Having found solace in my meditation practice during these Covid times, I cannot repeat it enough: meditation is a very effective way to reduce stress, achieve clarity, and attain a mentally calm state. In these times of chaos and uncertainty, we need strong ways to cope with the current circumstances. Very often I am being asked how I am coping with all the stress and my answer is simple: I am doing fine. My secret? Yoga and meditation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meditation allows you to view the world from a perspective that isn\u2019t tainted by your personal beliefs and past experiences. Meditation is simple but challenging to do well, so it wouldn\u2019t hurt to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help you keep up your practice! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several things you can do to enhance your meditation practice and receive greater benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try these ideas for ways to enhance your meditation practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) Be consistent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Have a time and place that you meditate each day. If you want to maximise your skill at meditation, make it a permanent part of your schedule, like brushing your teeth. You always brush your teeth at the same time each day. Do the same with your meditation practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If possible, have a specific location where you meditate. This can be a spare room or a corner of the house that you can set aside for your practice. Make it comfortable and inspiring. For me, I meditate as soon as I wake up seated in my bed under the duvet: best way to start your day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Have at least one longer session each week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While you can receive great benefits from meditating for as little as five minutes, there\u2019s something magical that happens when you sit for an hour or more each day. Have a session or two each week where you add five minutes each time until you\u2019re up to an hour of sitting time. Feel free to go even further if you have the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Avoid expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll have good days and bad days when meditating. There are days you feel that you could sit there for hours. There are other days when your mind is running wild, and it feels like you have no control. Both are fine. Just be aware and sit with whatever is happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Avoid meditating when you are tired<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With enough practice, you can indeed fall asleep in the sitting position! If you\u2019re extremely tired, you\u2019d be better off taking a short nap and meditating at another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) Meditate throughout the day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sitting on your cushion under ideal conditions isn\u2019t the only place to meditate. It\u2019s just the easiest. The real trick is to be able to meditate while sitting elsewhere, like in a hot, noisy, smelly bus. Can you focus on your breath and fully experience your surroundings under those circumstances? I sometimes meditate at my desk with my colleagues around, they don't notice anything and I feel so much better for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6) Meditate on an empty stomach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s harder to meditate when you have a big meal digesting in your tummy. You feel tired and sluggish. Your best meditation sessions will occur when you\u2019re alert and able to concentrate. Try not to meditate when you\u2019re excessively hungry either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7) Minimise interruptions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shut the door and let everyone know that you want an hour of peace and quiet. Turn off your phone. This is your time. Take control of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8) Try meditating with a group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you only meditate with a group, try meditating alone and vice versa. Most people have a definite preference but give the other option a try from time to time. It\u2019s a different experience, and you\u2019ll gain a different perspective. You might even make a new friend or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you\u2019re just learning to meditate or a seasoned pro, you can enhance your meditation practice further. Meditation is one of the best ways to relieve stress and increase your enjoyment of life. Consider how you can strengthen your ability to meditate and reap the greatest benefits from your meditation practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you found these tips helpful. I run a group meditation every Thursday evening which you may find very useful for your practice. If you would like to join us just drop me a note and I will add you to the invitation list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Namaste<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having found solace in my meditation practice during these Covid times, I cannot repeat it enough: meditation is a very effective way to reduce stress, achieve clarity, and attain a mentally calm state. In these times of chaos and uncertainty, we need strong ways to cope with the current circumstances. Very often I am being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"8 Ways To Enhance Your Meditation Practice","_seopress_titles_desc":"Try these ideas for ways to enhance your meditation practice:","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"meditation,meditation meaning,meditation du matin,meditation du soir,enhance,practice","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[{"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_type":"articles","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_type":"Article","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_title":"8 Ways To Enhance Your Meditation Practice","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_desc":"Having found solace in my meditation practice during these Covid times, I cannot repeat it enough: meditation is a very effective way to reduce stress, achieve clarity, and attain a mentally calm state. In these times of chaos and uncertainty, we need strong ways to cope with the current circumstances. \u00a0Very often I am being asked how I am coping with all the stress and my answer is simple: I am doing fine. My secret? Yoga and meditation.\u00a0 Meditation allows you to view the world from a perspective that isn\u2019t tainted by your personal beliefs and past experiences. Meditation is simple but challenging to do well, so it wouldn\u2019t hurt to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help you keep up your practice!","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_author":"Christel Thimont","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_img":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rsw_1280-21.webp","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_img_width":"1280","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_img_height":"772","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_coverage_start_date":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_coverage_start_time":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_coverage_end_date":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_coverage_end_time":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_article_speakable_css_selector":""}],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[141],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yoga","tag-meditation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christelwellness.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}