The other day I caught an interview where Deepak Chopra talked about his 21 day meditations with Oprah. He has a sense of humor too - apparently, he jokingly suggested that if they got married she could call herself Oprah Chopra 😅
Meditation is a lifesaver though. There are so many good techniques but I believe that the best approach is to find one you love.
What matters is that we are consistent, if only for 5-10 minutes a day. I taught meditation at a conference for cancer survivors in Mexico, focusing on how to make it both enjoyable and effective.
You’ll find the highlights below:
What Do Meditations Involve?
What comes to mind with the word meditation? In the past, it might have been a monk sitting calmly under a tree. Is meditation sitting still, quieting the mind, and listening to your breath?
While it can be exactly that, at this event, I wanted to propose that meditation can also be fun or enjoyable. And that any activity which allows us to bring our mind, body and emotions into a state of peace can be part of an overarching meditation practice.
And why not have fun with it?
What Makes It Effective?
Most people meditate with the following goals in mind:
- To press the 'pause button' and leave worries aside.
- To relax and give the physical body some rest.
- To lift your mood when you are feeling down.
- To connect with your intuition (inner guide).
- To create moments of peace.
Those peaceful moments become longer with each session and eventually, calm is the rule and not the exception in your daily life. This is accomplished with time, in several steps:
Step 1) Release The Day
I learned to meditate at The College of Psychic Studies in London, where most meditations focused on developing our intuition. In large part, this involves connecting with our emotions.
The first step was to release everything we had been through that day before calming down and accessing our intuition in guided meditations. We can let go by listening to our breath for a few minutes and visualizing white light coming down from the stars, releasing mental energy.
The light washes through and around your physical body. You make the conscious decision to release anything that may have happened that day, how you felt about it, and your To-Do list, etc.
We can also visualize the Aura as a sphere of energy around the body. Think of it as a projection of your mind & emotions. Visualize light and color flowing through your Aura, cleansing it, and pay attention to how you feel.
When you're done clearing yourself, surround your body with a color that makes you feel warm, loved and centred.
Visualizing showers of light and color is one of my favorite meditations. It helps us by telling the subconscious mind what we want to release.
Visualizing showers of light and color is one of my favorite meditations. It helps us by telling the subconscious mind what we want to release.
Step 2) Channel Your Emotions
Creative visualizations like the one above make it easier for us to let go of our experiences at the end of the day. The next step is to begin channeling our emotions; essentially how we feel about our life, interactions and about the past.
Our thoughts feed into our emotional state, and then our emotions trigger thoughts that reinforce those feelings. We need a two-pronged approach to bring peace into our lives.
There are many ways to channel our emotions, and if you read Chapter 3 from my Chakra Healing & Magick book, I have included creative healing tools that make it easier for us to listen to our emotions and then get them off our chest.
Before trying them, please follow this intuitive meditation. It will guide you through releasing emotions and dialing down overwhelming ones so that they are easier to handle.
Step 3) Live For The Moment
I'm a bit of a book nerd. When I began meditating, I read up on Buddhism {link} and other traditions where meditation is key. Apparently, the ultimate goal of meditation is to take that state of calm to your daily life - not the meditation itself.
We might get in the hang of meditating for 15-20 minutes everyday. But if we walk away at the end of the session without changing a thing in our lives, it doesn't help much.
The idea is to become just as aware and mindful, focusing 100% of your attention on where you are, what you are doing and how your body feels (the antithesis to multitasking).
This is known as Mindfulness. Initially, it may be easier to take short breaks and go through the following exercises:
- Take 1-minute breaks and listen to your breath.
- Ask yourself "How does my body feel right now?
- Set an alarm on your phone twice daily.
- Ground yourself to feel your body.
- Listen to your surroundings.
The last tip has been the one that works best for me. You know how some people turn off the radio when they are driving down the street looking for a building number?
There is something in the way our brain works. I can't listen to my surroundings and daydream/worry simultaneously lol.
Step 4) The Water Metaphor
To use an example from my Reiki classes; students often often ask how regularly they should book sessions with a Reiki practitioner, when the point is to learn to manage their own stress levels with Reiki, meditation and other techniques. In our last workshop I tried to explain that it would be best if they meditated every day and gave themselves Reiki to release stress and tension.
It was very hot that day and I had a glass of water in my hand. I held it up explaining that we are the glass while our feelings, thoughts and experiences are the water that flow into the cup.
Easy enough at first. But now imagine yourself standing with a glass of water in your hand and how it starts to weigh after an hour, after two hours, a day, a week, etc.
It was very hot that day and I had a glass of water in my hand. I held it up explaining that we are the glass while our feelings, thoughts and experiences are the water that flow into the cup.
When we meditate or give ourselves Reiki, we pour some water out of the cup. A full Reiki session gives us a good clearing, but it doesn't empty the glass.
Meditate daily to release that weight. And finally, grounding yourself is like poking a hole under the glass and letting the water drip out continuously. Grounding is the basis for any type of energy work that I might do; it is covered in my book on Chakra Healing & Magick.
Step 5) Find A Style You Love
Ideally, we'd take turns, meditating to release our thoughts some days and channeling our emotions on other days. The goal is never to completely 'blank out your mind' - that would be nearly impossible. The Buddhist teacher, Sogyal Rimpoche, tells us that meditation is like looking at the sky. Some days will be cloudy (thoughts), others stormy (emotions). Rather than argue with the clouds, Rimpoche suggests letting them go by. And in my experience, creative meditations like the one above allow us to lean on the wind for support.
Committing to a regular practice is more likely to be effective, so find a style that you love. There are many ways to meditate, here are just a few ideas to begin with:
- Listening to your breath, eyes closed.
- Counting down from 20 to 1 to calm down.
- Visualizing a work of art and stepping in (SEE HERE)
- Cooking or washing the dishes with 100% attention.
- Inhale white light, exhale gold for 2 minutes.
- Moving meditations like Tai Chi or Yoga.
- Mantras (especially with music).
I also have a book that was written for families who are coping with cancer. Read the introduction to A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love HERE.
That's all for now, thank you for reading!
So this was a longer post than usual! But I hope it helps, and please follow the links below for more on energy healing, meditation and complementary therapies for cancer patients.
Please share your thoughts and experiences below.
Reiki hugs,
Regina
Reiki hugs,
Regina
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Regina Chouza is an Energy Healer, Angel Medium and author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. She studied angels, tarot and astrology at The College of Psychic Studies in London, and qualified as an Energy Healer at the School of Intuition & Healing UK. Blogging since 2010, Regina's passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits.
Image: Canva.com (Colors Updated 2021)
Definitely need to change the negative vibes around me. The pandemic has left a field of negativity in its path. I have experienced the anger and emotional aggression from other people in daily life, this has a knock on affect on my emotions as I see and feel it but do not react for I know I would feel worse later.
ReplyDeleteI had hoped people would be more considerate and kind to each other we’ve all been vulnerable to the virus and the world chaos. I work harder now in these times to stay in balance to not be affected by what I see and hear.
Your blog has come along at the right time for me Regina.
I shall follow the guidance knowing this will give balance calm and peace.
Thank you 🙏💕