My wonderful yoga teacher said this thing that really resonated. My wee class was in the middle of holding a long pose. The yin part of our session.
“Don’t worry about the 50 times your mind wanders. Celebrate the 50 times it comes back.” – Lindsey Benn
I know. I know. Such a simple thing, really.
But it really struck a chord with me, so I thought I’d share it with you.
Sometimes the simple things stick.
Because, in that weird way the universe works, most of my clients tell me they struggle with meditation. They can’t stop thinking.
And, as a result, they stop trying to meditate. Because they think they can’t do it.
I have the same challenge with over-thinking stuff in my life.
It’s taken me an awfully long time to realise that this is the whole point of a meditation practice; to work towards calming that monkey mind.
Not to mention the reason it is actually called a practice!
Which I may have mentioned in my post on why you should meditate.
Nobody starts out an expert at meditating.
And nobody ever becomes such an expert at meditation that they can stop practicing.
It is in the act of meditating that we experience the benefit.
We meditate to increase self awareness and to live more consciously. We meditate to become calmer and more grounded in the present.
I’ve been meditating with increasing frequency and consistency over the past couple of months. I started getting more serious about it after reading an article about overcoming toxic shame. http://lindagraham-mft.net/resources/published-articles/the-power-of-mindful-empathy-to-heal-toxic-shame/
I, too, struggle with what I call a “jumpy brain.” But I kept telling myself that it would be worth it to keep practicing. You wouldn’t expect yourself to be able to play lead guitar on stage if you just started lessons last week, right? And after 43 years of dealing with these terrible negative intrusive thoughts, if 5 or 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation every day helps even just a little, it will absolutely be worth it.
I just found this little nugget that addresses monkey brain very well, too: (and how awesome would it be to go to Thailand to learn how to meditate!) http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/does_mindfulness_make_you_compassionate
And in case you’re wondering, yes, it is helping. GABA helps a lot, too. But I’ll be practicing mindfulness for the rest of my life. It’s not the kind of thing you grow out of needing.
Thanks for your writing. I found your blog because I’m on the AIP for Hashimoto’s disease. When I started I never imagined that the diet woud become the “easy” part!
Hello lovely Maggie – thank you so much for your comment and for sharing those resources. I particularly loved the article on mindful empathy. As HS is my flavour of AI, shame is a big hurdle (I even wrote about the Shame of Hidradenitis Suppurativa a while back)
I smiled when I read your bit about never thinking that diet would be the easy part. We are in agreement! 100%! When you start down this AIP rabbit-hole, you have no idea what a voyage in self discovery it will turn into, do you?
I’d love a trip to Thailand to learn to meditate, but until that happens, I’m taking up a meditation facilitation course here in Sydney.
Great article Jo, as always.
m one of those who has a chatty mind & found this video really useful. It’s totally doable for me to give the monkey a job to be aware of my breath & work from there. https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPost/videos/10154053656801130/. Megan, I totally agree with you, food/diet is the easiest part, it’s the lifestyle factors that require a lot of effort. In fact I have decided to begin a strict 6 week AIP elimination phase & try & reset starting this Monday. Hope I can stick with it.
Gita!
I think focusing on the breath works for so many because it is always with us! Certainly, that has been the case for me as I navigate this internal world of meditation…
You can stick with it, Possum! I have faith in you.