Latest / Enough & Evolving / You Don't Need to Quiet Your Mind to Meditate
Transcript
- Tyona Vallejo: Hello and welcome to Enough In Evolving Podcast. I'm your host, Tyona Vallejo, master certified life coach and mindfulness expert, you reclaim confidence, break through unhelpful patterns and manifest the relationships and life you desire. Now let's get started. If you're listening to this and you're recognizing yourself in these patterns, this is exactly the work I do inside my coaching. This isn't something you have to figure out alone. If you're ready to feel more confident, grounded, and self-trusting, I'd love to support you. Check out the show notes to book a consultation coaching call today. What's up friends? back to the podcast. ⁓ I'm sharing all about meditation. And I been meditating for the past 14 years now, ⁓ and believe that it has ⁓ really me create ⁓ sense calm. And specifically ⁓ I wake in the morning. Meditation is the very first thing that I do. I haven't even been sitting up ⁓ to lately. I've just been waking up ⁓ and lying down. a lot of people ⁓ Say that this isn't the greatest way to meditate or advise against meditating in that way. And that's simply because they're worried about you just falling asleep instead of paying attention to the meditation. I have mixed about that. Number one, if you need more sleep, then ⁓ you fall asleep, right? so I don't think that that's a bad thing. And number two, think it can be very regulating your nervous system to choose a posture that feels ⁓ best you. Now, with that said, when I first started meditating, ⁓ I sit up in bed and I would put my Air Max headphones on. So I was completely tuned in. And I would do a guided meditation. Actually, when I first started, I would just use music and I would do ⁓ a challenge and see how long I could sit without looking at the clock. ⁓ And remember when I first started, I was literally like ⁓ maybe minutes ⁓ was max that I could get to. ⁓ But was really fun as I practiced that more and more I could see That the time that I was able to sit grew and there was a where I reached 20 minutes it felt like five. It was wild. And since then, I've used all sorts of different meditations. there are many different apps out there that you can try. there's a Calm ⁓ app, there's ⁓ a app. I've both of those, but my favorite app ⁓ is Insight Timer. That's the one I use on a regular basis. And I love it because there are so many different meditations on there. There's so many different teachers. So it just depends on how I'm feeling when I wake up in the morning. I generally follow a couple of different teachers and so I'll already know ahead of time which I like I'll just pick one of those. That's ⁓ something would recommend if you're starting the practice, you can First, start like I did and just challenge yourself by sitting silence ⁓ with ⁓ on for a certain length of time. Maybe you put a timer for two minutes or three minutes ⁓ and how far you can get. or you use one of these guided meditations. There's also a lot of meditations ⁓ on YouTube that can check out. but ⁓ if you are going to use a guided meditation, I would highly recommend that you ⁓ exactly what you want to use. especially you're gonna start in the morning as as morning practice, because the last thing you want to be doing is kind of, ⁓ you know, or looking for it on your phone because you might get lost in in another rabbit hole, ⁓ if you what I mean. So I love to give meditations for my ⁓ yoga students As well as offer meditations for my coaching clients. I have ⁓ made custom meditations for them as well. so wanted to a meditation for podcast listeners, I'm going to be that on An upcoming episode So that you can use it as you need. Now some of the benefits of meditation include that it actually reshapes the brain. It also lowers blood pressure and cortisol levels, which create less stress, less anxiety. It promotes better sleep by helping the body transition from the sympathetic nervous system to a parasympathetic nervous system, basically going from that stress state to a more restful state. And there have been lots of studies that have shown when you practice meditation before bed, ⁓ it also improves sleep quality. ⁓ So if you someone that struggles with sleep, ⁓ I would highly you to ⁓ add a meditation practice to your bedtime routine. then some of the other benefits include It boosts your focus, your mental clarity. It lengthens your attention spans. That's something that I definitely noticed again when I started practicing. ⁓ been able to focus much better than I have been in the past. And especially this day and age, ⁓ with social media, with ⁓ computers with the digital world, it can be really difficult to ⁓ And so ⁓ can be something that really starts to build that muscle for you. mental ⁓ is simply muscle. ⁓ And when just kind of allowing your brain to dart from one thing to the next, you're not building that Focus muscle intentionally, and meditation can help you do that. ⁓ I also love the benefit of it enhances self-awareness, that has been just a game changer in my life ⁓ just being able to notice own mind, ⁓ notice I'm feeling, notice my ⁓ nervous In creating more self-awareness, I've been able to support myself to question some of the thoughts that just kind of come on repeat that aren't really serving me, some of that self-sabotage. ⁓ really allows me to slow down, to pause, ⁓ ⁓ Observe that is something that is serving me or not serving me. ⁓ I that I have the ability to redirect my focus, my thoughts, my beliefs. Another improvement that meditation can make is in our heart rate variability. It improves our heart rate variability and enhances our immune It also improves our emotional regulation, is ⁓ something I was just referring to noticing how you're feeling and being able to. ⁓ Support yourself to navigate through emotional difficulties. Meditation can also help with pain tolerance, improving pain tolerance. have shown that meditation can also benefit against conditions such as IBS, fibromyalgia, depression, and even PTSD. ⁓ that I have heard about meditation ⁓ are ⁓ you be seated all the time, right? You should be seated, you can do meditation in any posture. sitting up straight helps be become more alert, of course. But you don't need to be in a cross-legged position. You can even do a walking meditation. You can do walking, kind of movement. and doesn't have to be a certain length of time. ⁓ It can be, I explained earlier, any length of time that you're focusing your attention ⁓ on ⁓ simply yourself, mind. That is the practice of meditation, bringing yourself back to the present moment. That's why we practice. improve our ⁓ focus ⁓ and the ability to come back to the present moment to notice when we've gone off into the past or off into the future. And it really that ⁓ mind bringing us back to this present moment. ⁓ helps control your mind and your nervous system ⁓ your emotional regulation. I also believe that it helps you tune into your higher self, your intuition, instead of always listening to that fearful brain that seems to be kind of coming at us all the time, like self-doubt. ⁓ can be that higher ⁓ that voice ⁓ reminds that you ⁓ are that you're right on track. It can be that comforting. Embrace that safe centered feeling. So again, there's lots ways that you can adopt a meditation practice. One you might want to just yourself ⁓ is where would I benefit in my day most ⁓ from a practice? In the morning when you wake up, are you waking up anxious? Are you waking up dysregulated in a panic? are you feeling like a slump in the ⁓ of the day? ⁓ a loss of energy, feeling ⁓ kind of depleted. Maybe ⁓ a meditation in the middle of the day would support you. Or you having a hard time sleeping at night? Maybe an evening meditation would be most beneficial for you. Whatever answer ⁓ ⁓ highly encourage you to just begin. Begin a practice for at ⁓ ⁓ days, more like 14 or 21 would be ⁓ phenomenal. ⁓ and I'd love to hear how the practice goes. again, I am going to record a special meditation for you on the next episode. ⁓ definitely come back and listen to that one. ⁓ And I hope this is really encouraging you to start the practice. Wherever you are is absolutely perfect to start. I know most people believe that they can't sit for too long. meditation hasn't worked for them in the past. They can't quiet their mind enough. ⁓ But is why you practice. You're not supposed to sit in meditation and be thoughtless. You're supposed to notice what is coming up. So the fact that you are hearing thoughts, you are doing it correct. And as you sit with yourself over time, the thoughts will start to quieter quieter. ⁓ Sometimes be louder, but sometimes you'll notice it's almost like if you were to. ⁓ Dive into the ocean. At the top of the ocean, there's the waves are crashing, it's kind of turbulent. But when you start to sink down and go lower and lower, the waters get more and more calm. Meditation is much like that. The more you practice, the more your mind starts to calm, your nervous system regulates, you become more and more relaxed. But if you're noticing yourself feel stressed when you're first starting off, you're not doing anything wrong. That is exactly what you are supposed to hear, but you just haven't been tuning into yourself. And so of course that feels like very abrasive. And you might interpret that as, ⁓ I something's wrong with me. I can't meditate. But that is so untrue. It's just you have a lot of thoughts, you have a lot going on in your mind, and you're taking a moment to see that. As you practice this more and more, you're going to feel so much more grounded, so much calmer, so much more in control of how you are thinking and feeling. So I again highly encourage you to give it a try and Let me know how it goes. Thank you again for spending this time with me. ⁓ As always, are enough. and you are evolving. Have a great week.