Liquid Health – Lisa Montgomery

Meditation Meditation can be such a powerful tool in getting you to be mindful and in the moment. It can help to relieve anxiety and stress symptoms. When I first started to meditate I found it very difficult to quieten my mind. My teachers would say things like concentrate on the breath. If your mind wanders always bring it back to the breath. Wander my mind did, I had a severe case of ‘monkey mind’!! Let me  share a few techniques I found helpful with my own meditation journey.

Candle Gazing At the end of class one evening the instructor Heidi started to place candles at the foot of our mats and proceeded to light them. Worried I was about to burn my toes or worse send the candle crashing over and set the studio alight I wondered what was about to happen. Heidi explained that we would be doing a meditation called candle gazing. We sat crossed legged on bolsters and started to breathe in and out. The purpose was to allow us to fully concentrate and be focused on the moment. As we intently focused our gaze to the flame our breathe deepened and we were in joyful meditation. We did this for about 15 minutes and I felt so happy and calm afterwards. I went home and had the best sleep ever and my feelings flowed through to the following day. This is really easy to do at home when you need some quiet time and are struggling to switch off.

Ocean Gazing If you are lucky enough to live by the sea you are lucky enough! When I was about 21 I lived in a tiny apartment overlooking the sea, it was very rustic and beautiful. Unfortunately I was not in a happy place at that time in my life and I would often sit on the balcony for hours and stare out at the ocean. I did not realize at the time but what I was doing was meditating. Gazing at the waves and listening to the sound of the ocean can be very restorative, calm and peaceful. It was a relief to soothe my mind, body and spirit at that time in my life. If you do not live near the sea then you could use visualisation techniques and maybe even download some ocean music and listen to the sound of the waves as you meditate.

Yoga Nidra Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation. ‘Yogic sleep’ is the deepest state of relaxation you can experience while still being fully concsious. You may do very gentle stretches for a few minutes before you lie down and your teacher will talk and guide you through the meditation, focusing on soothing each part of your body. This type of meditation is very effective with chronic stress. Sometimes you feel very tired afterwards and other times you feel that all tension has left your body and you are revitalized and energized. Ask at your local yoga studio if this is a class they offer.

Headspace This is a wonderful meditation app that you can download to start your meditation journey. It offers a free 10 day trial to get you in the groove of meditating. Andy the founder guides you through the meditations making it very easy for beginners. It offers so many tools to help relieve anxiety issues, sleepless nights and much much more. I would definitely recommend downloading this app to start you off!

I hope that you find these meditation tips helpful and that you can free yourself of your monkey mind. If you have any techniques you wish to share I would love to hear about them!

Warmest wishes

Laura x