Meditate

Getting Started

This is the 5-minute meditation practice that has helped me and thousands of others to get started.  If you’ve read Heath Armstrong’s Sweet Ass Journal, this is what he was talking about 🙂

First, a few guidelines.

1. Sit in a chair with both feet on the floor, hands resting in your lap.  I like to have my hands palms down, but you can also have your hands palms up, or hands touching.  It’s not a big deal.  The idea is to sit so that your body can breathe easily.  A kitchen chair works great.  If you’re in a super soft chair or couch, you’re more likely to slouch which makes it harder to take a full breath (and you might fall asleep!).

2. Listen to this guided meditation.  It’s ok if there’s noise going on around you — traffic, noisy neighbors, construction crew outside. . . It’s all fine.

3. After the meditation, write down a word or sentence about your experience.  There is no right or wrong word.  You can be distracted, tired, hungry, judgmental, relaxed, anything at all.  The point is to practice noticing what you experience — and to include it without being judgmental of yourself!

4. Do this once a day for five days.  It’s also ok if you don’t do 5 days in a row.  If it takes a week, that’s cool.  The intention is to start building some gentle momentum.  Frequency is more important than duration at this stage!

If you complete this challenge, you will have successfully meditated five times and you will have five words or sentences.

So! How did it go?

What are your five words?

What did you discover about yourself?

I’d love to know!

And remember:  it is NOT about “quieting the mind” or “being peaceful.”  It is about noticing your experience, whatever it happens to be.  And, it is about cultivating more curiosity and kindness.