#58 Meditation Myths

October 16, 2024

In this episode I explain and hopefully dispel three common myths about meditation.

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Episode Transcript

Hello and

welcome

to The Own

Your Health

podcast,

I'm Cyndi Lynne

and I can't

wait to help

you step into

your health

power.

Last week we

talked about

meditation

and why we

do some of

the things we

do during

meditation,

and hopefully

demystified

some of that

so that you're

maybe inclined

to give this a

try. I wanted to

come back with

a couple other

myths or ideas

that sometimes

get

pretty confusing

when it comes to

meditation and

can be an

impediment

for someone

who's

wanting to give

it a try

or who has

tried and feels

like they're

failing.

So the first

thing that I

want to say

about meditation

it is

impossible

to do wrong.

If you sit

with the

intention

of meditating,

even

for a couple

of minutes,

you've

done something

really

important.

You've planted

seeds,

you've planted

the idea, and

you've

started the

practice

of bringing your

mind to where

your body is

for that period

of time.

Now, you might

feel as though

you're successful,

and I say that

with quotes

because

meditation isn't

about success or

failure

or achievement.

It is, in

fact, about the

practice.

But you really

can't do it

wrong.

So that's my

first message

for you today.

And this is

hopefully this

will

be a quicker

session here.

The first

message

is, you can't

do meditation

wrong

just by showing

up for yourself.

You're doing it

correctly.

You're planting

seeds

that you can

build on and

that will grow

during this

process.

The second is

that it's

necessary

to clear your

mind of all

thoughts and

that

meditation is an

emptying of the

mind.

While I have

no doubt there

are individuals

who

can do this,

it is by

far much more

difficult than

it sounds.

And it's not

really even the

goal for most

meditation.

Now, there are

different kinds

of meditations.

There's meditations

that

use mantras or

or special

words that

people repeat to

themselves.

There's meditations

that are guided,

that

are very visual

in your

thinking.

But for the

most part, our

goal, especially

when

we're learning

meditate, is to

give the mind

a single thing

to focus on

and a thing

that is in

the present with

us. Again,

keeping

our mind, our

head in the

same space and

time as our

body.

And I know

I've gotten

funny

comments about

that.

It's like, of

course my head

is where my

body is,

I'm one.

But often we

know that's not

the truth.

Often we know

that we are

worrying, and

worrying

is the future.

We're putting

our

mind into the

future, thinking

about

things that

could

potentially

happen.

And we worry

about that, or

we have regrets,

or we rethink

the past, or

we think about

things we've

said and wish we

hadn't said, or

wish we'd have

said something

else

all of those

times.

And if you're

aware of it,

you may catch

yourself many

times

during the day

where your mind

is not where

your body is.

You're not

focused

on the task

at hand.

And that's where

the idea that

you may have

seen comes

along, that most

anything

can be a

meditation, even

something

as simple as

washing the

dishes.

If your mind

is where your

body is and

kind of focused

on a single

thing, a single

point, a single

activity, that's

meditation.

And when you

realize that,

then you can

understand

how there can

be walking

meditations,

how there can

be a variety

of different

types

of meditations.

You can give

your mind

different,

I'll call it

different work

do during

meditation,

but all of

that work

involves

having your mind

where your body

is at this

particular place

and time.

And that's a

gift that you

can give

yourself.

The first point

in this is

that you can't

do meditation

wrong,

and you're

always

planting seeds

for a better

practice.

And the second

is you don't

have to clear

your mind.

And in fact,

you can give

your mind a

task.

So last week

we talked about

the task of

breathing, of

just

labeling our

breath,

sitting in

meditation,

labeling inhale

and

exhale in our

mind.

You can also

count your

breaths.

Simply count

them

to ten and

start over.

And if you

lose your place,

simply start

over

at one.

Now, the more

examples I give,

the more it

may sound like

there's actually

rules

involved, but

that's

not the case.

It's not rules

so much as

trying to give

you different

ideas

about how people

meditate, about

the

tasks that you

can give your

brain during

this

process, so that

you can find,

and I will

use the word

again, a little

bit of sense

of accomplishment,

or like, I think

I'm catching on

to this.

I think I'm

getting this.

The third thing

that I want

to say about

meditation that

completely frustrating

is that learning

meditate is not

a linear

process.

So if you

had a session

that you felt

very good about

today, you may

totally struggle

when

you sit down

tomorrow.

Every day, just

like yoga, every

day that you

bring your mind

and body

together

to do this

work is a

different day,

and you're in a

different mind

space,

and there's

different

things that have

gone on in life.

Now, I will

tell you that

the longer you

do and the

more consistent

you

are with this

practice, the

consistent your

success

will be.

But it's not

always linear

and

it's not always

guaranteed.

So you're going

to want to

keep trying.

You're going to

want to keep

going because it

is a practice.

So I hope

you can take

these three tips

to further

mystify

the whole

practice

of meditation

and join me back

here next week

for a little

bit more about

meditation.

Until then,

let's go out and

own it.

#58 Meditation Myths

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