And what I’ve learned along the way
For the past three or so years, I’ve become obsessed with practices that keep me in tune with my body and the earth. My interest in this sparked a love for journaling and meditation. The act of meditation specifically has aided me in many aspects of life, including healing my inner child, reducing stress and staying calm in overwhelming situations.
At the beginning of my meditation journey, a few years ago, I turned to quick 5-10 minute guided meditations in hopes of reducing stress. With my short attention span and wandering mind, I often got frustrated with how disconnected I felt from the practice and my body. I failed to recognize how crucial it was to keep practicing, regardless of how much I felt like I “wasn’t doing it right”. Pushing myself to keep meditating is actually what has allowed me to do longer, more challenging meditations now. Meditation is a practice, and therefore not something that anyone should strive for perfection with, but instead a journey that you learn from.
I often went through phases of practicing meditation in high school, where I’d go through weeks of doing it daily, to then neglecting it for months. I’ve found over the years that I often don’t “feel” like meditating, and the only times where I’m craving it is when I feel especially overwhelmed. When I have free time, it’s so much easier for me to scroll through Instagram or watch a new episode of The Bachelor. Despite this, every time I start a meditation practice, I’m extremely glad I did, and I never leave a meditation regretting it. Though as I explore more meditations and dive deeper into my journey, more often I find myself craving the relaxation it brings me.
Over the past year, I’ve reconnected with doing meditation multiple days a week, and exploring longer meditations with a variety of purposes. My current obsession is Iris Dailey’s 30-day meditation series. Although I’m only slightly over halfway through it, I’ve loved every meditation so far, and the variety of each session keeps the series exciting and easy to go back to. This series especially taught me the variety of uses of meditation and its application to all aspects of life. For instance, I’ve used plenty of the breathwork practices in my everyday life when feeling overwhelmed, allowing me to calm down and process my emotions. Contrary to the beginning of my journey, I now search for a variety of meditations, such as ones that allow you to feel your energy, manifest, reflect on your past and heal your inner child.
Although I still have a long way to go, meditation is a valuable part of my life that I feel as though I’ve grown tremendously through it. Moving forward, I hope to implement meditation into my daily routine, whether that’s a quick 5-minute breathwork exercise or a 30-minute self-love meditation, and I highly encourage everyone to try it.