40 Day Meditation

I've struggled with mediation for a long time.  I would always find myself falling asleep in the process.  I recently decided the best way to strengthen my spiritual man would be trying my hand at mediation for 40 days. I am currently two weeks into it.  I would like to share some of my findings so far.

The purpose of mediation is much deeper than sitting still and breathing slowly.  Deepak Chopra says it best, “Prayer is when you speak to God, but mediation is when God speaks to you.” 

Day 1 of my 40 day mediation I went to YouTube to find some soothing music.  I found a 7 minute selection and figured it would be a good start.  During the first go round, I noticed my thoughts were running wild.  I found myself thinking about everything.  I would hone in on a thought and begin to have a conversation with it.  Then out of nowhere I would feel my body jump a little bit like, “You’re not mediating you’re thinking”.  So my first lesson in mediation was developing a habit of viewing or hearing the thoughts in your but not giving them any attention.  Spending time on a particular thought is thinking not mediating.  Don’t get angry of frustrated at yourself if you run away with your thoughts.  This is a hard practice to conquer, it will take time.  This is the art of mediation.

The second day I sat down to meditate for my 7 minute music selection and noticed when the music stopped it felt like I had only been sitting for a few minutes.  This was a huge surprise and a great sign. By the 3^rd and 4^th day I started extending my meditation sessions to 15 minutes.

Here’s what began to take place.  Initially when mediating you can feel yourself breathing fast and your eyelids are jumping.  Your body is well aware of everything going on in the initial stages.  Maybe your phone rings and jolts you or a text message comes through, you pretty much hear every single thought in your mind etc.  Once your body starts to settle in you feel yourself get heavier, your eye lids no longer jump, and your breathing gets deeper and begins to slow down drastically. 

I think I am still in the beginning stages of quieting my thoughts and learning to be still.  I am growing to love the solace in this practice and look forward to moving deeper into it. As I learn more I will continue to share.  Today I am up to 20 minute mediation sessions.  When I close my eyes I envision different scenarios like sunsets, still waters and nature.  I yearn for the times where everything around me falls quiet and heavy.  This is the space I try to get to daily.