Aug 12 2006
Meditation has changed my life
I have been meditating twice a day now for just over 3 years and it now plays a major part in my life, initialy I started to meditate just to help me manage the constant pain I am in, but as the years went by I realised that it has had a much broader effect. There is no doubt that pain management has improved significantly, but I am also much more tolerant, easy going, mindful, and generally happier. I also think it has helped me to focus more on enjoying everything that I do and to accept the parts of my life that are difficult/impossible to change and have the energy to change the rest.
For 2 years I used probably the most simple technique:
- I sit cross legged – in a quiet place
- close my eyes
- count my first 30 breaths
- from 30 onwards I just focus my attention on the air as it flows through my nose
- I do this for roughly 10 minutes, if my thoughts wander, I just bring them back to my breath and carry on
Recently I realised that I could also meditate very successfully in a constantly noisy place, which is really useful when I am waiting for a plane, or if the kids are off playing somewhere. My latest refinement is only a week old and it’s to meditate with background music.
I came across the perfect music while out walking at Bolton Abbey, Debbie and I went into the Priory Church and there was a beautiful background chanting music playing, as soon as I heard it I felt myself being drawn into the meditative state. Unfortunately there was no one there to buy a copy from so I dragged Debbie back the next day and managed to get a CD, wonderful! As luck would have it, when I got home I found a pair of noise isolating headphones – that I had bought off eBay a few weeks ago – had arrived from America and these are perfect for creating a completely quiet environment to listen in.
So that I don’t get in a rut I try and read a little about meditation each day and I have found Ezine articles to be the perfect way to do this, I have subscribed to the meditation category using RSS and so at least one new article appears in my reading list every day.
It’s true, we live in a stressful world, every day can be a challenge and sometimes we just can’t handle things anymore. Why? Because our “batteries” are low and we don’t have anything to recharge them whit. This is why i really love meditation, you have said it all in your blog. It really helps me to listen to meditation music, i think is more profound this way.