Quite simply, meditation is any practice that enables you to turn your conscious focus inward to witness your thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and sensations. More importantly, meditation practices allow you to tap into unconscious resources that when accessed, help you feel more positive about your life and the world around you.
Regardless of which type of meditation technique speaks to you and your unique personality, meditation not only helps with one’s physical balance, but also benefits one’s emotional stability. It does this by helping to bring a person into a calm and relaxed stress-free state. Source dailyheal.com.
Here is one meditation technique you can practice to shift yourself to a more open and empowering state. This meditation will take about twenty minutes.
1. Choose a quiet place. Settle down comfortably in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for the duration of this meditation. You may choose to sit down on a chair or lie down on a flat surface.
2. Breathe naturally. Close your eyes and breathe naturally and slowly. Inhale with your nose and breathe out through your mouth. Don’t worry if the initial couple of breaths are short and quick. Your breaths will naturally deepen and slow down as you become more relaxed.
3. Relax completely with self-talk. As you breathe in, say silently to yourself “I am…”, and as you breathe out, followed by “relaxed”. Draw out the word “relaxed” during your entire exhaled breath so that it becomes “relaxxxxxxxxed”. Repeat the phrase “I am… relaxed” for every breathe that you take in and expel.
4. Managing distraction. You’ll inevitably find your mind drifting to other thoughts as you meditate, instead of focusing on your breathing and repeating the given phrase. Don’t worry, it’s common, especially for those who are new to meditation. Just bring your attention back to where it should be every time you catch yourself losing focus.
5. Practice for ten minutes. Continue focusing on your breathing and silently repeating the phrase for the next ten minutes. A timer with a non-jarring alarm can be used to help you keep track of time.
6. Now bring a business issue to mind. At the end of ten minutes, bring your attention to one business issue you’re trying to gain deeper insights on. Formulate it as a question, for instance, “How can I improve the sales of XYZ product?” Gently rest your attention on the selected question. Don’t grasp it too tightly in your mind. You know you are trying too hard when your muscles tense up and your breathing quickens.
7. Explore deeply and clearly. Examine the question from a beginner’s mind, as if this is the first time someone has asked you about it. How do you feel? How would you react? How would your responses change if you’re seeing the problem not as who you are, but from the perspectives of your stakeholders? Think clearly and deeply for another ten minutes, or more if you want.
8. Ending the session. Slowly open your eyes and rest in the present state for a minute or two before getting up. Write down any insights and thoughts you may have in a notebook or journal.
