• Do you want to learn how to meditate the easy way? 
• Have you tried to meditate and failed? 
• What is ‘mindfulness’ all about? 

Why does meditation and mindfulness have to be so hard? Well actually, It doesn’t!  I’m going to let you in on a little secret!  

There are lots of sophisticated techniques that you often hear about when people talk about meditation and I am not discounting these. However, these techniques often serve to scare a people away, particularly beginners.  

I know that many people have tried to meditate and have ‘failed’, myself included! When I first tried to learn how to meditate, I would sit for ages, trying to quieten my mind. The harder I tried…the louder it got! I had heard so much about how good meditation was, that I really, really, really wanted to learn how to do it ‘properly’.   

So, “what is the secret?” I hear you ask. Well, the secret is to start with something small and relatively easy and you can work it up over time, with practice. I started with some simple guided visualisations that were set to music. They gave me concrete something to focus on, rather than trying to “empty my mind”.  The impact is the same though, because, whilst I am focusing on something, the monkey mind chatter goes away. This is not to say that my practice was perfect, but it was an improvement on my past efforts and gave me something to build on. Then I moved onto more silent meditations, giving my brain a single point to focus on, like my breath, or a flickering candle flame. This type of exercise is like any other fitness regime…the more you practice, the stronger and more skilled you become. 

Mindfulness is the art of absorbing yourself totally in the moment of what you are doing…just be-ing. Next time you brush your teeth, try the following: 

• Pick up your toothbrush 
  • Feel the texture of your toothbrush in your hand 
  • Notice it’s shape 
  • Notice it’s colour 
• Put some toothpaste onto your brush 
  • Feel the texture of the toothpaste tube in your hand 
  • Squeeze some toothpaste onto your brush 
  • Notice its colour 
  • Notice its smell 
• Turn on the water tap & wet your brush 
  • Feel the shape of the handle 
  • Hear the sound it makes 
  • Look at the colour of the water 
  • See how the light reflects from it 
  • Watch it go down the drain (Not too much…water is precious! LOL) 
• Brush your teeth 
  • Feel the brush on each part of your mouth 
  • Taste the flavour of the toothpaste 
  • Notice the sensations of the brushing 
  • Feel any food particles that might get dislodged from between your teeth 
  • Feel the muscles in your hand and arm working 
• Run your tongue across the surfaces of your teeth to see how they feel 
  • Feel the shapes 
  • Feel the edges 
  • Feel the gaps 
  • Feel the textures 
  • Do they feel shiny? 
• Rinse & finish 
  • Feel the sensations as you spit out the toothpaste 
  • Taste the fresh water as you rinse 
  • Notice the temperature of the water 
  • Hear the sounds of the water as you swish it around 
  • Watch it go down the drain after you spit it out 
  • Notice anything else 

“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy, then you should sit for an hour.” (said to be an old Zen saying.)