Happy Spring Equinox and Full Moon! Today is a great day for letting go of what doesn’t serve us. Sometimes we hold on to myths and misconceptions and believe that they are true. Let’s all let go of some of those things today!
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions around meditation, especially at the start of our meditation journey. Some of these myths often prevent us from getting started in the first place. If we can let go of these misconceptions, our meditation practice can really start to blossom.
I love making meditation accessible to all, and one of the best ways I know how to do that is to dispel those myths. Here are my top 5 meditation myths and then why they simply are not true. Gonna keep this simple. Also…trust me, I know these things. 😉
Meditation Myth #1: I can’t meditate.
Meditation Myth #2: I must be doing it wrong.
Meditation Myth #3: I tried it but it wasn’t working.
Meditation Myth #4: I don’t have time to meditate.
Meditation Myth #5: Mediation is supposed to make your mind be quiet.
Let’s dispel these myths!
You can meditate. Everyone can. I promise. You are not doing it wrong. You cannot be. There is no right or wrong to meditation. And if you tried it was working, even if you felt like it wasn’t.
All of these myths go together in my mind. We usually come to the practice of meditation with ideas of what mediation is supposed to look like. That usually is something along the lines of thinking that we are supposed to sit for a long time–20 minutes? An hour? Four hours?–and be quiet and maybe pay attention to our breath and then our mind is just naturally supposed to get quiet. And when that doesn’t happen, we think we can’t do it, we’re doing something wrong, it isn’t working, or we can’t possibly take that much time out of our day to do it.
The thing is, meditation, like many things in our lives, is not one-size-fits-all. We think meditation is supposed to look a certain way, but there are so many different ways to mediate. In fact, one of my favorite texts called the Vijnana Bhairava explains 112 different ways to meditate or naturally find the state of meditation. It is an amazing list of meditation techniques, but also pointing out instructions regarding moments in life that all of us have experienced before in which we naturally feel the state that we are trying to get to in mediation. For those of us feeling the time crunch myth, some of the techniques are really quick and meant to drop you into the state of meditation almost instantly.
It is very interesting and I would be happy to talk more about all of it, but my point is that in just one text there are 112 different ways to meditate basically. With all those options, we can find at least one–if not many!–that work for you. It’s not that you can’t meditate, or your doing it wrong or isn’t working or you don’t have the time, it’s just that you haven’t found your way of mediating yet.
In addition, if 112 different techniques seem like a lot to go through, please know that even if you close your eyes and take a few deep breaths you are starting your journey into the practice of meditation. It really can be that simple.
And as to that whole “making the mind be quiet” thing, well, if you ask me, I think that is almost impossible. It’s a great thing when it happens, but it does not need to be our goal, nor do I think it should be.
In fact, I don’t think making the mind be quiet is the goal at all. Rather, I believe, learning to calm the mind–which is different than quiet–is more the goal of meditation.
Our minds are meant to think. That’s what they are there for and they are really good at it. Our minds don’t have to be spinning out of control though and thinking about things we do not want. We can focus our minds and think calmly and clearly.
Meditation helps us do that, and in fact, some meditation techniques directly ask the mind to think about some specific thing and by doing so calm the mind.
Happy to discuss these ideas more if you all are interested.
I promise you, with a little exploration of what works for you, you can meditate!
If you are in Richmond and you are interested in these ideas, Dr. Jessica Norris and I have a workshop on Tuesday, March 26th at 6:00 pm at Balance Space where we’ll go over 3 simple meditation techniques that you can use in your daily life to help you de-stress. You’ll also get to hear two scientists–that’s us!–talk about the science of stress, mindfulness, meditation, and essential oils. Plus you can even experience some of Dr. Jess’s essential oil blends. Sign up here!
If you’re not in Richmond, you can take my Thinkific Workshop: De-Stress to Manifest Your Best Life which explores the last 3 limbs of yoga and gives you 3 meditation techniques that you can use to create the life you want to live.
As always, any questions or comments or if you want to share a little about your meditation practice, you can find me on all social media @yogawithgin or send me an email: gin@yogawithgin.com
Enjoy the full moon equinox!
Aloha & Namaste!
-Gin
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