Wouldn’t you love to be able to get all the benefits of meditating without having to actually meditate? Sounds crazy, right?
When I was a kid, I would sometimes watch so much TV that I would get completely relaxed. I would be sitting there and I would feel as though my body was lifting off the chair. The sensation was so overwhelmingly enjoyable that the sound and light of the TV became background to my inner peace. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I was able to recreate that sensation, and it just so happened to be the sensation of meditating (for me). I’m not entirely proud of the fact that such a large chunk of my childhood was spent in a TV meditation (or rather stupor), but it did give way to me realizing that the sublime relaxation and joy of meditation was attainable without some immense effort in concentration.
Others have suggested that certain forms of music can elicit this type of relaxation. For example, listening to Bob Marley and his signature slow rhythm can be create some of the benefits of meditation. If you live near water, taking a few moments to sit by the shore and listen to the ebbing and flowing of the water can also have that same relaxing effect. These two activities have something in common – the relaxing rhythm that we hear helps us to move into a more relaxed brain frequency (more on brain frequencies in another post).
I started this blog because I wanted more people to understand that meditation is actually very accessible. It seems really hard, but it’s not. In our society, meditating isn’t something we learn from a young age. So the idea of sitting with our discomforts and thoughts seems really daunting.
Imagine you had never seen anyone walk upright and all of a sudden you were told it’s better to walk upright than crawl. You tried and you failed. Maybe you failed several times. Some teachers online showed you how well they walked upright and described all the benefits of walking upright. They said you had to practice for 20 minutes two times a day. They explained the mechanics of it and it all seemed really complicated. How many people would start walking upright if they had to try and fail as many times as they did when learning to walk upright as small children?
I often think of meditating as similar to walking upright. The benefits in particular are very similar – seeing things from different perspectives, not worrying so much about little things at your feet, not getting easily caught up in traps and tangles on the ground, being able to see obstacles and clearer paths ahead of time (metaphorically). It’s all available to us, but it’s not something we’ve learned from a young age. So we need to practice. If you find sitting for any period of time – 10 minutes or even 5 – to be too hard, turn on some Bob Marley, or go sit by the water. Let the rhythm soothe you. Don’t worry about perfecting a meditation or even getting any of the benefits, just enjoy the sounds in the moment. You may soon find yourself in a relaxed state that feels a lot like meditation.
Here is a link to Bob Marley’s One Love – I dare you to try to be anxious while this is playing!
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