Meditation: Doing It Without Realizing It

13 Apr Meditation: Doing It Without Realizing It

For the post several weeks, I have been spending time, about 20 minutes a day, with Oprah and Deepak, following the latest in their series of guided meditation practices – and loving it. Meditation quiets the noise in my head, calms and clarifies. The list of goodies associated with a regular mediation practice goes on and on, among them: a regular practice can increase your attention span, pumps your immunity, helps you sleep better, makes you feels more connected to everyone and everything in your surroundings, and is anti-aging. Still not for you because, well, you are just too busy and too fidgety, so the idea of sitting quietly is daunting, also boring, right? Turns out that despite yourself, you may have been meditating all along, or so says Lindsay Holmes in a Huff Post blog “6 Times You’ve Probably Meditated Without Realizing It.”

And if after reading, you want to deepen your practice on and off the mat, consider attending the 8th annual Telluride Yoga Festival, July 9 – 12,  or spending a weekend with RE:treat, which offers yoga-inspired adventures in Telluride and other exotic locations.

It may have seemingly endless benefits, but for some people, meditation just isn’t their thing.

It’s too hard. You get too bored. You don’t think you’re doing it right. We know, we know — try as you might, you just can’t meditate. Or can you?

The truth is, you don’t have to be an expert to have meditative moments. The practice is what you make of it, as long as the end goal of relaxation comes into play. Below are a few times you’ve probably “accidentally” engaged in the calming activity just by going about your everyday routine. Congratulations, you’re a meditator!

The groggy first few moments after your alarm goes off.

Pretty much the last thing you feel like doing is leaping out of bed when your alarm starts a’ buzzin’. So you lie there, basking in a few more moments of laziness and calm before you begin your day. Maybe you get lost in a series of transient thoughts — which happens in a regular meditation session, so don’t sweat it — but the main point is, you’re taking a few moments of peace for yourself. Isn’t that the overall goal of mediation? (Hint: Yes, it is.)

Your draining subway commute.
How many times do you zone out on public transportation only to snap out of it right before your stop? You fixate on on the well-dressed business man in front of you or the group of friends chatting about their day.

Now, let’s talk about the practice of meditation: In essence, you let your mind solely focus on one idea (or mantra, if you prefer). You clear your head of anything distracting and just exist in the “here and now.” Sound slightly familiar?

They may not be exactly similar, but it’s certainly a start. The point is to be anchored in the moment — and what better way to “zen out” than in the morning when you don’t have the brainpower to do anything but?

A mid-work stroll…

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