I just had to write this post today. This week started another Meditation Experience with Oprah and Deepak Chopra. And it is so empowering. I always find a need to share this with everyone! Because it is such a fresh breath of air always coming at the right time. Also yesterday I looked into when I started participating in these challenges and my profile says since 2013. So this also made me wonder how I experienced my first encounter with this meditation experience and whether I have changed in my approach to meditation.

Trying too hard

When I first started, I was trying too hard. It was almost like a battle with myself and I was being extremely focused. Of course this is just the opposite of what meditation is about. But I had to learn this the hard way. However, I feel we all do. Has anyone experienced meditation easy from the start? And actually a more important question. Is it even meant to be easy or will it ever be easy?

Too many expectations

After a couple of challenges, I had grown expectations on how a meditation experience should be. And how I should be as a participant. For instance, that I was bad at meditation if I ever skipped a day. That there is a certain length of meditating that is expected or might even be considered perfect. Or the position (sitting a certain way) I needed to be in. For sure, I wasn’t allowed to lay down of course. That I had too many thoughts and that it wasn’t ‘normal’. Even though what is normal anyway? I had to learn that there is no right or wrong. There is just me. And that is what I need to embrace to be able to bloom at my own pace.

Enjoy the insights

Instead of getting frustrated in any way. Quite possibly also toward any sensations in my back. My scoliosis didn’t foster a lot of positive thoughts throughout the larger part of my life. In hindsight, I wasn’t always conscious about the way I treated my back or my thoughts about it. And that is the beauty of meditation. It helps me to unravel my thoughts and unconscious behaviour. At first this can totally be frustrating and scary, but by letting it in it can be the beginning of cultivating an inner strengths and power. To me it was the start of noticing the role my back played in my life and the narrative I had created so far. Meditation asked of me to let go of the thinking in right or wrong. Because if I wanted to start any change, I had to let go of the thought that I had been doing a lot of things wrong. Or that I was failing in any way. Because I wasn’t. Up until then or now, or really any point in my life, I just try to do my best with what I know during that time. Life is a process and is not about doing the right thing, but about doing your best. There are so many insights that have come my way while practicing meditation and I can honestly say that this is what has enriches my life the most. At least within anything I have experienced so far in my life (;

Relax

All these insights are scary, frustrating, beautiful and enriching, and so much more. But that isn’t just the goal of meditation. In the end it is about finding peace, enlightenment and relaxation. It took me a few years to really reap this benefit in meditation. At first, I really needed guided meditation to be able to achieve some sort of relaxation. And now I notice I am getting better in meditating by myself. But I still love the guided meditations, because they always bring me new perspective to encounter my body, mind and soul. That is why I always love this free Meditation Experience with Oprah and Deepak Chopra. And if I sparked any curiosity within you about meditation, feel free to join me.

I wish anyone the joy of the journey of meditation and the enlightenment that this path may bring.