It’s blog hop day and the letter of the week is G. G is for Guided Meditation.
I recently completed the 21 Day Oprah / Deepak Guided Meditation Challenge. I must admit, meditation has always been a challenge for me and I did not have high hopes of success going into this one. Why? Well here’s one example:
I wrote the first sentence of this post, glanced up at the TV (which is on, on mute, just to light the room at 5:38 am) and saw something called a Stone Wave Cooker that cooks all kinds of things in the microwave. I push the button on my iPad and I’m searching Amazon for it. Whoa. Before I could push “buy now with one-click”, I returned to this post – after all, it is about keeping your mind on one thing for at least fifteen minutes.
Now you can see why meditation is such a challenge for me. Everyday both Oprah and Deepak gave specific instructions on how to sit still, go inside yourself, and think about completely nothing. They even provided a mantra to keep thoughts from entering your mind. I did well at the sitting still, very good with going within myself, but even the mantra provided a vehicle for thoughts. I’d picture the words, start remembering their Sanskrit meaning, and be on way thought hopping until I went from something like “I am” to the plants on the patio that I forgot to water. By Day 3 I thought this guided meditation thing was just going to take a lot of practice. By Day 10 I decided that trying not thinking about anything was more stressful than the stresses the meditation was supposed to alleviate.
Instead of stressing over not thinking for the next twelve days (quitting was not an option – it would stress me out more to quit a challenge than to fight my way through it) I used the part where they played the fifteen minutes of music to sink into prayer. It was the most beautiful quiet connection with God I ever felt. I would sit still, eyes closed, and speak my prayers for the day. Then I would let God speak to me. When the gentle bell rang at the end of the fifteen minutes, Deepak would gently bring me out of my one on one time with God. Upon opening my eyes I would feel immensely peaceful and rested. I think I meditated because that’s how they said you’re supposed to feel at the end.
I completed the challenge for the remainder of the days using it as a prayer time. It was over more than a week ago and now I realize I miss it. I had gotten to the point of looking forward to it each morning, and now it was suddenly gone. I could go to the website and purchase access the series of twenty one days for $39, but I think that’s a bit steep (if it was $19.99 I’d already own it because $19.99, to me, is a fair price for something I’d love to have – the Stone Wave Cooker – which I’m still contemplating – is only $10… Oops, here I go again…) Back to guided meditation. So here I sit at a crossroads. Was it the guiding words from Oprah and Deepak I needed, or was the fifteen minutes of meditation music enough? It’s been two weeks and I’m still thinking whether or not I should purchase the series and continue to train myself to meditate, or should I just get some cool meditation music and go it alone?
See why I’m really bad at this? Even mediation, for me, involves money and decision-making. I’m stressing over de-stressing. Bottom line? I want that same experience everyday, but I don’t want to pay the sale price of $39 for it.
And so, as another day goes by, it’s early, I’m up alone, I think I have some music I can try to use to meditate unguided and see where it takes me, and … I have written.
I vote to spend the $39 on wonderful you. It will come back to you.
I think you’re right, Donna!
I’ve never done meditation, but I have a feeling I’d be bad at it because my mind never quits. Even when I’m trying to fall asleep it’s still turning with what i need to get done tomorrow.
My problem exactly! It’s taking discipline!