Happy Mental Health Awareness Month—though this should really be a year-round occasion! I want to take the opportunity this month to shed light on caring for our mental and emotional garden. Healing takes place from the inside out. And healing requires time. How long? The short answer is: as long as it takes…
Along the theme of cultivating one’s garden again, I want to share how I began a new meditation practice this past month. As I started my yoga practice in 2011, I jumped right into Power Yoga. I had always been more into the faster-paced types of yoga, so I follow Power Yogis like Coach Sean Vigue. However, sometimes I just need to slow it down a bit. Someone once reminded me to “stop, and smell the roses more.” Therefore, since mid-April this year, I started to add in 5-12min of meditation at the end of each morning’s power yoga session for at least 5 days a week. Sometimes it is guided, while other times it is simply with sounds of nature. I currently use a couple meditation apps: Meditation Studio and MUSE. I value my meditation time just as much as I value my time practicing Power Yoga on the mat.
This is a time in my life that I want cultivate my mental and emotional garden more and more, in order to guide myself towards rediscovering and reshaping my sense of purpose. I mentioned this pursuit last month and I want to see it through with actionable steps and implementations. There is no better time than NOW. I am grateful for the opportunity to sharing this out loud. After all, I am a “loud introvert,” remember?
Life is complicated, unpredictable and quite irrational at times. I believe that I am setting in motion a valuable routine of meditation for my own mental health, which hopefully will serve as a foundation to keep me grounded in every other aspect of my life. I truly wish to continue on with my practice strongly and courageously, yet still stay forgiving of myself if it doesn't go perfectly as planned. Like gardening, literally, not everyone has a green thumb or born to be a Master Gardener. Gardening requires patience, especially if starting with seedlings first. Baby steps!
We all get a chance to practice to become better at something. Meditating is no exception! So is gardening, which is an active form of meditation for many. There is no right or wrong way to meditate, but the most important thing is starting and staying consistent with the practice. Therefore, I plan to continue my meditation practice as consistently as possible. To my readers, please share your insights on meditation and how do you keep up with your own practice?