Meditation & a better life.

So I’ve got the yoga nailed-ish but what about the every day sense of calm and well-being. That’s where meditation is supposed to come into play.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to meditate but my god it’s not as easy as it sounds. I’ve recently come back from a trip across India and stopped for a few days in a town called Bodh Gaya. Now this is where Buddha found spiritual enlightenment, could I find it? Could I hell. There were some amazing examples of meditation going on though. With people continuously performing the same movement for hours, even days at a time.

Now I’m not there yet. I’ve tried a few ways to get myself in the zone and thought I’d share my learnings so far.

Once back in the UK I found a local buddhist centre. I’m not knocking this approach but I found it far too distracting, lots of people to gawp at, quite a lot of chanting and I struggled to find peace let alone enlightenment.

The guided CD is another option, I’ve tried a few and most of them have been pretty poor. They tend to be too long. I have learnt that as a beginner I need a lot of guidance.

Finally, I was recommended and app, ‘HeadSpace‘. It’s actually amazing! It involves just 10 mins of guiding meditation each day, so there’s no excuse about finding time to do it. The guy has a really friendly tone and seems to know exactly the point that my mind starts planning my day’s work! the first 10 days are free and then you sign-up to a monthly subscription which costs about a fiver.

I definitely haven’t mastered the art of meditation yet but I’m getting there and this app is helping me find my way.