardless of seated meditation..

1. Pre Plan Your Mantras

Journals help for this or use your phone notes, whichever helps you remember. Each evening, plan out 3 Mantras (single words) that reflect your personal goals and help you stay focused on your daily intentions. This could be focusing on your coping skills, managing daily anxiety, being more self aware or any other set of focused intentions.

Example:

My Mantras for today are:

I am...

Powerful

Patient

Complete

It truly helps to choose a new set daily. I also keep a journal so I can return to previous sets and use them again. A good way to choose them is by reflecting at the end of the day and figuring out what you need tomorrow.

Another Example:

Were you anxious and insecure today?

Then good Mantras for that would be:

Grounded

Peaceful

Strong

Choose them confidently and don't be afraid to change them or try different things that work for you.

2. Wake up and move your Mantras

It may help to keep yours written down by your bedside, or your coffee maker.

Wake up. If you don't recall your mantras (like I often don't), take a peak at them and read them to yourself out loud before you do anything else.

As you go through your morning routine, repeat your three Mantras. Over and over and over again. As you make coffee or wash your face: grounded, peaceful, strong. Spending at least the first half hour of your morning practicing this will bring your intentions to the forefront of your mind. You may feel or look like a half spent palm reader, stumbling out of a tavern. Trust the process.

3. Returning to your Mantras and Reflection

This is where a journal will REALLY come in handy.

At random or planned times, throughout the day, go back to your Mantras. Spending at least a half hour bringing them back to light. It doesn't matter when. I tend to return to them when I do dishes or drive. If you follow me on Instagram, you will often see my mouth moving during a Yoga Flow or handstand. That is me speaking my own Mantra. Ideally, we would return to our intentions three times daily, at least.

At the end of each evening, before you write out your planned Mantras for the next morning, write out the set for today. Repeat them again out loud. Write out how you felt this morning and how you feel right now. Did any key situations or moments today come up? Did you handle them differently? The same? Reflect on how you felt. Use both the positive and negative results to create your intentions for the following day. They may be the exact same set. They may be totally different. This is your practice and your journey. There really is nothing more than guides. The ultimate work and results come from what works for each of us individually.

The Challenge....

I highly recommend devoting yourself to this for 7-14 days. Truly commit yourself to your version of this form of Active Meditation. Then, see how you feel from day one to the present. Perhaps it's a practice you will continue as part of your daily routine. Perhaps you'll supplement it with seated meditation. Or maybe you'll hate it.

You never know until you try.

***I have been a Certified Yoga Instructor, and Practioner of Meditation and Yoga, since 2004. Please move into these practices with safety and self love.

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