2. Practice a total of 60 minutes of meditation over the next few weeks. (See below for how to do this)
3. Post to the discussion (if you do not want your post to be public, please email me your post instead)
To Guide Your Practices:
Minimum time on meditation = 60 minutes but you can decide to break this up into any smaller segments. It is advised to try different:
- Times of day
- Lengths of meditation
- Types of meditations. See Module Meditation & Mindfulness for information and resources.
Please use this as a guide for the discussion:
- Length of Meditation (e.g. 5 minutes for 8x = 40 total minutes; 10 minutes for 3x = 30 minutes plus 10 minutes; 20 min meditations, or whatever you choose to build up to 60 minutes)
- When did you meditate? morning/evening? which is best?
- Resource: what meditation app or title or webpage did you use for meditation. (If you did meditation on your own without guidance, state that you did this without guidance but also state how you practiced meditation – did you use your breath, a focus, etc.)
- What observations did you make – was it difficult, easy? What parts were challenging and why? Would it make a difference to try a different type of meditation, time of day, length of time?
- Did you notice anything different after trying a few meditations on your own? Did you notice anything different or the same in your week?
You may use this discussion as a resource too for learning about other meditation ideas.
You choose what meditation to use. Be careful of just finding something on YouTube as it can be mixed what you receive. Sometimes I will listen to a meditation before actually doing the meditation. This way I now what to expect and know what the person is saying. Explore different voices/teachers too. Sometimes you might like music in the background, sometimes you may not for example. See the Meditation and Mindfulness Module for more resources.
Here are some apps for meditation if you choose to include that:
nsight Timer and it is free
Calm.com
Headspace
Gaia
Goodful
Ten Percent Happier
Criteria
- Be sure to experiment with different lengths and times of day for your meditations.
- Be interested about what works or doesn’t work. Know that it is a practice and may be something new, so bring your patience and curiosity.
This is an example of what I need: (do not copy): needs to be around this length. doesnt need a cover page.
- 2/20/2023 I did a 30 minute “Sleep Meditation” at 9:40pm. I was having a hard time falling asleep because my routine was off after a weekend trip to San Francisco. I LOVE sleep meditation, it always puts me to sleep and I believe helps me have a deeper better quality night sleep. There was nothing challenging about this, other than the fact that I have my phone next to my bed, which I don’t typically do since I have been focused on better sleep habits as a 2023 goal. I usually have my phone on the other side of the room on my desk so that I don’t look at it before bed, but when practicing a guided sleep meditation I had to have it next to me. The easiest part about sleep meditation is getting to lay down and get really cozy and comfortable in bed. I fell asleep before the 30 minutes were completed.
- 2/25/2023 I practiced 30 minutes of Yin Yoga at 7am on my Peloton app. I have been really enjoying more slow flow and grounded yoga practices lately, and recently started adding Yin to my routine. I love Yin Yoga because it focuses on holding postures for 2-6 minutes each, and you get a really nice deep stretch, while also receiving the meditative benefits of a moving meditation. It was challenging to hold some of the poses, so I utilized my props (blocks, blanket, bolster) to modify and get comfortable. After Yin Yoga I always feel more peace in my mind and more openness in my body. I think doing Yin in the morning is great, but I imagine it would also offer many benefits if I did it in the evening as well. It would be a nice way to relax my mind and body before bed.
- 3/1/2023 I did a 10 minute “Energizing Meditation” on my Peloton app at 6:20am. I did it after my workout, I was feeling a little more tired than usual so the energizing theme spoke to me. It was a great meditation that focused on breathing and envisioning bright light and energy within your center. I really enjoyed it. There was box breathing incorporated as well as repetition of a phrase which held my focus. I observed that it was difficult to just sit up with my meditation pillow, so I propped myself up with a bolster against the wall, so I could be more comfortable and still up right. It was not a difficult, other than finding a comfortable position. It was easy for me to stay focused on this meditation because I was really motivated to be energized and the instructor was very helpful in her tone and words. I don’t usually do morning meditation that is still and seated, and I really liked this one. I felt more energized afterwards and ready to take on the day.
- 3/2/2023 I did a 10 minute “Morning Meditation” on my Peloton app at 6:15am after my normal workout routine. This meditation focused more on repeating a number of phrases that focused on finding ease, safety, and happiness in my day. I already had the proper set up ready for my seated meditation, so that was not a challenge for this practice. I did however find that my mind was wandering a bit more. It was still a great meditation and a nice way to round out my morning self-care time.
For this assignment, the major difference I made in my usual meditation routine was to add in the morning meditations that I don’t usually incorporate into my day. I really enjoyed doing them and I look forward to doing them more often. I think they made my morning start off a little more centered and calm, instead of just going from working out to getting ready, taking time to be still and focus on finding peace in my mind was really a nice way to start the day and I did feel more energized and ready to focus.