How to Take Your Mindfulness Meditation Technique Further

Meditation is a beautiful and powerful thing. In the chaos of the world it lets us center ourselves, quiet our minds, and find a deep peace and sense of calm. As entrepreneurs, we’re always confronted by questions, decisions, projects, plans, tasks, and more. In this cacophony of responsibility, meditation can be a powerful sanctuary and a way to reconnect to what’s important.

It can open our minds, help us react better to circumstances, focus on the most important part of any situation, and prepare us for emotional ups and downs. Daniel Schwartz wrote an excellent guide to mindfulness meditation with a special focus on entrepreneurs. If you haven’t read it yet, now’s the time to start.

In this article we’ll be expanding on some of Daniel’s ideas and introducing a few other gentle meditative techniques to help you enhance your practice and your peace of mind.

A Quick Reminder on Mindfulness

Here’s a very quick precis of Daniel’s article — it’s the essential underpinning of any other meditation technique.

1. Find a comfortable, quiet place and close your eyes.
2. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply.
3. Let your mind relax.
4. Contemplate what is going on in your mind without judgment.
5. Think about things and let them go.

Read the full article for a good explanation of the technique and more insights.

The rest of these techniques are for you to use as you wish. None of them are "better" than any others. They’re all useful in the right circumstances. Pick and choose the ones you like, try them out, and see how they work for you.

Focused Sitting Meditation

This first meditation technique is a slight variation on mindfulness meditation and will help you increase your concentration and focus.

Practice as follows:

1. Find a comfortable, quiet place and close your eyes.
2. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply.
3. Let your mind relax.
4. Find something to focus on — this could be a mental image, a picture, a word you repeat (a mantra), your breath, or an object like a candle.
5. Gently focus your attention on that object, and that object alone as you continue to breathe in and out.
6. If your mind starts to wander, gently pull it back to whatever you’re focusing on.

Although this is one of the simplest forms of meditation, it’s also one of the most powerful. Regular practice will help you shut out distractions at work and let you be single-minded about getting things done.

Focused Walking Meditation

If you’re like me, you spend most of your time sitting at a screen in front of a desk. If you’re like me, you also know you need to get away from that desk and screen more than you do. Walking meditation is a great way to combine a simple meditative technique with the other thing we all need — exercise.

Practice as follows:

1. Find a good space outside.
2. Walk along at a slow to medium speed, focusing on each step.
3. Bring your breath into a rhythm with your steps, breathing in and out as you walk.
4. Focus on the feeling of walking — how it feels, your feet touching the ground, your muscles working.
5. As your attention wanders, simply bring it back to the act of walking and sensing your body.
6. Keep practicing, and as you meditate widen your awareness to other parts of your body — the swinging of your arms, the feel of the air against your skin.
7. Notice the tiny details, use them to center yourself in the here and now, in your body, appreciating how you move.

This meditative technique is great for helping us connect with ourselves and our physical presence in the world. It helps us focus on just one or two things and is a powerful way to build up concentration and discipline. With regular practice it can help you concentrate on tasks for long periods without becoming fatigued or bored.

Connected Walking Meditation

This style of meditation is similar to the last one, with one important difference — it’s about focusing outwards as well as focusing inwards. This one is a great way to feel connected with the world around you, to get moving, and to really appreciate your surroundings.

Continue reading %How to Take Your Mindfulness Meditation Technique Further%

by Paul Maplesden via SitePoint