How Do I know If I’m Meditating Correctly?

Like green smoothies, massages, vitamin regimens and alkaline diets, we know Meditation is good for us. Yet, the space between awareness and action looks different for all of us. 

That being said, it’s normal to wonder if you are ‘meditating correctly’. When it comes to meditation, one myth I feel called to bust before we go any further is that there is no wrong way to meditate. Chances are, without even being aware there are ways you cultivate a meditation practice within your own time and space. How can you welcome in presence and peace into your daily flow so that meditation doesn’t feel like another thing on the to-do list? Taking a moment to feel the shower fall down on you from the top of your head down your face, asking the water to take from you what doesn’t serve you. Going on a morning walk to get your coffee with your phone and music away, just simply listening to the sounds around you. 

Find Your Peace

Get creative with how you are present for your life and the little moments. We can’t wait for the perfect conditions (like this blissful naturistic scene) to be at peace within. Peace is not something to obtain outside of you; it lives within. Can you guess where? Keep reading I’ll give you a clue. 

Being Present During Meditation

It’s also really normal (what is “normal” anyway?) to have a harder time winding down into a meditative state given all the ways our nervous systems are stimulated and triggered in our modern lives. 

We are expected to be “on” all the time. On for work, for our relationships, for our communities. Outside of sleeping, we really don’t afford ourselves much time to simple just be. This is where meditation comes in. Perhaps we are no longer desiring to measure our self-worth based on how productive we are, but rather how present we are. 

Meditation is the practice that helps rewire the brain to help us learn and integrate the awareness of the present moment. Just like a dirt road gets paved into a smoother path, we can do this within the neural pathways of the brain by simply the repetitive motion of being “in the practice.” It’s from this commitment to peace and presence that it becomes more second nature to us. No matter what our past looked like, or the chaos of the present. YES. 

Notice Your Thoughts

Here’s a great tool to dive into your own practice: using your thoughts as a vehicle to expand and deepen your meditation. 

We often associate meditation or the idea of “doing it right” with having a clear and quiet mind. We debunked that already, and let’s explore it even deeper here. The thoughts are the vehicle to a deeper meditative experience. When thoughts come up, notice them, notice where you feel the emotion associated with that thought in the body. Does your jaw clench? Does your heart tighten? Return to the awareness of your breath and send it to those places and continue in your journey. It’s all perfect. 

If it helps, I like to welcome in the visual of two trains moving on side by side tracks in nature ----slow and steady. The first train, you and the present moment. The second, your thoughts, feelings and emotions. As you conduct your train in the present moment and thoughts come up, you simply observe them passing by and return back to your breath and the present moment (perhaps the intention you set for yourself). Intentions are short, clear, and loving streams of thought that we can create or reflect on to frame our practice. Sometimes for me, it’s as simple as setting an intention to “be present and receive.” 

Your meditative practice is all your own. I say this often but I’ll say it again here, “You are your own healer, your breath is your medicine.” 

There Is No Wrong Way to Meditate

Peace doesn’t live outside of you, it is in each breath and each moment you allow yourself to become more present with yourself and this practice. And it’s a practice! This just like anything else takes time, so be kind to yourself, we are unlearning so much as we learn what our north star of peace and fulfillment looks like for us. Your curiosity to read and explore into meditation here is enough - you are already showing up. There is no wrong way to meditate, but definitely opportunity to be more present and intentional.

For more tools and soundscapes to support your discovery of peace within, enter into the virtual doors of The Atelier.

Craving more individualized support? Schedule a sound therapy session with Luna.