For the past 10 days, I’ve been meditating for 10 minutes every morning. Meditation has been something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I tried it I honestly didn’t expect myself to get through 10 days of meditation, because the last time I tried meditation it only lasted a couple of days. I think meditation is one of those things where you hear about the benefits, know that you’ll probably benefit from it, but never really get around to because you leave it on the back burner.
Me and my friend always joke about the things that we love the concept of, but don’t really get around doing. We both love the idea of wine night, but we’re more likely to get together for coffee than for wine. We love the idea of running a joint blog, but we wouldn’t be able to meet on a regular basis to work together. I feel like meditation is one of those things. I love the idea of sitting on a rock next to a stream in some pretty yoga gear, meditating and emptying my mind of all the chaotic noise…. but it’s not going to happen!
If I see a nice stream I’m going to be wanting to take my shoes off and have fun wading in it, or maybe taking a photo of the stream and playing around with camera angles. Sitting down quietly next to a stream is probably the last thing that will cross my mind, and it will probably only cross my mind in hindsight a few months later.
Meditation was something hanging out at the bottom of my to-do list, and I knew the only way I was ever going to start meditating was to intentionally make time for it. This was tough, because life is always busy and I can never get enough sleep in the morning. Even when life isn’t as busy there are a million things I want to be doing, none of which include sitting down and wondering what my mind should be thinking while doing this meditation business.
#. The Meditation Process
So the first thing I decided was to get some guidance for meditation, and I decided to try the Headspace app that I had been hearing about. What I liked about the Headspace app was that it explained meditation in an easy way with cute animations. I decided to do the meditation first thing in the morning, and set my alarm to wake me up 10 minutes earlier. This was a real challenge for me, because the last thing I want to do when I hear my alarm in the morning is sit up and meditate. So starting on the second day, I didn’t even bother rolling out of bed to meditate. I just stayed in bed and turned the app on and let the voice talk me through meditation for 10 minutes. Maybe this is cheating, but if I had forced myself to get up and sit to meditate I probably wouldn’t have lasted the week. So I stayed in my cozy bed and let the app guide me through meditation.
I have to say, my mind wandered a lot. My mind wandered all the time. The person who made this app must know my mind very well, because the narrator kept reminding me to bring my attention back to the meditation. I must admit that on the 9th day I sort of fell asleep during the middle of it, and only realized this when the narrator gently reminded me to focus on meditation again.
#. The Benefits
Surprisingly, I found myself reaching for my iPad to turn on the meditation app when I woke up in the morning without feeling annoyed by it. The narrator has a rather soothing voice that’s nice to wake up to. I was reaching for it almost like a child reaches for a comfort object. Meditation has become a time of comfort and peace before having to start another day. Before I started meditating, I was always feeling stressed in the morning. Having to get up early, having to get out the door in time to catch the bus, facing another 2 hour commute, etc. So it’s just been really nice starting out the day, focusing on not worrying and just sending my mind into this safe place where all I have to do is notice what thoughts come to pass. It has really helped lower my stress levels in the morning, and I feel more relaxed while I’m getting ready to head out the door.
#. The Downside Of Headspace
I really liked the free 10 meditation sessions that is available on the app. The interface is clean and there aren’t any obnoxious ads, but if you want anything more than the 10 free sessions you have to subscribe to a subscription. It’s sort of annoying how everything seems to require a subscription these days. I love being subscribed to Audible because I continuously get new audiobooks for much cheaper than what audiobooks usually cost. I’m a bit miffed at having to subscribe to Adobe to use Photoshop, when I used to be able to purchase it once and not have to pay again and again. Especially when I’m still using the same features that were available to me in the older versions of Photoshop. I still have the Adobe Creative Suite CDs that I bought back in 2005, but I’m at lost as to how I would install those on my laptop since my laptop doesn’t have a CD drive. I initially enjoyed my Spotify subscription as it gave me access to a lot of music on the go, but I think I may cancel my Spotify subscription because my phone battery life is nonexistent. So maybe I’ll try the Headspace subscription, just to see if I actually enjoy the rest of the content it unlocks. If I do decide to try it out, I will let you know in a future update!
Your Turn ♥ Have you tried meditation or a meditation app before?
