Exercise Two

If you are new to meditation, it can seem pretty scary, but it doesn’t have to be…

If you already have your own meditation practice, take a minute to meditate, or skip forward to Exercise 3

The truth of the matter is that we all meditate, every single one of us— just in different ways that we may not even recognize as meditation.

If thinking about meditation as spiritual is too heady, practice thinking of it as a means of intentionally down-cycling your brain. We are taking the engine of our mind that has been stuck, pedal to the metal in 6th gear, and intentionally bringing us back down to a comfortable idle, as much as we can.
There are many heavily studied reasons why this helps with our processing, but let’s focus less on logic right now, and more on the act of meditation.

Do you like to clear your mind laying out in a park with soft grass?
Are repetitive “mindless” tasks enjoyable to you?
Do you exercise, lift weights, go running, etc?
Is it helpful for you to occasionally close your eyes and focus purely on your breathing?
Do you really enjoy the quiet of solo fishing, dawn bike rides, or golf?

These are all lovely examples of organic meditation, that we access for brief periods in our daily lives. The practice of meditation is intentionally creating space in your life for moments like these, instead of waiting for them to passively occur.