Grief, Grace and Gratitude

It’s been a minute since I’ve hopped on here to type out my thoughts, though I haven’t held back on my Instagram stories lol. I recently started a Meditation training with Kino MacGregor and have been delving deep into the work. I’ve been practicing yoga fairly consistently since 2017 with a few breaks because… life. Nevertheless, I’ve always found my way back because of the tremendous benefits it brings to my mind, body and spirit. Aside from a consistent yoga practice, I’ve noticed that in this season of my life I have been craving stillness. Just sitting. Sitting with what is. Accepting what is. Acceptance is incredibly hard to do, especially after the death of a loved one. This led me to enroll in a short meditation teacher training course. I’ve always believed in the benefits of meditation, but I made excuses to not begin my sitting practice. Unlike yoga where you are moving your body into really cool shapes and flowing with your breath, a sitting practice requires effort in a different way. Effort to bring our awareness back to a single point of attention. This, in my opinion, is much harder than practicing yoga. It requires a deep level of body and mind awareness to be able to redirect your focus back to the breath.

Have you ever noticed a time where you’ve driven from point A to point B and wondered how you even got there because your mind was not focused on your actual driving? This is the opposite of mindfulness. Mindfulness is being able to bring our attention to the present moment. Anxiety lives in the future and depression lives in the past, therefore the present moment is the only time where we can truly feel at peace. A lot of our suffering comes from living outside of the present moment. I always assumed meditation meant we needed to try to stop all of our incoming thoughts. This is not true. Meditation teaches us how to redirect our focus back to the present. For example, you set your five minute timer and start to focus on your breath. Suddenly you’re thinking about what you’re going to cook for dinner. Thats totally fine. The goal is to become aware that your mind has drifted and say to yourself “had a thought, now back to the breath.” Being able to observe – without judgment- what is coming up whether it be an itch, a thought or an uncomfortable feeling and then quickly returning back to that single point of attention (your breath) you are strengthening your mind to become less reactive. This in turn carries out into how we respond to difficult situations in life. We can reach into our meditative toolbox and approach the situation with a more calm and clear mind.

If you’ve been on the fence about starting a meditation practice, I encourage you to start today. Start where you are without judgment. Set aside five minutes every day around the same time everyday. Preferably in the morning or in the evening before bed. Just five minutes a day is enough to lead a more peaceful life. With consistent practice we are able to develop a calmer and less reactive mind. When our mind is calm we feel more at peace. When we feel more at peace we live a happier life.

As always, thank you for being here. Namaste 🙏