“Why is meditation so challenging?” . . .  asked the lady whose mind never seems to quiet down. Yes so many of us have a continuous stream of conversation running through our mind but we never stop to quiet the mind or even spend time in the present moment.

I started an evening ritual. It was supposed to start by turning off all electronic devices, a nice warm shower, then reading something soothing for 30 minutes, followed by a short meditation.  However, the meditation part only lasted one or two nights.  I used the excuse that the plant book I was reading was hard to put down.  That was true but what about the meditation?

I found some wonderful sound healing meditation music on YouTube but something was still missing.  It wasn’t until a dentist appointment booked 6 months ago interfered with my usual yoga class that I looked at an additional yoga option.

Interesting . . . Yoga Nidra.  I attended a 4 part Yoga Nidra workshop back in Utah but this was only 60 minutes.  So I signed up.  I think the first 30 minutes was all about 3 meditation tricks.  How ironic! 

Try these out and let me know what happens to your mind chatter.

We did start with some breathwork.  Breathing in to the count of 4 and out to the count of 4. This was a trick I learned during an asthma attack, so I knew that was a great way to calm down.  As a shallow breather I definitely need to practice this more intentionally.

The first meditation trick was observing your mind chatter, sitting cross legged with your eyes closed, and actually counting how many different things your mind is discussing. I tried not to laugh because I always have an extremely active mind and imagination so there is a lot going on.  But interesting the more I tried to count the many ideas flowing through my mind the more they seemed to slow down and I found it much easier to focus on my breathing.  Okay that was easy.

The second meditation trick was my favorite. We had to pick something in the yoga studio that we really liked.  I picked this spider plant with two feathers in an interesting planter. We sat, breathing, and really studying the object we picked.  The leaves, the colors, the feathers, the textures of the planter, and the two white flowers that didn’t make it into the picture.  Then we closed our eyes, breathing, and visualizing as many details as we could about the item we picked.  It was interesting how calm the mind became when you gave your mind an easy and pleasing assignment.

The third meditation trick, now that we were really calm and quiet, was just sitting with your eyes closed and breathing in slowly and deeply to the count of 4 and then out to the count of 4. At this point my mind was not able to think of anything except my breathing.

I decided this would be the perfect way to close my evening rituals before bed. So many people go through their hectic day and then jump into bed expecting to fall asleep right away. I love my evening rituals because the lights slowly get lowered, it’s very peaceful and quiet, and I must say just typing this my eyes are starting to get sleepy.

If you have an evening slowdown ritual let me know in the comments. If you are in need of better sleep check out my website for more information on my many consultations.

Have a blessed evening!