The Guys’ Guy’s Guide to Meditation
In today’s hyper-competitive, fast-paced world, it’s almost impossible to slow down. It seems that every day is mired in multitasking, double booking, and working overtime—all just to maintain the status quo. The demands on our time are endless. While all this is going on our brains get clogged with mega doses of information that perpetuates that incessant, internal monkey chatter. What time is my client meeting? Is my hairline receding? Who do I start at tight end in my fantasy football league? Why are there so many housewives shows on television? Should I buy the new iPhone or wait? It goes on and on. Our mental circuits are overloaded. We’re all on a runaway train careening along the rails towards a meltdown. What can we do? Sometimes the best course of action is to simply go inside and chill. And Guy’s Guys like to keep their cool. With this in mind I humbly offer you my Guys’ Guy’s Guide to Meditation. I’ll share what I know about this new age, old school art and how I do it. There are myriad of ways to mediate, so I’m sure you can find one that suits you best.
Why Meditate?
It’s ironic that one of the healthiest activities for the body and mind requires that we do nothing. The benefits of meditation are numerous, led by a double dollop of good news. It helps prevent stress from entering the system, while at the same time releasing stress that has accumulated internally. Physical benefits of meditation include lowering high blood pressure, improving the immune system, reducing a propensity for anxiety attacks, decreasing tension-related pain, increasing serotonin and increasing energy levels. If that doesn’t convince you to give meditation a whirl, consider the mental benefits: decreased anxiety, increased creativity, happiness, intuition, and peace of mind, and an expansion of your consciousness.
How to Meditate
Meditating is easy and you can do it just a few minutes a day and get great results. And there is a cumulative effect. The more you meditate, the more benefits you reap from the process. You plant a seed and a flower grows. It’s up to you to plant those seeds.
I have a background and accreditations in Reiki and clinical hypnotherapy and I’ve been meditating for years. I can go deep almost anywhere whether it is during a long run or even tucked inside a MRI tube.
Over time, everyone develops his or her own technique. What I usually do is find a place where I can be left undisturbed for approximately twenty minutes. I sit quietly, close my eyes, and slowly inhale through my nostrils while exhaling through my mouth. Slow and steady, slow and steady. Then I count myself down from three, saying to myself with each breath, “Three, calm and relaxed, two, calm and relaxed, one, calm and relaxed.” While doing this I imagine a stream of white light pouring into my crown chakra and down throughout my ethereal and physical body. As I maintain my slow, steady breathing I begin focusing on releasing tension throughout my body and mind. The monkey chatter quiets down after a minute or so. If a random thought surfaces during the process like “where could I have left that dry cleaning ticket?” I treat it like a fluffy cloud that shows up in the sky on a sunny day. I recognize it and then let it slowly drift off. I’ve found that it helps if you can meditate outdoors in a pristine, natural setting, but that is not always possible.
If there’s an issue I need to resolve, I ask my subconscious or higher self for guidance. Other times I spend the time visualizing. I focus my intention on something I want, what it looks like upon completion and how I will feel when I have it. It may be for perfect health or writing a best seller or being of service or providing for my family. In fact in can be anything as long it is for the collective higher good. Although there is nothing wrong with abundance, I personally don’t intend hot cars or money for the sole reason of material gain.
Other times I intend that the divine white light pour into my consciousness and flush out any dis-ease or toxins in my system. I allow, I receive, I release.
Whatever direction I take my mediation… or not, the process goes on for twenty minutes or so. When I feel that I reached completion, I slowly bring myself back to the surface employing the same breathing technique. This time I tell myself “Three, I am awake and alert, two, I am awake and alert, one, I am awake and alert”. Then I open my eyes. And that’s it.
There are many forms and schools of thought when it comes to mediation, but the end results are the same. Better mental health, better physical health. Choose the type of meditation that fits you best, but do give it a try.
Are you ready to go deep?
This week’s Guys’ Guys of the Week are the southern Indian tribes credited with conducting meditational practices fifteen thousand years ago. Talk about old school…
