Meditating in a Dark, Quiet Place
Meditating in a dark, quiet room with nothing to distract you is the easiest way to meditate. It's difficult enough to get your mind to be still and quiet without interruptions and distractions making it even worse. This is why beginners usually start off by learning this way. Ultimately, though, it has limited benefit. After all, it teaches you nothing about meditating when you're unfocused and distracted, so you can only benefit from the calm and balance of meditation for a short time each day, in that dark, quiet room. Medition tools, such as Mala Beads, can help you focus and clear your mind.Meditating Outside
Having a little time to feel calm and balanced every day has its benefits, but if you could meditate with noise and other distractions, you'll be able to benefit from that calm and balance even in difficult circumstances--that is, exactly the sorts of circumstances when you most need calm and balance. Meditating outside can therefore be an excellent place to start learning how to improve your meditative skills. A meditation cushion or tapestry is perfect to sit on while you meditate. On of our favorites is the Round Zafu Meditation Cushion.For many people, meditating outside leads to a more profound meditative experience. The pure, immediate experience of the natural world while in a meditative state is not just relaxing, it's also inspiring. Meditating outside can more easily lead to experiencing the world without over-analyzing it, without thinking about it, than is possible when meditating silently inside. The sounds of birds, the feel of the breeze on your skin, and the smells of the grass and trees fill your senses and stimulate your mind without demanding that you analyze the experience.
Meditating at Work
Work is noisy and full of distractions and interruptions. Yet if there was ever a place when you could really use some calm and balance, it's work. Whenever you can grab a few spare minutes at work, try to sit quietly and meditate. It will be difficult. But if you keep trying, you can learn to meditate even in the middle of a lot of noise, and this will allow you to manage your stress at work a lot better than you do now. A meditation CD or eye mask makes meditation at work more effective, even in bright and noisy environments.Walking Meditation
Meditating while walking is another excellent way of deepening your meditative experience and improving your skills. Walking gets your heart pumping and your blood flowing, and the combination of meditative calm and an energetic, alert body is an experience like no other. Just be careful to pay attention to other people and cars.Final Thoughts
After you have gotten past the earliest stages of meditation practice, try meditating in different places. Spend some time in silence inside. Go sit in your yard, or out in the woods, or by a babbling brook, when you meditate. I personally love to medidate outside by our Zen water fountain. You'll find you start getting a lot more out of your meditation, and getting a lot better at it.
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Remember to have fun, be good to yourself, and keep the balance. We want to make all your spaces happy places! Thanks so much for shopping with us at Uneedum!