Take it easy – 5 ways to meditate when you are restless (Part 1)

Have you ever sat down to meditate and simply couldn’t make it work? I have… 
Have you ever felt like your monkey mind will neva-eva stop? That’s me… 
Have you ever said to yourself: “I have no idea how others do this”? Absolutely… 
Have you ever tried to force yourself into meditation? No doubt… and that actually defeats the purpose.

Let’s just take it easy and enjoy the journey. Meditation is not a to do, it’s fun, relaxing and cool. It’s like having a hot, flavored tea in your pajamas on Saturday morning. 

Now, who’s suddenly become eager to meditate?

I’ll share with you how I, the agitated and restless kind of human being, am having my tea. You only need to choose your favorite flavor from the ones below and try it out. Thank you, my teacher Christina, for teaching me how to meditate!

Do not forget and do not skip: always start by inhaling through the nose and exhaling out the mouth with a sigh. Breathe evenly, deeply, with your eyes closed and body relaxed (more on the actual position of your body here). Do this 3-10 times until you feel relaxed. Everything else will fall into place after that. It is very important to do this before you go into each the 5 following techniques. I have my eyes you :).

Let’s dive deeper.

1. Count your breaths
Nice and easy. Breathe just through your nostrils and count the breaths: 1 on the inhale, 2 on the exhale. When you get to 10, start all over again. So simple, though so effective.

This will help you:

• Draw your attention to your breath
• Calm the monkey-mind
• Relax your body

2. Scan your body from head to toe
Top to bottom. Visualize and feel each part of your body, your beautiful life vehicle, one of the most precious gifts of your life. FEEL the crown of the head, forehead, eye brows, eyes, cheeks, lips, jaw, ears, neck… to knee, shin, calf, ankle, heel, top of the foot, sole of the foot, toes of each leg. Sooo soothing…

This will help you:

• Tune into your body
• Connect to your sensations
• Assess where you feel tension
• Relax your body and finally…
• Relax you mind

3. Focus on a little movement on your body
Attention to sensation. I find it brilliant. Choose a spot on your body (your thigh, for example) and start drawing little circles with your index finger on it.

This will help you:

• Focus on the movement & the sensation
• Silence the monkey mind, giving your brain a break 
• Enter a veeery relaxed, homey, safe state

Try one, two or all of the above, until and see which one is the most effective. Coming up next, two more techniques worth trying out: “visceral ‘no’ vs. visceral ‘yes'” and “asking the Universe a question”. Find them here.