What is meditation and how do I do it?

What is meditation? Let’s start by defining meditation. It’s when you bring your awareness to one focal point at a time such as a thought, an emotion, a prayer, a mantra, complete silence, a task, a chant, or a focal point. It’s about not attaching to anything in that moment and allowing the intended outcome to flow.

Meditation is what you do to re-group, de-stress, calm the mind, find your center, unwind, just be still a minute, and yes, BREATHE. It’s a way to connect with your divine or disconnect if you choose.

How do you do it you ask? Many people have never practiced meditation consciously but many of us do something in our lives that is a form of meditation. Coloring, sewing, fishing on a quiet lake or walking in the woods while gazing through the trees above can be meditative. What is it about doing these things makes it a meditation do you ask?

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When you are in meditation, you are bringing your awareness to one thing so in essence, that task can become your meditation. The difference between a mindful meditation and just a task is in how you preform the task. Where is your intention and are your movements made with purpose? For example, if you are coloring, choose colors that fit the mood or emotion, color every stroke with intent. Your picture comes to life, and the art becomes your meditation.

Have you ever found yourself doing something like coloring, sewing, walking, playing a drum for hours but it felt like a minute? That was in essence meditation. Meditation in mindfulness.

Stephanie McCarte CMA, RYT200