Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind and achieving a state of mental clarity and emotional calm through techniques like breath control, mindfulness, or visualisation.
Meditation is not something that was always familiar to me. In fact most of my life I had a skewed perception of the practice. Often picturing an exercise that would involve sitting on the floor buddha style with my thumb and middle finger pinched in a way that was going to create some sort of mysterious feeling of zen. For me, this is not what meditation looks like at all!
I was first formally introduced to the practice through Niall Breslin’s podcast “Where is my mind”. An episode that took me through a body scan guided meditation. At first I was apprehensive to participate and considered skipping to the next episode, but with nothing else to do and nothing to loose I figured I would at least listen. The meditation combined breathwork and mindfulness, bringing attention to each part of the body piece by piece. Although I didn’t find it to be some sort of awakening or major relaxation it opened my mind to the world of meditation.
From there I began to explore other guided meditations. I soon realised that meditation involves a lot of practice and focus to gain significant results. Now usually when I realise something is going to take a lot of practice, I generally fall off the wagon and move onto another interest. But with meditation it was different. I was enjoying the learning part. Even though the meditations were not having a “major” impact at the beginning and I was failing to reach that sense of deep relaxation, I was enjoying the process. Each day I would feel a little more calm from the exercise and so I kept working at it. I even bought a book!
A book called “The little book of meditation”. This book surprised me. It speaks about meditation practices that you can do on a daily basis that are not necessarily a guided meditation but things you can naturally incorporate into your daily routine. Things like taking a moment in the garden to breathe in synchronicity with the wind, or drawing focus to the rise and fall of your chest as you stand in line at the checkout. Some of these ideas were new to me, but some I had been doing long before. I began to realise I had been practicing meditation throughout my life long before I became familiar with the name label.
From slowly walking in the garden to the pace of my breath, to watching the hand of the clock tick second by second in the classroom as a child. There is an endless list of meditation practices I had been carrying out unknowns to myself. I just considered it my brain switching off but in fact it was the total opposite as it engaged my concentration in order to gain a sense of calm and control.
So now, today, I am a big advocate of meditation and the benefits it can have to your physical and mental wellbeing. I can’t say I practice every day because I am the most haphazard person you will ever meet. What I can say though is that I have found numerous ways to integrate it into my life and so I thought I would share some of them with you here.
Gardening with full intention
If you are anything like me and have a busy mind, my bet is that when you are doing one thing, your brain is off doing a million other things. From to do lists to ruminating or thinking of all the possible ways your day could go wrong. This little meditation puts you back in the drivers seat of your mind and allows you to reset to a place of calm.
Putting full focus on your activity at hand. Whether its planting seedlings or weeding the path you can implement this in countless ways.
Let’s take planting seedlings for this example; Notice what it feels like to hold the seedling in your hand. What temperature is the soil? Is the texture coarse or smooth? As you place each plant into the ground notice how the soil falls around it. Breathe deeply as you firm the seedling into its new home and exhale any stress you may feel at this time. Begin to imagine what this plant will grow to be. Picture the blooms it will hold in time to come. Acknowledge the effort you have given to help this plant succeed, just as you are now giving the same effort to yourself through this practice.
Breathing with the water
I am an absolute divil for shallow and rapid breathing. Never really allowing my lungs to fill with air and continually chest breathing rather than breathing deep into my belly. This little practice helps me to change my breathing pattern and in fact challenges me to prolong my breath cycle.
Next time you are watering the plants, switch out the hose for a watering can. As I begin to water the plants, I pause for a deep breath in before tipping the watering can and enjoying a slow and long exhale. When I have fully exhaled I level the watering can again while I enjoy a deep inhale. As I continue, I find my breath cycle becoming longer and longer. Putting focus on gaining a deep breath right into the bottom of my belly, it opens up my lungs and releases any tension I have been holding in my chest.
As I fill the can of water each time I also like to draw focus to the sound of the water hitting the metal. Noticing the bubbles on the surface of the water and simply bringing my attention to the task at hand each time it wonders. Because let’s face it, our minds will wonder. The discipline is in recognising it and refocusing it when it does.
Engaging the senses
As a gardener I spend a lot of time in nature. Surrounded by familiar spaces in the great outdoors I can frequently take it all for granted. This meditation helps me to pause and actually observe the beauty of the surroundings.
I like to do this on an evening walk. You may be familiar with this general practice of identifying three things you can hear, three things you can see, three things you can feel and three things you can smell. It is a practice typically used to ground you in the present moment but I would like to explain my application in a bit more detail.
We are going to take the garden as an example for this.
Next time you are walking in nature isolate one thing you can hear. If it is birdsong, see if you can put your focus on a singular melody. Focus on that. Breathe as you walk. As the sound fades to the distance move to one thing you can now feel. Maybe it is the wind on your face. Go deeper into focus by identifying where the wind is coming from. Is it directly ahead or is it blowing strands of hair across your brow as it sweeps from the left? Breathe as you go. Now as you have fully felt the breeze on your skin, switch to your sense of smell. Are you trailing through a pine forest perhaps? Can you smell flower blooms as you travel through your garden? Go deeper into focus by thinking about the fragrance. Is it light and sweet or is it warm and musky? Continuing to breathe as you move. Now draw attention to your visual surroundings. What do you see? Maybe it is a freshly cut lawn. Draw your focus deeper. What shade of green is the grass? Is it a carpet of lush blades of grass or is it a mixture or daisies and other textures throughout. Deepen your focus to what you see.
Now that you have engaged all four senses, start over. Continue this for the duration of your walk and watch as your body calms and focuses.
Now, for me the walk in the garden usually involves the sounds of a goat, a pig and a duck, and the fragrances may not always be glamorous living on a farm, but the effect is the same. Taking the time to draw complete focus to one thing at a time completely winds down my nervous system and allows me to completely relax. So, although some may observe me as taking the slowest walk in history as I stroll around, there is method to my madness as the real intention is in what I am observing and not where I am going.
