SOUL ALIVE LIBRARY
Finding Solace in Stillness: How Meditation Can Ease the Burden of Grief
In light of the tragic events that happened this week in Sydney, I thought it would be appropriate to share my thoughts on how meditation has helped me process and deal with uncomfortable emotions, whether it be anger, grief or feelings of hopelessness, meditation can be a wonderful companion and vehicle to show you how to best navigate when confronting and dealing with difficult times.
First and foremost meditation can be used purely as a source of emotional relief. Where you’re not trying to understand, fix or heal anything. You’re just giving yourself a break from the uncomfortableness and distress you might be feeling. A simple body scan meditation can do wonders in shifting the mind out of worry and into a state of relaxation. In fact, I think it’s almost essential you practice this type of meditation first before using meditation to understand or process anything. The reason being is that if you go straight into a healing type of meditation when you are too emotional, it will be too uncomfortable for you to do. The mind and body have to feel safe first for it to confront anything.
Once you’ve given yourself some relief, you can then use meditation as a sanctuary for introspection and observation. Where you’re observing these difficult emotions. Looking at them for what they are and why they are present within you. This act of observing your emotions in itself is healing. As you are no longer consumed by the feeling but are the one looking at it. After observing these feelings through meditation you can then choose what you want to do with it. Is there a lesson to learn? Do you need to actually feel the pain a little longer? Or is it time to let it go? Either way meditation can provide a sacred container for processing our emotions, allowing whatever you’re feeling to unfold organically without the pressure to rush through or suppress it.
Lastly, meditation can nurture a profound sense of interconnectedness, reminding us that we are not alone in our suffering. As we cultivate compassion towards ourselves, we naturally extend this compassion to others who are also grappling with loss and sorrow. In the shared silence of meditation circles or virtual communities, individuals find solace in the collective embrace of kindred spirits, united by the common thread of human experience.
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How meditation can help with the cost-of-living crisis
It seems like every time we check our bank balance these days, it's doing the limbo—how low can it go? However, in the midst of this cost-of-living crisis we’ve found ourselves in, there is an unlikely beacon of hope shining brighter than a budget-friendly LED lightbulb: meditation.
Now, I know what you're thinking. How on earth is sitting cross-legged and chanting "om" going to fill my fridge or pay my rent? And true, meditation isn’t going to buy you your next meal. However, it could save you in other equally important areas.
First up, let's talk about FOMO buying—aka the Bermuda Triangle of budgeting. You hear that all your friends have bought VIP tickets to see Coldplay and have asked you whether you’re coming or not. This can, understandably, make you feel as if you’re missing out. So you buy a ticket knowing well and good that you really can’t afford it.
Meditation can surprisingly help when these situations arise. It does this by installing a greater level of self-confidence within you. By using meditation as a tool to develop your self-worth, you won’t feel like you have to rely on external inclusion or validation. As you have satisfied this need through your meditation practice.
The other big area where meditation can help us out in this cost-of-living crisis is dealing with our stress levels. In a world where everything feels like it's skyrocketing faster than Elon Musk's latest rocket, stress levels are at an all-time high. But by cultivating greater calmness within, we are able to not let ourselves get overwhelmed with stress that would usually cripple our ability to think clearly and act effectively. Instead, we are able to approach our challenges and difficulties with composure and confidence.
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How meditation helps you experience life to the fullest - Podcast episode with Leanne Ward
I loved this chat with Leanne Ward on her podcast! We cover so many areas around meditation. From the single biggest benefit you’ll experience from meditating to the common misconception of the wandering mind and ‘switching off’ the mind. How long should you meditate for? What are the different types of meditation? and much more!
Take a listen to the full episode below:
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How meditation helps when dealing with pain
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of the numerous benefits of meditation and how it can particularly help deal with difficult emotions like grief, anxiety, and depression.
What often gets confused is that meditation will not directly fix the problem which is causing these types of feelings. What it does do though is detach you from the reactions caused by these issues and put you into a calmer and more composed mental state to be able to then appraoch and deal with what is causing the pain.
To explain how this works in greater detail, I caught up with Men’s Health Magazine editor, Scott Henderson, on his new podcast, Sneakers.
Take a listen to the full episode below:
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New Recharge & Reset Meditation (10-min)
Need a midday recharge? Try this quick 10-minute guided meditation to reset the system
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Quietening the mind with meditation - a common misconception
The following recording is a snippet from the 6-Day course available on Soul Alive that we’ve decided to make freely available to everyone. In the course, we address the most common challenges faced when learning to meditate.
One of which is this concept around meditation quietening the mind. If you’ve struggled to be able to do this during meditation, then take a listen as I’m confident this will help.
To gain access to the full course, plus the ability to join any of our upcoming live guided meditation classes
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Some further suggestions to cope with the extended lockdown
It seems that COVID is here to stay and therefore lockdown is too for now. Well, at least until we can reach a reasonable vaccination rate which isn’t looking likely until the end of the year. I’m sure you’ve read a lot already on how to stay occupied during this time so I thought I’d suggest a few ideas that you mightn’t have considered yet.
1. Rest
Almost every other article I’ve read around how to make the most of your time in lockdown focused on things you could do to be more productive, like ‘i’m going to use this time to finally start learning a new language’ or ‘I’m finally going to clean out the spare bedroom closet’.
Sure using lockdown to tick off these to-do’s makes sense but how’s about we take a little time to just decompress and rest first?
I’ve made this a priority during this lockdown and I’m so happy I did! I now feel excited to jump into those to-dos rather than seeing them as chores. My energy levels have improved and the creative juices are flowing. All from just taking some time (without guilt!) to rest and recharge.
“Sure using this time to ticking off these to-do’s makes sense but how’s about we take a little time to just decompress and rest first? ”
2. Don’t watch too much news
Of course we need to stay updated with everything that is happening with COVID e.g. areas of infection, lockdown dates/changes etc, just don’t get too swept up in it all as it can start to get quite depressing. Unfortunately, mainstream news thrives on fear-based news. It’s what keeps us glued to the TV.
Remember, we are still the lucky ones. There have been over 200,000 reported deaths in India from COVID in just the last three months.
We still have so much to be grateful for here in Australia.
3. Get to know your family/partner & friends more
Maybe at first the thought of spending a few months confined within four walls with your family or housemates puts you on edge but let me throw you a curveball and at least entertain the following idea.
Why not see this as an opportunity to get to know or ‘re-know’ them? Maybe you’ve lived with your partner for so long that everything now is kinda just taken for granted. Try setting up an ‘at home date night’ and pretend it’s the very first time you’ve both met. Sharing stories and things about each other that you never knew before.
One of our friends organised a virtual trivia night. I got to find out things about my friends I never knew before. It was really interesting and a lot of laughs were had too!
I hope these tips shine a brighter or at least a different light on some ideas to do whilst in lockdown.
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How to break-out of a winter slump
It’s completely understandable if you’re feeling a little flat right now. Not only are we in the middle of winter which can bring about increased levels of depression and fatigue (also known as seasonal affective disorder) but, if like me, you may also be in lockdown right now too due to the new spread of COVID-19.
There’s no doubt it’s a pretty tough time right now for a lot of us, so I decided to have a quick catch up with the lovely Felicity Harley from Body and Soul to discuss what you can do if you’re feeling a bit down-and-out right now.
You can also read the full story here on Body & Soul.
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This will help with your meditation
I thought I’d write this because I’ve been having an increasing number of conversations with people about the self-talk that tends to happen BEFORE meditation.
Most of what I’ve spoken/written about to date has been on how to deal with the chatter whilst meditating, so I’m excited to address this other ‘conversation’ we often have with ourselves prior to meditating.
For context, here are a few lines that might sound familiar… “I really should meditate more”, “I’m going to make it to the next class!”, “I don’t feel like meditating now”, “I’ll make sure I do the next one”. Sound familiar?
Firstly, this type of inner dialogue is completely natural. Don’t beat yourself up for thinking this way and certainly don’t let it convince you to give it up.
We do this to ourselves all the time whether it be with work, exercise, or simply with things that need to be done around the house.
I’m not going to get into why we do this (it’s years and years of environmental conditioning). I just wanted to offer some tips that were real breakthroughs for me and my approach to meditation.
Save this article and revisit it whenever you hear the above conversation starting to take place in your head.
Meditation is simply a release
There’s a lot of promises out there on what meditation can do for you. What’s missing with all of them though is one essential element needed to deliver on these promises.
Letting go.
With any promise made, there comes an equal expectation. Let me be clear here, meditation does not fix problems, it is an exercise to put you into a better mindset to approach them or just give you a break from them.
Treat mediation as time to release and relax. Just like the act of kicking off your shoes after a long day or having a nice hot shower. Meditation is your time to let go and relax.
It’s something to simply look forward to and enjoy.
Have fun with your meditation
Once you’ve shown up and decided to let go, the mind might jump into a judgemental mode. “I can’t seem to settle”, “I feel so frazzled”, “I’ve got so many things to do” etc. Again, firstly this is completely natural. It’s an autoresponse when we finally take a moment to relax.
A really helpful tip when/if this happens, is to shift your mode of thinking to one of curiosity and wonder. As if you’re about to go on an inner exciting adventure.
A common misunderstanding with meditation is that it’s all about single-pointed focus and if this is broken you are doing it wrong. This isn’t the case at all. Open up all of your senses to experience whatever you’re focusing on during meditation.
Have fun with your meditation and you’ll be able to go deeper with it.
When you feel agitated in meditation try the following, it will help
Even with the above tips above, there will still be times throughout meditation where you’ll feel agitated or frustrated now and then. This could be due to suppressed emotions coming up, you’re trying too hard, or a recent stress experience lingering in the body/mind e.g. your boss yelled at you earlier in the day.
When/if you encounter this the worst thing you can do is try to push through it. This will just make you feel more agitated which could then lead you to resent meditation.
Instead, try the following
Take a big clearing breath in and out and shake out your body,. Literally, shake your hands out, bend your neck, and reset yourself. This will flush out the agitation and allow you to wipe the slate clean. Then calm your breathing and return to the meditation.
I hope these tips have answered some of your inner queries or settled some doubts you may have been experiencing about meditation. It truly is a beautiful exercise to appreciating life and it’s my job to remind you of that and help with any challenges you face with it.
Now, who’s excited for the next class?
Big love 💛
Luke
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Time to take relaxing more seriously
Just stop!
This could be my new mantra.
The deeper I travel into my relationship with meditation, the more obvious to me it is how much our society is on the brink of burnout and even when we are forced to slow down (like when a worldwide pandemic happens), we don’t know how to respond or even start to beat ourselves up for taking a moment to rest and recharge.
Human beings aren’t designed to expend energy continuously. Rather, we’re meant to pulse between spending and recovering energy. It’s the flow of all nature itself. So why do we think we’re an exception to the rule or even when we do, we feel so guilty?
We stress, hustle & bustle for around the first 60-70 years of our lives to then finally relax for a few years when we’re old & fragile. This just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Even working for the weekends means you’re missing out on 70% of your life.
If this isn't enough to start changing your perspective around relaxation, here are a couple more practical reasons
You’ll actually get more done. A study by the Draugiem Group, which used a computer application to track the work habits of employees found those that who took regular breaks were consistently more productive than their peers who put their heads down and kept working till the job was done. Specifically, researchers found, the ideal work rhythm was 52 minutes of work time followed by a 17-minute break.
You’ll solve more problems. Havard University ran a study that showed taking regular breaks to relax and recharge encourages creativity and helps you find more insightful answers to problems you are trying to solve.
You’ll live longer. Time magazine recently released an article looking at people that had attended a three-month stay at a meditation retreat and found that after they had on average about 30% more activity of the enzyme telomerase, which is directly related to aging.
We are going to be making a more conscious effort here at Soul Alive to remind and encourage you to take time for yourself to reset and recharge. By doing so, we can begin to experience and enjoy life more, along with achieving our goals sooner as well.
How to stay sane during this particularly sensitive silly season
Just as the shackles of COVID19 begin to loosen and we gingerly stumble back into normality like a polar bear awakening from hibernation, the Christmas frenzy is thrust upon us like a pack of wolves pulling us in every direction. We’ve gone from one extreme to the other in what seems like a heartbeat.
This sudden jolt can feel quite overwhelming, particularly after coming out of the suppression we’ve all been in this year. So here are a few tips to help you manage this particularly sensitive silly season:
It’s Ok to still say ‘No, thanks’
Just because you’ve been cooped up all year doesn’t mean you need to jump to saying Yes every time someone starts with “Do you want to…”. In fact, now’s the time to be particularly cautious with your responses. The reason being is that your emotional stimuli capacity needs to be warmed up first. You can’t expect to run a PB after not training for a month. If anything, you’re actually putting yourself at more risk of pulling a hamstring. You need to ease yourself back into the training rhythm first.
So don’t beat yourself up for saying no to your friends, cousin's Xmas party this year. It could be the difference between you needing another extended break or enjoying the festive season.
Don’t forget about rest
Even without the external temptations outlined in point one, we might still feel an obligation right now to push ourselves coming out of this period of isolation, and even though I think we should certainly be on high alert for great opportunities, remembering to still take regular breaks and time to recharge and rest will see you thrive through this time, rather than struggle.
This could be as simple as making time to go for an evening walk each day after work or ensuring you’re getting up to 8hrs of sleep each night.
Visualise and adjust your game plan
Visualisation exercises right now can go a long way to easing or even eliminating unnecessary upcoming stress. However, I’m not talking about imagining a place where everything is perfect but taking a moment to actually foresee over the next month what events, situations, and environments are most likely to make you feel quite stressed and overwhelmed.
Maybe it’s when you’re endlessly driving around the shopping mall carpark trying to find a car park or having to be social with your annoying Aunt Betty. Whatever the situation, visualise it and then write them down and begin to list alternatives or potential remedies. For example, instead of having to brave the shopping mall this year can you take an hour to do your shopping online? Is there a safe-word you can share with your brother in case the conversation with Aunty Betty begins to become unbearable?
Taking the time to put these little plans in place can go a long way to helping you stride through Xmas this year.
Remember to carry your ‘small moments survival kit’ with you
Even after implementing all of the above, chances are you’re still going to get swept up in some of the swirling crazy festive currents. When this happens, it’s always handy to reach into what I like to call your ‘small moments survival kit’. These are quick exercises you can do almost anywhere on the go to bring you a small amount of release or peace of mind. They include:
a) 3 Grateful present moment reminders. This is a wonderful exercise to try when what needs to be done seems overwhelming. Thinking and writing down just three things you’re grateful for in the here and now will simply pull the mind out of the overwhelming state and into a grateful state. Shifting your mental outlook so you can then approach what needs to be done with a better state of mind.
b) 2 Minutes of Curiosity in the Chaos. If you find yourself in a chaotic environment e.g. the food court at Westfield Xmas eve, where everything is quite intense, rather than letting the chaos overwhelm you. Embrace a curious outlook. Just take in everything that’s happening around you with this almost humorous curiosity. A fascination of the sounds and sights. By doing this, again, it removes you from the insular overwhelm to a state of almost wonder.
c) 1 Minute of Deep Breathing. We often underestimate the power that our own breath can have in dealing with stressful situations. There’s a reason we sigh when we experience moments of overwhelm, that our breath gets shallow when we are faced with stressful situations. Our breath is our basic physical survival system. So it makes sense to exercise it in moments of stress. An easy practice, which is commonly known as box breathing is to breathe in deeply for a count of eight, hold that breath for eight, release for another count of eight and finally, hold the out-breath for the last count of eight.
Repeating this a few times is a great exercise to release immediate stress or anxiousness in the body.
So there we have it, I hope these quick recommendations can help you navigate through this particularly sensitive silly season and come out the other end having enough energy to take on 2021, for who knows what next year will have in store for us.
Merry Christmas
Luke x
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Soul Alive's response to the surge in teen suicides
Writing, talking about and even just mentioning the word suicide feels uncomfortable. But after the recent surge in young people taking their own lives just in the Sydney area and a study coming out from Sydney University predicting an increase of up to 25% in suicides over the next five years in those aged between 15 - 24, this is no longer something we can brush aside because it feels uncomfortable to talk about.
I do not have any children of my own yet and I know there are more qualified people to comment and offer advice on what we should be doing to help support our youth more. However I/Soul Alive do believe we can still help in two main ways.
Greater Awareness. By simply shinning a light on this heartbreaking situation maybe a parent, teacher or a friend somewhere might take a moment to check in with that young person who they think might be doing it a bit tough right now and that small moment might mean all the difference.
Meditation. I honestly believe that introducing meditation in way that is interesting and enjoyable can really resonate with those in this age bracket. By removing the ‘Woo woo’ element that is often attached to meditation and treating it like taking yourself on a mini vacation where you’re simply giving the mind a break from all the ‘crap’ we all have to go through.
And that’s why we’ve giving anyone aged between 15-24 a free membership to our upcoming 5-Week Mindfulness Experience - 5-Alive. Where we’ll be delivering 5 live-guided meditation sessions each week for 5 weeks starting from next week (7th Sept).
If you’re in that age bracket and keen to give this meditation thing a go, then fill in your details below and we’ll be in touch to organise your membership.
If you’re a parent, grandparent, teacher, friend, brother, sister, anyone that would like give someone who’s in this age bracket a pass to the 5-week Experience, fill in their details below and we’ll zip them a msg letting them know the good news.
Much love always, Luke and Soul Alive 💛
To find out more about the 5-Week Mindfulness Experience in general CLICK HERE
How do I get my mind to quieten during meditation?
This is one of the most common challenges people face when it comes to meditation and the reason why is because most people think that the goal of meditation is to have a quiet mind. But it’s not. The goal of meditation is to simply connect with the present moment. The quietness of the mind just naturally happens when this is achieved.
Let me put it another way, thinking 'just let the mind settle’ whilst meditating is actually just adding another competing thought to the mix of thoughts that are already swirling around in your head. It’s like throwing another hot-chip into a flok of seagulls. Instead, let your gaze focus beyond the fluttering birds on the horizon and eventually because there’s nothing left for them to eat, one by one the seagulls will begin to fly away until all that’s left is just you and the sunset.
Master your inner world with 5-AILVE. The 5-Week Mindfulness Challenge
Tried meditation but couldn’t stick with it? Maybe you found it frustrating or felt like you weren’t doing it right? Don’t worry, you aren’t the first if you’ve experienced this. Good news though! 5-ALIVE is here.
Brought to you from the team at Soul Alive, 5-ALIVE is a 5-Week Mindfulness Challenge designed to make it as easy as possible to take-up and stick with meditation. in a nutshell, it’s 5 Live-guided meditation classes every week for 5 weeks.
Each week has a specific theme/topic, chosen to help overcome the usual hurdles one faces when starting out with meditation.
‘Most people want to meditate and experience the benefits from it. They just lack the guidance and support when starting out and this makes them feel like they don’t know what they’re doing or that they’re doing it wrong and so they give it up.’ Luke Mcleod the founder of Soul Alive and creator of 5-ALIVE said.
‘5-ALIVE was specifically created to fix this problem. Not only is there the personal challenge and commitment of aiming to do 5 meditations every week, but each meditation is delivered live by a teacher so you have that guidance at every step. Along with the support of the other people going through the program too.’
Each person has access to their personalised Challenge Dashboard where they can schedule their meditation classes each week, share their learnings and record their progress.
What the 5-ALIVE Dashboard looks like…
Luke says you don’t need any meditation experience to partake in the 5-week challenge, although does recommend taking the challenge seriously.
“We’ve designed it so the program is applicable to everyone at any stage of their life but what really matters is one’s approach heading into it. Meditation can often be seen as something ‘soft’. As something ‘I’ll get around to when I’m ready’. I’m really trying to change that and make it a priority in peoples lives.”
Every existing Soul Alive member will have access to complete the 5-Week Challenge and any new members have until Sunday the 17th May to sign up for it.
‘It’s going to be a life-changing couple of weeks. A real opportunity to master your inner world and set yourself up to squeeze the most out of life."‘
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Tips to help with anxiety through corona virus pandemic
I'm concerned that a major part of this pandemic is not being addressed enough and that is the state of people's mental health. Seeing first hand how people have responded over the last week or so tells me clearly that we need to be putting in place measures that look after our mental health right now just as much as our immune system health.
Here are a few simple suggestions that may help if you're feeling a bit more stressed or anxious than usual.
1. Try some Meditation. Surprise. Surprise. Of course I’m going to recommend this and if you haven't tried meditation before, now's the time. Why? Because it's something that you can do by yourself any time, anywhere. It’s proven to help with anxiety and make you feel calmer in stressful situations. Making it something we can all do and that will help right now.
2. Spend time in nature if you can. Sure we need to be mindful of where we go and what we do right now but completely locking yourself indoors can have mental repercussions, like increased levels of worry or anxiety. Isolation can often lead to incestuous thinking and paranoia (ever heard of cabin fever?). Think of a few places around your home that are very open, where you can immerse yourself in nature. National parks are a perfect example. Plenty of space and where all of lifes natural healing elements can be absorbed.
2. There's still so much to be grateful for. Practicing gratitude in times like this can really be helpful. It pulls the brain out of worry & anxiety and forces it to think of something that is good and present, right here, right now. Think about the fact that you have supportive, great friends around you, a loving family, maybe the fact that we now have the ability to be informed almost in real-time of how we deal with serious issues like the one we are facing right now. These are all blessings and reminding yourself of them right now will help.
4. Support your friends and family. It mightn't be able to spend time catch up with them face-to-face. But it's a perfect time to pick up the phone to call or send a msg to your loved ones and check-in to see how they are doing. A simple chat with someone close to you can do wonders to how your feeling and may also give them an opportunity to express how they're feeling. We're all in this together and the more patience and compassion we can show to each other, the better.
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Make sure 2020 is your best year yet!
We’re now full swing into 2020 and how is it going for you? Are you on track with your new year resolutions? It’s completely understandable if you’ve been distracted a bit. Here are some tips on how to get things back on track!
Assemble your Dream Team
Early in his career Benjamin Franklin formed a group called The Junto which was himself and 4 of his friends who all shared a desire to improve themselves, their community, and to help others. They would meet each Friday to discuss moral, business, and personal goals and how they could help each other achieve them.
He credits this simple weekly meet-up to be one of the most helpful exercises he ever initiated when it came to achieving his goals.
Think of 4 friends that might be interested in becoming a part of something similar (I call mine the dream team) and see if they’d like to catch-up up regularly? I am confident this one exercise will lead to some great breakthroughs and momentum in the year ahead.
Forgive those that have wronged you in 2019
Easier said than done. However, know this, the longer you hold onto any pain caused by another person, the harder it will be to achieve your goals and the less happy you will be. This includes forgiving yourself for anything you ‘stuffed up’ last year.
Literally say the following words to yourself. ‘I am deciding to forgive and let go of (name) for all they have done.’ You may need to repeat this a few times to let it sink in. But when you come to a point to really accept it, that weight gives way for new creative energy to enter your soul and fill you up with excitement and joy.
Try to cut back on the weekend binge
I know the weekends can be the time to blow off some steam. However, instead of reaching for that extra glass of wine, try something different that will leave you feeling better the next day.
Maybe plan with some friends to go for an early morning walk on Sunday. This way you’ve made a public commitment and are more likely to stick with it. These deliberate decisions can really set the tone on how you go about the rest of the year.
Face one of your fears
There’s no better way to break a funk you’re in then to face head-on one of your fears. By doing so this will give you some good emotional momentum heading into the rest of the year.
What’s one thing you can do in the next few weeks that scares you, yet you know by confronting it will make you a stronger person? Maybe it’s public speaking, asking that person out or sharing openly on social media about a cause that really means something to you. It could even be something like skydiving. It doesn’t really matter what it is, just simply write it down and then commit to doing it in the next week or so.
Start detoxing the mind and body now
Big habits are formed by taking small consistent steps. Commit to exercising three times every week. As for what you can do for your mind, I’ve got you covered. I’ve put together a Beginners Guide to Meditation for you.
I hope you’ve found these steps to be helpful, but most importantly, that you feel inspired and want to get out there now and start to put them into action.
Here’s your Beginners Guide to Meditation
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How to progress with Meditation (Hint. Do the opposite)
If you've been to one of my or a Soul Alive session, you would have noticed that each session follows a consistent flow...
a breathing exercise to calm the body and focus the mind > a body detachment process to shed our shell and allow our true essence to come alive > connection to the universal source i.e. the present moment
This is for two very important and deliberate reasons.
1. It is the most effective method I have come across to 'detach & connect' (Detach from our constant internal dialogue and connect to REAL life).
2. (and this is the big one) Progression with meditation actually comes by taking the opposite approach to how we advance in other areas of our lives. For example, in our fitness and career, progression is usually associated with 'advanced' levels (attaining a promotion, trying a harder workout routine). Whereas growth in meditation comes by actually letting go or stepping back a little more with a consistent process you enjoy.
Take for example a Buddhist monk who mediates every day. They do not try a new type of mediation every day or search for more ‘advanced’ types of meditation. Their daily practice stays solid and consistent as they know the magic lies in the depth & discipline of the practice.
Another way to look at it is like having your favourite meal a couple of times a week. You wouldn't change it for the world! It's something you look forward to every time. I like to see the Soul Alive meditation sessions as something similar 😊
What you will begin to notice though is that even though each session follows a consistent flow, your experience/feelings will vary from session to session. Sometimes post-session you might feel a blissful calmness. Other times energised & focused. Sometimes you mightn't feel much at all, right through to completely breaking down. All of which is completely natural and common. This is the beauty of simply opening yourself up to the moment. Even though you might have gone through the exact same process a couple of days ago, this particular session might have really hit you.
I promise you that the more willing you are to let go, almost to the point of forgetting why you’re meditating, the more your mind, body and spirit will begin to open up to let the magic of the moment guide your life.
Much love 💛
Luke
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5 simple steps to meditating when you think you can't
It seems meditation is becoming more and more accepted in the western world. Now we could look at why this is from two perspectives. Firstly, there’s the unfortunate rise in anxiety and stress levels. However, I prefer to look at the more positive reason, which is that we’re becoming more ‘open minded’ to trying alternative methods to deal with our emotional/mental battles, rather than reaching straight for the pills.
Although I find the second reason encouraging, I am still almost daily responding to questions and scepticism around meditation. So I thought I’d take some time to give you a few simple steps to help you give it a go, even when you think you can’t.
Step 1: Overcome the usual skepticism
One of the first things I do when I am teaching someone new to meditate is overcome a few of the usual stereotypical roadblocks they generally have coming into the practise. The most common one is that they think meditation is about getting to a point where you’re not thinking.
Firstly, you can not ‘not think’. The brain is a thinking machine and if you turn it off, you die. Just like if you were to turn off any other major organ of the body. Like the heart for example, you’re not going to be around for much longer.
Therefore, I like to suggest that meditation is a way of controlling your thinking. So the whole ‘I could never get my mind to be quiet’ roadblock isn’t really the objective at all. In fact, those that have a ‘busy’ mind often become some of the best meditators as the process of narrowing their thinking is quite satisfying.
Step 2: Get Comfy
Another preconceived idea when it comes to meditation is that you need to sit like a pretzel (more appropriately known as the lotus position). This was one I bought into when I first started too and would find myself struggling to stay focused because it felt like either my knees were about to snap off or my lower back was about to give way.
Now if you do yoga everyday and are quite flexible, then you might find this position comfortable (and this is actually why the position is so often associated with meditation, because the original teachers would practise yoga daily and this would be a great position to ‘lock’ there bodies into so their mind could concentrate).
However, if you’re like me and are about as flexible as an ironing board, I would recommend a sitting position where you simply feel comfortable. For me, this is just sitting in a chair with my feet flat on the ground, shoulders relaxed and hands resting in my lap. The only posture recommendation I do give is to active your core (pull your belly button in) and have a nice straight spine. This is so your telling your body that is still an exercise, not time to sleep which it will often think it’s time for if you don’t do this.
Step 3: Find what works for you
There’s a lot of different variations of meditation however they can all be rolled up into a single summary. Which is ‘concentration on a single thing in the present moment for a period of time.’
The ‘thing’ is where the variation comes in. This could be the cycle of your breath, a mantra, a sound or even a part of your body. In the guided meditation I teach I’ll let people find the strongest sense they can connect with. As we all process information differently, some of us are more prone to learn and process things visually rather than auditory. Experiencing different types of meditation to find that ‘thing’ that resonates with you the most I feel is a worthwhile step.
Step 4: Progress comes in the depth of the meditation, not in doing more advanced methods
Another roadblock I experienced on my meditation journey was that I thought for me to become more advanced in meditating I needed to try more advanced types of meditation. This at first makes complete sense as this is the usual case to develop any other skill. With meditation though, it is not in how many different types of meditation you can master that makes you a more experienced meditator, but in the depth of your practise.
Once you find a method that works for you, stick with it. I often have vastly different experiences from day to day doing the very same mediation process. Just when you feel like you got the hang of it and want to try another type. I would encourage you to do the same meditation again and try and go a little deeper with it. This realisation was huge for me in taking my meditation to the next level.
Step 5: Enjoy the ride
Now everything I’ve suggested above, forget about it. That’s right, let it all go. This was probably the biggest step for me. The expectation of what I was wanting it to do for me was the biggest block in it doing its magic.
It was the moment where I almost gave it up as I thought it wasn’t delivering on what I wanted it to do for me, was when I really kicked in. I thought I’d give it a go one more time with this type of ‘carefree’ approach and I took me to a place of peace I’ll never forget.
This was also a bigger lesson learnt in life in general. That once you let go of expectations, life opens up to become this blissful state of joy for the present moment. So my last recommended step to meditating, even if you think you can’t is to just simply enjoy the process. Relax and surrender to it and I can assure you that it will do more than any expectation you can think up of what you want it to do for you.
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How meditation can help improve your skin
I don’t need to tell you how much the quality of our skin is determined from what we eat and drink. But what isn’t spoken a lot about is how much our emotional state effects it too. I was actually a little surprised at how little I could find on studies done around meditation and the direct impact it can have on the quality of your skin.
One of the main reasons why I like to recommend mediation if you’re experiencing skin irritations is that it addresses the underlying symptoms that generally cause skin problems, so you’ll often see improvements in other areas of your health and wellbeing too. A win-win.
When I was a kid I use to have really bad eczema. Although now it isn’t a constant problem, what I certainly do notice is that whenever I get stressed it will raise its head again. We all know how meditation can reduce stress, which is why it’s my obvious, self-prescribed formula for optimal skin quality.
Stress = Skin irritations
Meditation = Less Stress
Therefore, Meditation = Good skin
Now that that complicated point has been proven, let’s shift our focus to what type of meditation you can try to improve your skin. I would recommend doing this at night as that is when most of our stress is bottled up.
Guided meditation to improve your skin
1. I’d first recommend trying to find somewhere that’s fairly quiet. If this isn’t an option, I would recommend putting on some headphones (noise cancelling if you’ve got them) and playing some nice chilled meditation music.
2. It’s doesn’t really matter whether you’re sitting or lying down; the important thing is that you’re comfortable. Now take a few nice deep breaths. As deep, long, and as full as possible. On the out breathe, really let your body relax a little further with each breathe out.
3. Then bring your focus to the small area around your left nostril. Really feel the air entering the nostril and follow it all the way down into your lungs. Once it fills up the space in your lungs, follow it as it begins to leave the body. Whenever you feel ready, shift your attention to the right nostril and repeat this process a few times. Finish with focusing on your breath entering and leaving the body through both nostrils. Notice your breath getting deeper and heavier.
4. Now really try to feel your toes. As if you’re putting your mind in them. They might start to feel a little tingly as if an energy is moving around and through them. Follow this energy as it begins to move around your feet and creep up your legs. Pay particular attention to how this energy makes the skin feel. Take your time with this and just focus on the different parts of your body as this energy moves around and through the body. You may like to imagine that this energy is like a bright light sweeping over the body, cleansing every part it brushes over and guides through.
5. Whenever you’re ready, start to slowly move parts of your body, starting with your head/neck and working your way down. Take a big breathe in and on the out breathe, gently open your eyes and take a few moments to give thanks for everything that you have.
You can take however long you like to go through the above process, although I think anywhere between 5-15 minutes is sufficient. Do this a couple of times a week and I’m confident you’ll start to see an improvement in your skin.