I tried meditating for the first time when I was 19. I mean really meditating. I crossed my legs beneath me and closed my eyes, having no idea what I was doing. This lasted 3 minutes. My legs and lower back were on fire.
My second attempt at meditation was after college. I lived in Georgia and was reading Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. I crossed my legs again and closed my eyes. Same result.
Years later, I enrolled in a metaphysical school. When talking with the director of the school, he told me one of the things I would learn was meditation. I was hooked.
I learned meditation after learning a concentration practice gazing at a candle. What I did not know then was I would need to concentrate on one point in order to properly meditate.
It was hard, hearing all of those thoughts in my mind at once. I would tell people that I had 8 songs spinning in my head sugar coated with memories from the past and fantasies of the future. But I persisted. This is the one of the keys to meditation, persistence.
Building a disciplined meditation practice has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Meditation builds discipline, contentment, tolerance, compassion, love, happiness, stillness, etc. It gives the mind a break from all the information we have up there everyday. It is not about meditating for an hour one day of the week and letting the other 6 go. It's about being consistent. Making it a habit was easy for me once I had someone guiding me.
I highly recommend learning meditation from a meditation teacher, someone who not only practices everyday but maintains that level of openness, kindness, lucidity, and joy throughout the day.
If you're in the Fort Worth, TX area and want to practice group meditation or receive a personalized meditation teacher, contact us.
Happy meditating.