Meditation for peacefulness
Breathe in and notice your inhale. Breathe out and notice your exhale. Feel the support of the ground, the earth, underneath you. If it feels safe, close your eyes or lower your gaze. Bring your awareness inside your body. Experience what it feels like to be in your body.
The quality of our internal energy can be described by three characterstics (gunas): rajas (active), tamas (inert), and sattva (peaceful). You can consider rajas your predominant state when your mind is racing with competing thoughts or when your body movements are quick without time for intention. Tamas is predominant when you want to rest all day or your brain feels foggy and it’s hard to process complex thoughts. When rajas and tamas are balanced with each other, we come into sattva. When Sattva is predominant you may feel energized to do whatever is next, inspired by creative ideas or solutions, excited to gather with community, or simply a general sense of gratitude for life. We exist on a spectrum among these three characteristics. On some levels our body automatically maintains our internal balance in support of sattva and in other cases we have to consciously choose practices like yoga and meditation to create it. When you tune into your internal experience, you take the first step to connect with what you need in order to nurture sattva, peacefulness inside of you.
There is evidence that a consistent 40-day personal practice (sadhana) of meditation leads to healthy changes in the brain that reduce negative impacts of anxiety and mood. This is possible because a regular meditation practice strengthens areas in the brain that increase your ability to be with challenging situations. If you are interested in creating more balance and peacefulness in your life, I encourage you to try committing to a 40-day practice of meditation.
Here are some idea on how to get started.
Start small. Set aside 1-5 minutes a day to do the practice above or try one of my free meditations.
Aim to practice at the same time each day – this can be challenging for many of us, so give yourself grace and do your best.
Find a place to practice that is quiet-ish and has few distractions.
Sit in a comfortable seat, a cushion on the ground, or lay down on your back. A supportive physical position will support ease in focus.
Commit to the same practice for all 40 days. This will provide depth in your experience.
Take 1-2 minutes to write about your experience in a journal after each meditation. This helps strengthens your memory.
I hope you find these tips helpful on your meditation journey!
