Tag: easy meditations

A beach at sunset inspires summer meditation
Summer meditations for everyone

Summer meditations for everyone

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Summer brings a need for cooling off and slowing down, but also makes me want to take advantage of energy and light that the sun brings. Meditation through deliberate focus of mind and body can be in line with all of these things, but I pick what I want to try depending on my mood. Setting intention before you get focused will give you the right vibe.

Cool Feet

Fill a shallow container big enough for both of your feet with a few inches of cool water and put it on the ground. Sit comfortably in a chair and place your feet into the container. Breathe slowly. With every exhalation feel the heat from your body travel down your legs and into your feet and toes. Let that heat dissipate into the surrounding water. Repeat until the water no longer feels cool, or your feet become deliciously pruny, whichever comes first.

You can also pull a chair up to the edge of the partially-filled bathtub and use that to cool your stank feet in instead.

Sun’s Energy

Find a patch of sun outside or near a window. Get comfy and make sure you are exposing enough skin that you can feel the sun directly. Breathe with your abdominal muscles, trying to pull your breath to a point below your lungs but not quite to your belly button as you exhale. Imagine that spot as a point of bright light that collects the sun’s energy. Practice this a few times.

When you are ready, also focus on your inhale. When you breathe in do so fully, expanding your breath to reach through your limbs and neck, outward from that spot in your belly. Bloom your breath outward like a big flower, taking the current back out through your whole body. Feel the tingling as the energy you’ve collected travels to your face, hands, and feet.

If you are having a hard time getting enough sun, doing this for 15 min at a time will help you meet your quota.

Breath steeple

Sit or stand comfortably. Press your palms together, fingertips level with the bridge of your nose, but a few inches from your face. Pull your palms apart but leave your fingertips touching.

Inhale through the mouth, with a little resistance, kind of like a reverse whistle. Exhale through your nose slowly, projecting your breath into the void between your palms. Feel it escape between your fingers, warming them. Pause very slightly at the end of the exhale, enough to let the heat disappear.

Better out than in, I always say

Shrek

I hope Shrek is only talking about farts, and not reverse-whistles

Me

Three Knots

Find a string, rope, or other thingy that you can tie into knots. It should be roughly the size of a bracelet.  Tie 2 knots in the string,  and make the third knot when you join the ends to make a loop.

Pick three words that embody how you want to feel this summer. Sit for a minute and imagine how these words could manifest into reality.

Put the string in your non-dominant hand and roll the knots with your fingertips in succession, going around and around the loop. Use the first knot to think of your first word and what it looks like and feels like to you. Go to the next word and knot and then the last. When you are through repeat the 3 again.

You can also use a beaded bracelet/necklace, or meditation beads for this, but stick with no more than 3 focus words.

Want more meditations to practice?

Here are some other meditations to try that are good for any season:

Spring meditations for everyone

Winter meditations for everyone

Fall meditations for everyone

Big pink tree flowers of spring
Spring meditations for everyone

Spring meditations for everyone

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I’m lying on a hospital gurney right now, trying to distract myself and stay calm. One thing I can always do, no matter where I happen to be, is meditate. Springtime brings desire for renewal and growth, with meditation and breathwork as tools to help me along.

This past couple of weeks have been difficult for my body, but perseverating on the negatives won’t help. Sometimes the best distraction is focus. Here are a few meditation-scapes I’ve tried and would like to share:

Flower hands

Sit cross-legged or in lotus/half lotus. Lay your hands palms-up on your knees. Picture a flower in each of your palms. One is tight, like a bud, and the other is in full bloom.

Breathe deeply and slowly. With each breath the bud will expand into full flower, while the bloom in the other hand contracts. The flowers will see-saw between these states in a gentle rhythm as you breathe.

If this seems too hard to keep going, try blooming both flowers at the same time, feeling the weight of each blossom grow heavier with each breath.

Meditate with the breathing wall

Breathing wall

Stand or sit comfortably with both hands against a wall or vertical flat surface. Keep your face close enough that you can feel your breath reach the wall, but far enough away for comfort. Close your eyes. As you breathe out, focus your breath into the wall and picture the wall expanding. Feel your hands get farther apart without actually moving them. As you breathe in, feel the power of your breath pull your hands together as the wall “contracts.” Repeat. With each cycle you connect more to the wall through your breath, and then through your hands, completing a circuit of energy.

Find spring meditations by picturing yourself in a cove behind a waterfall

Behind the waterfall

Imagine yourself in a little mountainside cove, behind a waterfall. Picture the water coming from above and behind you, and follow it as it cascades in front of you and down below.

Feel the cool spray of water on your face and focus on one single drop on it’s journey down the mountain.

Imagine rolling sand between your fingers for an instant spring meditation

Rolling a grain of sand

Imagine a grain of sand pinched between your thumb and index finger. Roll it without dropping it. Transfer it to the next finger, and each consecutive finger, while keeping it in motion. When you get to the pinky finger, start the journey back towards the index finger.

To increase the challenge, alternate between clockwise and counter-clockwise rolling. Or, try both hands with their own grain of sand at the same time.

Echo a birdsong in your head for relaxing

Birdsong echo

Sit outside or near an open window, anywhere you can hear birds chirping. If you don’t have access to natural sounds, use a recording, preferably with multiple types of bird calls.

Listen carefully to a birdsong. Replay this call in your mind 3 times, matching the pitch and rhythm carefully. Wait to hear the next distinct bird call and repeat.

Want more meditation-scapes?

These can be good for any season:

Winter meditations for everyone

Fall meditations for everyone

Winter meditations for everyone

Winter meditations for everyone

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Winter can be cold, harsh, cozy, and beautiful all at the same time. It is a paradox of darkness and light, dormancy and liveliness. In my world it is mostly chaos, with the holidays, kids’ sports, and flu and pneumonia season at the hospital where I work. I need to punctuate the rushing with moments of stillness, and meditation is one way to get there.

I want to share some winter mediations that are simple and can be done even if you only have a few moments to spare. They can be done in the morning, or at night, here, there, or anywhere. In a box, or with a fox.

Snowdrift

Snow is falling in the moonlight. You are a little snow drift, sitting in the forest. Feel the gentle touch of each flake as it lands softly upon you. Although the snowflakes are light, with each breath you become heavier, a bigger mound as you grow. Imagine yourself grounded and still where you touch the earth, but also airy and light where you meet the cold air around you.

Icicles, melting

There are icicles in a row, glistening beautifully in the sun. The warmth begins to melt them. Picture a droplet forming, slowly, on an icicle. Watch as it gathers more water until it is heavy enough to trickle. Breathe out evenly as the drop slides down. Repeat.

Icicles melting in a row.

Candle glowing

Light a candle. For a few minutes breathe lightly and watch the flame. Notice how it silently dances and wavers but stays lit. Know its intensity from the bottom, where it burns brightest, to the top, where the flame tapers into the air.

Close your eyes and see the image of this candle on the backs of your eyelids. Remember it here as you imagine yourself as that candle flame. The warmest glow is at the base of your spine: let that glow move up and around your body. Over a few breaths let that heat rise higher until it connects and tapers above your head. Feel the light and heat surrounding you, burning brighter with each breath. When you are ready, take long exhales to slowly bring the flame back down, until it finally extinguishes.

Candle flame. Imagine a flame with it’s hottest point at the base as it tapers up and into the air during your winter meditations.

Sending love energy

Think about someone you love. This person could be sitting next to you, or be across the land or ocean from you, far away. With every breath you exhale, send your love energy to them, down through the ground and across to where they are, like the roots of a tree growing to reach them. With each inhalation, feel their energy returning to you. Let the feeling run through you as you breathe, knowing that you are loved.

The feeling of cozy

Imagine the warmest blanket wrapped around you, the comfort of your favorite hat or socks. The fabric is soft. You are soft. You have nowhere to be but here. There is no one here to judge you, nothing you must do. The only thing you feel is complete relaxation and coziness. All is right with the world.

Dog wrapped in a warm cozy blanket. Winter meditations can focus on the feeling of coziness.

Smell of comfort

Think back to the smells of your fondest memories. This could be the food your family cooked, the cut grass you played in as a child, or the smell of your favorite leather chair. Pick one scent that makes you feel content and safe. Imagine that smell and what was happening then as you breathe slowly. Re-feel the good emotions the memory brings.

Whether you are on a plane, on a train, in a house or with a mouse, you can be at peace with what’s around you. Practicing focus and learning to calm the inner chaos helps to temper your experience with the outer world, no matter how distracting it is.

For more ideas, try my Fall Mediations for Everyone. Happy Winter!

Burnt logs on a campfire with glowing embers
Fall meditations for everyone

Fall meditations for everyone

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Lately I’ve been very busy. The kind of busy that makes me forget that I’ve only put on one sock, or that I’m supposed to be in an important meeting. I’m like a pinball rolling around, randomly picking up points for just passing by, and occasionally being flipped up in yet another direction. When I catch myself feeling stressed I practice short meditation exercises to reset my body and mind.

If I focus on something, even for less than a minute, I can feel calmer and break negative thought cycles. The things I choose are typically quick to conjure and are often nature-based. Here are some that have worked to lower my heart rate and clear my brain. These are easy enough for beginners and work as fall meditations for everyone.

1 minute fall meditations

Burnt logs on a campfire with glowing embers

Rain on a log

Picture a campfire log that has no flames, but has been burnt, the surface ashy white with glowing red heat underneath. It has started to rain, only a sprinkle. Each time a small drop hits the log it sizzles. You smell the comforting bitter smell of wood touched by fire, feeling both the heat of the embers and cool relief as the water hits.

Leaves off a tree

A tree is above you with endless leaves falling, only a few at a time. The leaves are brilliantly colored and sway a little, whispering all at once to each other in the wind. It smells like wet leaves and sunshine. Another leaf falls and you focus on it. It floats back and forth, slowly coming down, closer to the ground. You see the leaf but you also are the leaf, feeling the gentle descent, lower and lower with each breath. Eventually you touch the ground so softly you’re not sure you’ve landed. There, on the ground atop a pillow of other leaves, you rest.

Beach body

Your body is on the shore, made of sand. The ocean crashes softly over you and pulls bits of sand away with every wave, smoothing you down into the rest of the beach. Your body disappears little by little as the water washes over you. When you are almost washed away to nothing, breathe slowly against the back of your nose, roaring like the wind, blowing the sand you have lost back to your body. Breathe like this a few more times until you are whole again. Repeat.

3-5 minute fall meditations

It’s cool

Open your window and sit in a comfortable position. Breathe slowly and deeply inward, feeling the cool air enter your lungs. Exhale completely and slowly, but keep the essence of the air with you, cooling more and more with each breath.

Musical notes and treble clef in motion

Hear with your forehead

Play music that is relaxing to you. Let the sound enter your ears, but pull the music toward the front of the inside of your forehead. Practice gentle half-smiling while you listen. Keep the song flowing there until it’s finished.

Thank-you word

Think of a word or phrase that represents what you are most grateful for. Take a moment to feel why this is important to you and be thankful. As you breathe in say this word or phrase silently to yourself.  As you breathe out, say it aloud, slowly.

 

Guy meditating on peanut butter
Meditations on Peanut Butter by The Lightning Bolt

The more I learn about mindfulness, the more I see it isn’t something to fear as an impossible challenge. Intention, focus, and calm are natural ways of being—I just need to practice letting myself get there. Distraction and negative rumination can be cleared away by resetting what my brain is doing, bringing me back to the here and now.

Mediation can be done by anyone, and doesn’t have to include hours of silent sitting. Little moments of calm can happen throughout the day, and should. If you have a minute (or five) to spare, you have time to practice meditation this fall, a season for slowing down and being grateful.

Peer Into the Kaleidoscope