When you start to meditate early on you’ll hear phrases like “empty your mind” and “don’t chase your thoughts“. Let’s be real – me being me, that just doesn’t work. I’ve tried, trust me I’ve tried. I’ve read books, listened to podcasts, tried breathing techniques and so on and so forth. It all ends up with Nope not happening, with a capital N for me.
So I started to really think about what the goal of a successful meditation session should be for me, personally. It ended up being that I want to use meditation to learn to filter out the toxic noise we all hear daily {either from other people or ourselves}. And that doing that can help me focus on what needs to be done and do it with as little stress as possible?
After understanding what I wanted as an end goal for meditation, I decided I needed a solution that fitted my lifestyle. Instead of trying to fit myself into this little meditation method bubble. And boom! I’ve come up with my solution to a crazily active mind that sometimes needs a few minutes of calm.
Music! That’s right – music. Okay I totally know you’re either laughing or shaking your head at me just go with me on this for a second.
At the end of my workouts I like to put on a single song {I normally have a few songs on my workout playlist that’ll work for this!} and just listen to it. Not listen and go through my grocery list or plan my next recipe. But just listen to it. Sometimes it’s a happy, peppy song I can bop around too. Sometimes it’s kind of mellow and I’ll just listen quietly. But the main focus/point is that for 3-5 minutes my mind is there. It’s focused on the melody and on the lyrics and I’m not hearing the daily noise. The toxic thoughts and anxiety over the latest what-have-yous aren’t there. And I always feel more centered and focused when the song is over.
The main difference is that I’m not forcing myself to “empty my mind” or to “sit quietly” – which oddly enough ends up creating more chaos for me because I’m worried I’m not doing it correctly! I’m letting myself do what feels natural for that moment within just listening to the song. I can sit up and listen, I can lay down in more of a savasana pose and listen. Heck if I really wanted to I could dance around the house and have an impromptu dance party. Whatever works in that moment, for my mood is what I do. I generally feel more relaxed after and more importantly, ready to tackle/focus on whatever tasks I have left to do! And I find I’m in a much better mood for the rest of the day!
The best part is that I’ve given myself time to do it! It’s at the end of my workout – so no planning for an extra, elusive ten minutes randomly in the day. Or having to wake up early or skipping something or stressing out over when to do it. It just slides in for however long the song is.
So the next time you’re struggling to meditate try this method. See if it gives you either a similar result to meditation or just helps you focus a bit more! Or maybe it just gives you an excuse to dance around the house!
Happy Relaxing!
xoxo
Liz-
P.S. – The screenshots are from the video game Horizon Zero Dawn and it was my personal Game of the Year for 2017! If you, you know, needed a new game to play 😉
