(Title image: Photo by Anuj Yadav on Unsplash)
Lately, I’ve been at odds with my attention. While I used to sit and meditate quietly, I am going through a period where I’m getting frustrated by stillness and crave movement while being mindful.
So because I don’t have patience to sit still today, I am going to toss this little meditation tool into my blog. Hope it helps!
This is what I do when I’m fighting distractions and feel like I’m losing. Instead of giving up on meditating, I give myself some slack.
First, the pause. I bring attention to myself, noticing what it feels like to be a body, whether sitting, standing or lying down. No matter where I am and what’s going on around me. What is the sensation of having a human skeleton with human muscles and organs and blood pumping through everything?
Next, I reach out and find my breath. There it is, in the center of my chest. What are the sensations that I feel when I inhale and exhale?
And I stay there with my breathing. For as long as I can.
Lately that hasn’t been very long. And before I know it, my attention has gotten stuck on some distraction and been pulled away. Maybe a sound, another sensation, even a wayward thought. No problem. I give the interloper an audience and then gently swing back to the breath.
(Photo by Jasmin Chew on Unsplash)
And again, I stay there until inevitably my attention gets tangled up in something else and swings away, towards the enticing distraction. And once again, I realize I’m elsewhere and note what that feels like, and then swing my attention back to what’s going on with my breath.
It helps to understand what it is about that distraction that made it so alluring, kind of like allowing myself to get a fill of it before moving away and sweeping back to the breath.
This is the way that it goes, like a dance. A waltz of sorts. I try to keep the movement smooth, without irritation or judgement. This is just how it is. Befriending my wandering, waltzing mind makes the entire meditation process calmer and more soothing.
It doesn’t matter if I’m sitting on a meditation cushion or mindfully walking home from the trolley station, this method works in all situations. Making peace with my propensity to follow distractions means that I’m free of one more distraction: that nagging feeling that “this isn’t working”.
Give this a try and see if it resonates with you. Then let me know!
Frantic Shanti 