This month, I will be using Tuesdays to share some meditation ideas and encouragement. If you are totally new to meditation, this is a great time to start. The beginning of spring is a wonderful inspiration for planting all sorts of “seeds” of exploration and setting a tone of focus for the rest of the year. But really, meditation is such a wonderful addition to living, it would be worth it anyway.

When I began meditating, it took a little while for me to get started. I wasn’t sure if I was “doing it right” or whether what I was doing was “real” meditation. What I learned was that all we have to do is show up and observe. The various methods and techniques that are taught are meant to help us find our way into self-exploration. In other words, the techniques should serve us, to help us experience who we are at our core, and to be able to sustain our effort in this exploration.

Everyone feels itchy, edgy, unsure if they really want to do this, and like the mind is running all over the place – in the beginning. As we continue to show up for practice, we find that our physical showing up sets up a space for the practice, and what happens inside this time will calm down with continued regular effort.

Make a commitment to find out who you are, to care for yourself, and to experience a deeper connection to the world around you this month. You can start with a specific time each day, and only 5 or 10 minutes of sitting each day. Doing it regularly is more important than how long you sit (in the beginning this is particularly true).

Take some time today to look around the web for some ideas on meditation and May as Meditation Month.

 

Here are a couple of resources to start with. Feel free to share some more if you like!

http://stress.about.com/b/2009/05/11/happy-meditation-month.htm

http://www.internationalorange.com/blog/5-minutes-a-day-may-national-meditation-month/

 

Yoga Pose of the Day: Simple Seated position for meditation (meditate at least 5 minutes)

Yogic Concept of the Day: All I need to do is sit and see what happens.