How to Meditate Without Feeling Like You're Meditating

What if i told you that it is possible for you to find a deeper sense of peace,  joy, gratitude  and well-being all within the busyness of your everyday life? It really is possible when you bring the practice of mindfulness into your daily life. 

Mindfulness is the art and practice of paying deep attention to your inner and outer experience in each moment with sense of curiosity and compassion. Mindfulness is something you can practice as a formal sitting meditation or as a way of being that you can bring to any moment, activity or experience in your life.

Whether you practice on your meditation cushion or on-the -fly in your daily life, mindfulness can become like a superpower that will help you to experience more happiness, gratitude, joy & wonder as you become more present & wholehearted with good times and simple ordinary moments in your life and will help you to respond more effectively and with more resilience during difficulty and change.

Mindful March: Experimenting with Mindfulness in Your Life

Join us for Mindful March and get started with mindfulness. To start small try choosing one mundane thing in your life and commit to doing it mindfully for the whole month of March. You can take anything in your life and make it a mindfulness practice  ~ maybe each time you walk down the hallway,  answer the phone, get into and out of your car, drink  a cup of coffee/tea, opening a door. A wonderful way to introduce mindfulness into your daily life is to choose just one or two of these things and each time you do it, do it with complete presence, paying deep attention to your inner and outer experience. You can use the breath, sensation in your body and what you perceive with your five senses as shortcuts to presence.

It might be best to start with something like every time you open a door or walk to and from your car - this will take only an extra 5 maybe 10 seconds each time you do it.  You could eventually work your way up to a mindful walk or an entire mindful meal including prep and cooking. 

For example you could choose every time you open a door. Each time you're about to open a dor, at home or work or running errands use this as an opportunity to practice mindfulness - stop and breath, feel your breath, feel your body. Relax your shoulders and jaw. Feel your arm as it reaches for the door knob. Feel the door knob in your hand ~ is it cool or warm? Notice your thoughts or feelings ~ Maybe you'll find yourself worrying about cold and flu season and worrier whether you have hand sanitizer or maybe you're anxious about what may happen on the other side. That's ok just notice this with curiosity and no judgement and then let that go. Breath. Relax. Right now you are doing nothing else but opening the door and walking through.  Feel your self turning the knob, notice the air in the space that you are leaving - the temperature, the smell. notice sound. Slowly walk over the threshold- feel one foot lifting, moving forward, heel hits the floor, toes hit the floor. Feel yourself entering a new space. Breath, relax, feel your body.  Notice this new space you are entering. Notice the air, the smell, sound, what you see. Feel your back foot lifting off the floor.  Place your heel then your toes on the floor.  Notice if there is someone behind you. Hold the door for them. Look them in the eye. Smile. (But not for too long. You don't want to creep them out.) That's it. It's just a few seconds of slowing down and paying attention, but developing this habit can be a powerful way to begin to live your life more mindfully. I'd love to hear about your own experiments in mindfulness this month. Feel free to share your experience in the comments below.