Establishing A Daily Meditation

Written by Dr. Georgia Tetlow, Integrative Physician and Fatima Flynn MS Bring meditation into your day to day life.  Keep it simple! Here are some guidelines to help.

First select a suitable place for your regular meditation. Use a cushion or chair there for your use and add any books or images that may help you feel like the space is sacred. Select a time for practice that suits your schedule and temperament. If you are a morning person, experiment with sitting before breakfast. If you an evening person, try before bed. Meditation before bed allows the mind to began to relax and the body feel at ease in preparation for a good night's rest.

Second, try sitting ten to twenty minutes at a time. Later you can sit longer or more frequently. If using a chair or cushion try sitting upright without being rigid. Let your body be firmly planted on the earth. Your hands resting easily, your heart soft and eyes closed gently. Sense your body and soften any obvious tension. Let go of any habitual thoughts or plans. Now bring your attention to the sensations of your breathing. Let your breath be natural and notice how the soft sensations of breathing come and go without effort. After a few breaths, your attention will probably wander. Now matter how long or short of a time you have been away gently come back again to the breath. Gently return to feel the next breath. As your meditation develops, you can become more fully mindful of the places where your attention wanders.

Just like training a puppy, you will gently bring yourself back a thousand times. Over weeks and months of this practice, you will gradually calm and focus yourself using the breath. There will be many cycles in this process. Just stay with it! You will find awareness of the breath, helping to steady an quiet your whole body and mind.  You will be centered amidst your ever changing life.

To provide meditation tips and guidelines, discuss your options at your next PIM appointment with Dr. Georgia Tetlow, Integrative Physician or Lauren Houser, Nurse Practitioner. To schedule an appointment, call us at (888) 702-7974 x 2 or fill out our scheduling form https://goo.gl/forms/oH8uOUUqB1zh56p73.