Sit. Just sit.

Both as a student and teacher of the healing arts, one of my favorite places to be is meditation. I could go into explaining all the reasons and details of why, but it comes down to one thing; it brings me closer to my heart and soul. Meditation is the path we take to awareness of Self, which leads to awareness of our dharma, which leads to living intentionally, making meaningful choices, and even taking risks for the sake of our following your heart.

Dharma is sometimes defined as “your soul’s purpose”. If I may add on, your soul is the essence of who you are and there is where your purpose lives. Your dharma is all the things you do in search of your essence, in finding it, and in responding to it with actions. Your dharma is your full expression of your essence, which is you living in your purpose at this moment on this Earth.

So, meditating is one of the tools we use to get closer to Self. In many ways, all of the other things we do, are tools that sharpen our ability to sit and meditate. Following this path can be one of the most healing journeys you will take and I share it often, especially in groups whose members are moving through great traumas and healing.

Many people have said to me over the years, “I can’t meditate.” Some of them state this immediately after I just watched them sit still in savasana for 3 to 5 mins. I found myself wondering why? Why is this idea of mediation so resisted? Is it just because it is still considered “foreign”, yet found effortlessly in the mainstream? I wonder if its just misconceived definitions of what meditating really is that lead to this belief? Most likely a mixture of many factors. The funny part is that the people who say this, probably do meditate in their regular lives without realizing. Although, I understand that many don’t.

I try to share with others what it could mean and look like to meditate for a few moments today, each day, once a week…. So I ask them about it. Why do they feel they cannot meditate, and what is holding them back specifically? Almost always the answer is that the mind is too busy. They cannot stop thinking or stop the thoughts from bouncing around and making a mess.

Contemplating it all this morning led me to the “cleaning the garage” analogy where the garage is your like your mind. Say you have a messy garage full with all the things a garage would have and you need to clean it out. Well, first, you have to make the choice to do it. Maybe you make a tiny contract with yourself as to when, how long, and in what way you will perform the task. You then get prepared by putting on old clothes and getting garbage bags and boxes. You’re ready and your schedule is cleared for this! The next part tends to be one of the hardest. You have to just do it! Walk to the door, open it up, and breath, a.k.a., sit comfortably, close your eyes, and breath. Are we following along?

You walk in knowing that its going to take more than one cleaning session for this project to be running smooth. You also realize, that if you don’t want it to get all messy and cluttered again, you will have to maintain it regularly. A tiny contract you will make with yourself later.

As you start to clear away the clutter slowly, each time you return to clean, it becomes much easier to see where the messier parts are and assess how you want to move forward. Meditation can be almost like this. You enter in knowing that it may take time to maneuver through the thoughts that consistently run through your mind. They say that we think mostly the same thoughts every single day! Imagine if you began to change just a few thoughts in that cycle to ones that would bring you closer to you higher self?

The point is your return! Over and over again, while you are sitting in the sea of thought, you try to bring it back to your breath and your center again and again. You become more present with yourself the moment you decide to sit. Already your breath deepens. Over and over again, you return to your seat, to your pillow, to the ground. You make the choice and commit to routinely come back to meditation and allow yourself to receive the gifts that the practice endlessly gives.