Monthly Challenge.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while…
ok… for a month…
then you know that during my year of being 40 (which started a few weeks ago), I plan to challenge myself each month with a “30 days of…”.
I will make the announcement some days prior to the upcoming month so that if you are interested, you can join in the challenge.
The challenge for the month of October is:
30 Days of spending 10 minutes in meditation.
Meditation.
We all have heard about the benefits of meditation.
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- Reduces stress
- Improves concentration
- Slows aging
And these are just a few of the suggested benefits.
I know all of this and yet I have never incorporated a meditation practice into my life. That is not to say that I don’t have brushes with mindfulness, such as when I spend time in nature.
Meditation is an ancient practice. Some archaeologists date meditation back as far as 5,000 BCE.
The reading that I’ve done doesn’t consider Savasana to be on par with meditation. I’m not sure I fully understand why it isn’t since I am focused on my breathing and staying in the present during that time.
Exercise.
That being said, October is a good time for me to begin a seated meditation practice. I mentioned in this post that I had a 2017 goal of running a 5k. Being that I have never been a runner, I need to slowly train. This meant changing up my gym schedule. Based on the availability of group exercise classes, it turns out that the best schedule for me is going to Pilates on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and running on Tuesday, Thursday, and one of the weekend days.
You’ll notice that means that I had to give up my Bodyflow (similar to power yoga) class. I miss my centering moments of Savasana. Yes, I could still do a home practice of yoga. I may add that in as I move forward. However, given that my personal history is such that exercise was not a regular part of my life until 3 1/2 years ago (after I strayed to the edges of depression during the move to Virginia), I prefer to keep my daily workout commitments on the shorter side.
Goals.
I’ve picked 10 minutes a day as the goal because I’ve read numerous articles about how “just 10 minutes” can make a difference. There shouldn’t be any excuse for why 10 minutes can’t be carved out of a day for self-care.
I am hoping to begin each day with meditation, but that is the secondary goal. The primary goal is to find a 10-minute slice during my day to set everything aside and meditate.
My hubby is also interested in joining in this challenge. I’m looking forward to his assessment of the challenge since I already do spend some moments in solitude…and in the present…and being mindful. This will be a less frequented space for him.
I haven’t decided if I will use a mediation app or not. Have you ever tried any of the apps? What are your thoughts on them?
Sometime during the first week of October, I’ll be sharing the successes, failures, and learning experience from my September challenge.
I’m looking forward to the October challenge.
If you have a meditation practice, do you have a certain environment that you like to create? I still have a few days to get myself set up so that there doesn’t become the “I wasn’t prepared” excuse.
If you don’t have a meditation practice, are you intrigued by the notion of trying it out?
I’d love for you to join in with me.
Let your light shine!
Amy
I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper go at meditation. Finding time and escaping from the mayhem to do it would be the biggest challenges for me.
Finding time to escape the mayhem is one of my biggest concerns. I am lucky in that I have uninterrupted time while the teens are in school. I tend to fill that time and get lost in rabbit holes quite often. This will definitely take discipline on my part! 🙂
I’ve done this since my 20s, although during The Baby Daze, not as often. Since we moved here, I like to lie on my living room floor, facing the window, feet in the green chair, back on the carpet, eyes on the trees. I do that a while til I calm and then I close my eyes and begin. Sometimes I’ll do the chakra meditation, and for that, I like to sit in the entryway, which is also where I yoga (but not at the same time) — Must be good energy there 🙂 Chakra was my first meditation and it was guided, so it remains the easiest for me — I’ve taught it a few times too. I like the one where I travel visually, too, the whole “There’s a meadow and then a forest and then a tree and a hole under the tree, and then some stairs and a door…” Deeper and deeper. There are gobs of books and audio guides — The Mister likes Buddhify. You can really sorta buffet it and collect the ones you like.
I believe all of us are different and so must be our brains and levels of consciousness, so really, just try anything that piques your interest.
I like that you’ve found a good energy space to practice! I have not done much study on meditation. I’m aware of the chakras, but not specifically from a meditation standpoint. I think I’d definitely guided for a visualization travel, but that one sounds intriguing.
Interestingly, 15 minutes after I published this post, I received an email from a corporation that I occasionally hear from about a free meditation challenge for 3 weeks starting October 9th. And it’s being led by someone I just read about on another website that I read. I may spend the first week trying varying options and then join in that. I’ll probably mention this crazy moment of synchronicity on Friday’s Faves in case anyone is interested.
I’d say you’re definitely on the right path. It’ll be fun to explore methods 🙂
Cool post, Amy. Yesterday, while visiting Powell’s Books in downtown Portland, I picked up a book on meditation through photography. It looks super interesting, I will let you know about it when I have read through it! Have a splendid week! Marcus
Thanks Marcus! That book sounds very interesting. Definitely let me know what you think once you’ve read it! I hope your week is going well!. 🙂 -Amy
Will do Amy! Week so far was great, will be even better as 4 hours I’ll be flying home, at least for a week 😉
I’ve always wanted to try meditation, but just never got around to it. I found it interesting reading the comments between you and Joey. I feel like I know NOTHING. I like the sound of this challenge!! I’ll be reading with interest.
Just as a side note … you mentioned having to drop yoga to pick up running in your schedule. I hope you didn’t mean to imply you would drop the important stretching component of yoga. Do yourself a favour and make sure you add a lot of stretching into your routine as you start running. Your body will thank you.
I think Joey would be the go-to for info on meditation. I’ve read snippets, but know almost nothing. But that’s what this challenge is for!!
I will definitely not be giving up stretching. I’m happy to have learned so much during my yoga time that I can apply to stretching after I run. That’s also another reason that I wanted to keep a regular practice of Pilates as there is a focus on elongating the muscles, which is awesome after the days of shortening them while running. 🙂
Exactly 🙂
You know what you’re doing!
Meditation is on my list too and I just need to get it started. Great advice with 10 min a day. I downloaded the app “headspace” which has been recommended highly and will start of with that.
I have downloaded headspace too. I haven’t tried it yet. These first two days I’ve found a 10 minute guided meditation on YouTube and have really enjoyed them so far.
Oh good idea! I didn’t check YouTube yet but will def give it a go. Thanks