Some people think that meditation is only reserved for certain moments during the day. While this may in some regards be true, that is if you consider meditation to be the act of formally sitting down on your favorite meditation cushion or bench wrapped around a cozy shawl in a certain room in your home decorated specifically for your meditation practice, then yes I agree. However it should be observed that meditation or the meditative state isn’t limited to these exterior things and/or formal settings by any stretch of the imagination.
Sitting down to meditate has its own set of benefits and can immensely boost your meditation practice, but it should be known that you can access the meditative state anywhere and anytime if you’re open to it. Whether its by focusing on the sensation of breathing in and out or by placing your attention on the the spot where your third eye is supposedly located. The meditative state, in order words, isn’t dependent on doing meditation in the traditional sense, but only about how you hone and direct your attention.
In this article, I’ve decided to share a couple of tips on how you can infuse your whole day with meditation, starting from the morning right up to bedtime. Lets go!
1. Mindfulness
First up is mindfulness meditation. Wherever you are, simply be there. If you’re doing something that entices your senses, be immersed in that fully. Don’t do anything else. When you eat breakfast or lunch, just be fully present. These small habits gradually add up and soon you find yourself being meditative wherever you are.
2. Sitting Meditation
Sitting meditation is powerful, that is for certain. Though I just wrote how the meditative state isn’t dependant on a formal practice like sitting meditation, nonetheless the sitting has its own power, especially if you dedicate a certain hour of the day, in some calm place in your home or outdoors, and sure as heck helps with accessing that serene meditative state. Right after you wake up and right before bedtime are two great moments during the day to do some sitting meditation.
3. Yoga
Yoga means to unite or unity, to bridge the gap between the personal and the universal, the unconscious and the conscious. By adapting some of the physical exercises of yoga you can induce the meditative state whenever you do yoga. By doing breathing exercises, like pranayama, you can also boost your health and wellbeing as well as remind yourself of the immediacy of experience.
4. Awareness of Breath
Most people are not aware that breathing exercises and breathing meditations are two different things. While breathing exercises is based on manipulating breath in order to boost physical health, well-being and vitality, breathing meditations, on the other hand, is more about being aware of the delicate and intricate workings of the breathing mechanism. Breathing meditations is about being fully aware of the breathing, how it goes in and out, up and down, round and round, without trying to change it in anyway whatsoever. Awareness of breath is a powerful way of calming the crazy monkey-mind as it brings you into a state of meditation effortlessly.
5. Try Floating
Floating in an isolation chamber compels you to become more conscious of your internal world. Also known as a sensory deprivation tank, these tanks are like oversized bathtubs that are specifically designed to let your body float in weightless delight in silent darkness. If you haven’t tried floating before, I suggest you find a center near you to try it out and if you really start liking it you can even buy one for your own home, that’s if you’ve got the space and money! Floating can in the end become a spiritual or meditative practice in itself.
6. Know Thyself
In my opinion, meditation, when completed, is the ultimate form of knowing yourself. The age-old maxim that was inscribed on the temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece is just as relevant today as any other time. Knowing yourself brings you, effortlessly, to the natural meditative state which life already is all about. Know yourself by tuning your attention to your body, mind and soul. See the inner workings of your vast consciousness, the mental habits, the physical inputs, the powerful emotional aspects. Know yourself.
7. Music
Music is yet another powerful way of infusing your day with meditation. Obviously not all music are suited for this specific meditative purpose, though in reality anything can be if you’re cool enough, I’ve found meditative music like binaural beats, or certain specific tunes like ‘Into Dust by Mazzy Star’, or specific artists like Karunesh to be a great way of making music work for you in your meditative quest for more meditative goodies, if that made sense.
8. Check Yourself
Ask yourself, which activities during the day bring me out of the meditative state and which of them brings me into it? Moreover think about the activities and commitments you have ahead of you today. What do you get out of each of them and how do they fit into the larger picture you have of the life you have set before yourself? What is meditation to you? Why is meditation important for you? Is it just to relax or is it something more spiritual, a deep longing for something that the materialistic world can’t seem to satisfy.
Conclusion
Meditation is a powerful way of knowing yourself, being present, enjoying life, developing character, creating meaningful relationships, achieving your potential, discovering your inner joy and much more. Hopefully these tips and insights will prove useful for you in your quest to infuse your life with meditation, one day at a time.
Daniel Seeker is a lifelong student of the past, present and future. He realized deep relaxations of the psyche when meditating in his hermit cave on the island of Gotland. His writings are mostly a reflection of that realization. Daniel has meditated & done yogic exercises daily for more than 10 years and is studying history and philosophy at Uppsala Universitet. He is currently finishing writing his B.A. thesis in history which explores how Buddhist, Yogic and Hindu texts were first properly translated and introduced to the western world in the late 18th and 19th century.