Tea MeditationContinuing my series of blogs highlighting non-traditional meditations, let's look at a tea meditation.
Tea is a drink that has been enjoyed in various forms since as early as 3rd century AD in China, however most of us mindlessly make and drink it. We have lost the ritual and the sacredness of enjoying a perfect cup of tea from start to finish. I know that I am bad for making a cup and then walking away, relying on my family to jump when the timer goes off ... yes I set a timer when I brew a cup of tea lol ... or reheating a cup over and over because I have gotten distracted with another task and waked away from a cup completely. All is not lost though ... what if we brought back the ritual, the mindfulness, the sacredness of a beautiful cup of tea ... what if we tried a tea meditation, even if it is only with one cup a day? What if we slowed down and enjoyed the process from start to finish, from a meditative sense?
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Meditation is something that I come back to again and again ... I have not always been able to create a constant practice, but I know that it is always there when I need it. In an effort to inspire others to give it I try, and to set myself down the right path with meditating regularly again, I decided to look at some less traditional meditations over a series of blog posts. And by less traditional I basically mean anything other than the image most have of sitting cross legged, eyes closed, just being there, with a quiet mind for a Long time. I will let you in on a little secret ... it actually takes a LOT of practice to get to that point, realistically probably years of practice, so comparing your attempts to that is like expecting a grade 9 kid to write a forth year university level paper. So lets set aside what we have always assumed qualifies as meditation and open our minds to the possibilities ... Art meditationLast year my Mom and I came across a painting meditation workshop. 8 weeks, 8 sessions, 8 different layers, all coming together to create a beautiful, unique piece of art (see below). The process started me thinking ... Is painting meditative for me? Does it reduce stress? Can it benefit general wellness? Could it help others too? The answer is .... YES! ... and there is research to back it up too. In a systematic review of 37 studies, 81.1% reported a significant reduction of stress with creative art interventions. Studies showed lower stress levels; a reduction in anxiety, increase in bleed flow to the reward centre of the brain (the medial prefrontal cortex); lower cortisol levels with 45 minutes spent creating art; and enhanced brain function - impacting brain wave patterns, emotions, the nervous system and art can even raise serotonin levels (the hormone that helps to stabilize mood and bring feelings of wellbeing and happiness). There is something soothing about putting brush to canvas, creating nothing in particular, just choosing colours that you are drawn to in that moment and just going with it ... seeing what happens. No judgement. No critique. Just the simple act of creation, relaxation and pleasure. Now I know for some of you out there, the thought of just going with it and painting nothing and everything actually causes stress rather than reducing it ... maybe even makes you a little twitchy. But what if, just for a few minutes every week, you could set aside your expectations of what is a beautiful piece of art ... what is "good" or "bad"... what you are "supposed" to do ... and just simply focus on covering the canvas with colour? What could it hurt to try? Simple Meditation Painting
Want to add another layer to your painting? Grab a paint pen & try your hand at drawing a mandala on top ... once the paint is dry of course ... taking a deep breath and expanding out from a centre circle one shape at a time ... one ring at a time. How did you feel? The most important parts of this type of exercise ... how you feel when you are done ... be proud of what you have created ... Love what you have created ... and if you are comfortable, share what you have created with others ... if you share on social make sure to tag @bacmassagetherapy, I would LOVE to see what you all create! So what do you do now if you really hated the process of created art, it didn't relax you, or it made you feel a little twitchy to just go for it with no "right" way to do it? Try meditating looking at others art ... pull some up online, grab a book from the library or a book store, hit up an art gallery (when they are open again) ... taking a deep breath, observe the colours, the brush strokes, the minute details, and the painting as a whole. What does it make you feel when you look at the art? Does it trigger an emotion, a memory, or a gut reaction? Marvel at what was created ... you may just find your new favourite artist in the process. I challenge you now to head out, grab some supplies (if you don't already have some kicking around the house), take a deep breath and enjoy the benefits that can be had from creating and art meditation. *Note that the colours on some shown here didn't quite photograph well in the lighting I had.
Set up for Meditation SuccessBefore we delve into all of the wonderful ways to meditate, I think we need to hit pause for a minute ... step back ... and look at how to set yourself up for meditation success right from the start. Let's imagine, just for a second ... sitting down in the middle of Main St USA Disney World just after the evening fireworks have ended, the park is approaching close, and you are trying to meditate for the very first time ... no tools ... no recording ... no guidance ... just you sitting. Now if you have been in Disney World after the fireworks, you know that it is full of people, literally shoulder to shoulder people. It's loud, overcrowded, and not at all peaceful ... not at all the place to try meditation. So instead of setting yourself up for meditation not to work ... let's set you up so that it can
Troubleshooting your meditation challenges
Ok ... so you have put some thought into planning for success, and you have some ideas for troubleshooting common meditation challenges ... what's next?
Try different forms until you find one you love ... or until you come up with a collection of ideas that all work for you and give you options. In the coming weeks I will be sharing ideas for different ways to meditate, I hope you will follow along with me on a journey to embracing meditation. Same place, next year...Ever feel like the days and weeks just seem to fly by, but nothing really changes? You don’t really change? One day just seems to flip to the next, one month to the next, one year to the next, on repeat? Your life doesn’t really change, you are just a year older.
Will you be in the same place next year at this time? Or, will you have had the courage to ask yourself what do I really want to do, to be, to achieve … how do I really want my life to feel … what do I really want to be doing with my time, my energy, my life? Who do I really want to be spending my time with? What could I be doing that would fill my heart and relight a fire in me? Will you choose to make it a priority to create the life you want, rather than letting the days just pass you by? For me, there is a bit of an ebb and flow to this … sometimes I am really good and living with intention, being creative, choosing to spend my time in a way that fills me up and lights my inner fire … and sometimes I get so busy that I neglect all of it in. This usually leads to feeling drained, and tired; disengaged even. But, when I prioritize time each week … or better yet each day … doing activities that fills my heart and soul, seeking Joy, and spending time with amazing people ... all of a sudden, the days don’t seem to just fly by anymore, and I feel a lot more energized and a lot less drained. So the question becomes … How do you want your life to feel? What will fuel your soul? And are you going to intentionally choose where and how you spend your energy … or are you just going to exist, going from one day to the next, again and again and again. Ask yourself … What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you do just because it makes you happy? Or sparks a smile? What brings you Joy? What makes your heart feel full? What makes you feel alive? What refreshes you and renews your energy? How would you choose to spend your energy and time if money were no issue? Who do you want to spend your time with? Then, ask yourself ... How can you incorporate all of these, even if it’s in little micro moments, into each day? Each week? Each month? Each year? Can you incorporate these into all aspects of your life? What do you need to do so that you can live the life that you desire? How can you create a life that allows you to sit back next New Years, or the New Years after that, and say ... WOW, I did that!!! I DID THAT! I AM DOING THAT! I ... LIVE ... THAT ... LIFE! And I am inspiring others to do the same. It's all up to you. So, will you be in the same place next year? Or will you have the courage to make your life the best that it can possibly be? And be the person you never knew you were always meant to be? A powerful ritualI have spent a lot of time recently chatting with clients about their stress level & wellbeing. Pretty consistently we talk about how out of control stress is right now, and how they just don’t know what to do about it. Since the stressors aren’t going away anytime soon, it’s time to create a healing ritual of mindfulness, meditation and gratitude to allow you to feel calm and to interrupt the chronic stress cycle. Often, I hear that people don’t find breathing exercises helpful in moments of stress crisis (whenever the fight or flight part of your nervous system is triggered for whatever reason). But I think that all it takes is creating a ritual around your breathing exercise and consistent practice to condition your mind and body to relax and breathing to calm. Eventually your ritual will be successful at breaking the stress cycle in those critical moments of stress & crisis. Rituals allow you to quickly and more easily shift and engage in a specific mindset. Basically you are giving your brain the cues that tell it what is coming so it can say “oh, we like the serenity we feel after this, let’s get right to that”. Think about when you get on the massage table for your appointment, once you are settled you probably have a big sigh exhale and immediately start to let go and relax. Same exact thing. So if your goal is to calm and sooth your nervous system, having a ritual around your breathing exercise can help you more quickly achieve that serenity and calm. Creating Your Own Ritual Your ritual should have a couple of key components when your goal is reducing your stress response. Basically the more cues you can give your brain the better, but keep it simple enough that you don’t get bogged down in the process and end up more stressed or frustrated than when you started.
Some other things that can add power to your ritual ... crystals like amethyst (has a calming vibration that is wonderful in times of anxiety and stress) or rose quartz (has a strong vibration of unconditional love, joy, warmth and connection to the heart); a mala to mark of your breaths; a mantra, my favourite one recently is Shima (pronounced she-ma) which means Love; a dedicated space to practice; aura spray (I love these from Alypsis); a mediation cushion (comfort is key). What is the best time of day to practice? Well this depends entirely on you. If your quiet moment is when the kids are down for a nap, do it then. When your stress is waking you up during the night, try preforming your ritual just prior to bed. Alternately, you could try first thing in the morning for a positive and calm start to your day. The key is to pick a time that you can consistently commit to practicing your ritual. Rituals don’t have to take an incredible amount of time, but they do need to be practiced regularly in order for you to experience the quick and easy slip into your desired mindset. Real Life Inspiration One of my clients was struggling to calm her mind and get good restful sleep at night, so the ritual below is what we pulled together for her to try. She practiced this ritual every night, just before turning off the lights, and by her next massage appointment 4 weeks later was already experiencing improved sleep which in turn made the days easier to handle. It was still a work in progress for her, but she was beginning to feel less overwhelmed and stressed; and the plan was to continue with regularly incorporating her ritual into her bedtime routine.
I hope this inspires you and helps guide you in creating your own ritual to calm your stressed nervous system.
If you are needing some further help pulling your ritual together please let me know and we can chat. Remember that this is an extremely personal ritual and what works for me might actually stress you out. So do what works for you! |
Brien-anne RMT, CAI am passionate not only about Massage Therapy & Aromatherapy, but also living a holistic lifestyle and empowering & inspiring others to do the same! Categories
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