Meditation: There’s No Wrong Way to Do It

I did my Transcendental Mediation Training in 2016.   

It was the method that finally worked for me after trying many other approaches.

I would try to ‘empty my mind’ or sit in a Lotus (not happening – I have runner’s legs that don’t go in those directions), get annoyed and decide to go on a run instead.

Which is meditative, but not meditation, a difference I later grew to understand.

What appealed to me about TM was one simple sentence my teacher shared, “when you think a thought, and you will think a thought since you are human, just remember that your mantra is a friend of your thoughts and gently guide yourself back to your mantra”.

(In TM, you are given a mantra which is a meaningless Sanskrit word, that you use while meditating and keep to yourself, always).

As an aside I also liked that the training fee goes toward training soldiers with PTSD and children in high risk areas.  CITE 

Back then, I dove in head first and doggedly did my twice daily 23 minute meditations.

When I became pregnant, I began using an OM sound rather than silence as I wanted Yves to become familiar with it.

After he was born, my meditation consistency changed, but I still kept it up, even if it were a few minutes here and a few minutes there, as anyone who’s raised children can attest to- it’s not always easy to take 23 minutes to yourself!

And the fire… a time when perhaps one might conjecture that would be the singe most important time to have a practice, but for months, I just could not do it.  

All I could do was the moving version – for me, walking or running have always my moving meditation of choice, no music, no distractions just me grounding and connecting whether I’m in training mode and preparing for a race, or needing to down regulate and running barefoot in the sand or high on a mountain trail.

Perhaps because enough time has passed (whatever that length of time might be( or perhaps I was simply ready but three weeks ago Monday I had a clear message to start again.

Within minutes my mantra came back and I completed my seamless practice and even though all the things that one is dealing with before a meditation are still there after, the tiny break from thinking helps in ways that feel unquantifiable.

After all this time, I am just now seeing that it’s not about rigidly forcing yourself to sit for exactly 23 minutes per day or else, but fitting it in wherever and whenever you can and that even the little meditations make a big impact.

Learn more about TM:  learntm.org/nell

The Transcendental Meditation (TM) organization, primarily through its David Lynch Foundation, offers programs and scholarships to help veterans, particularly with stress, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and depression.

I’ve also just learned they’re offering a free training for kids; Yves will be getting his mantra for walking meditation soon.  Imagine if we all learned to meditate as kids!