If one of your resolutions is to get into meditation this year, but you are not sure where to start, then might I recommend this very post?

Meditation is not, although it may appear this way, some mysterious and complex state of mind, but is nothing more than the pursuit of clarity in the mind. It offers space in which to order your thoughts around you, as your consciousness sits in the centre of the mind, in silence, with a clear view of the world around you. You don’t need to be sitting in that cross-legged position with your eyes closed to do it either, it can be achieved in most positions and environments (the cross-legged position is pretty comfortable though, to be fair!)

Finding time to focus the mind is important, especially as both spare time and genuine silence are hard to come by these days. The world is noisy. The world is fast. Getting on in the world is much easier when mediation is a friend, not an obscure, inaccessible mystery.

Here are some tips on how to get going…

1.     Carve Out As Much Time As You Can Find

As life builds up again, spare time becomes harder to find. So, think of meditation time as part of your routine, not an added extra. Maybe you could implement it into your morning routine, or as an add-on before or after exercise? Meditation can be performed in as small a time as five minutes and as long as… well, as long as you like frankly. However much time you manage to carve out for it, make sure it’s consistent.

2.     Find A Calm Place

Meditation can be performed anywhere. You can plug your headphones in and meditate on your commute, you can find a secluded place in the city like a library or museum. However, when meditation is new to you, it is a good idea to try and find a truly calm, quiet and secluded place to practice. Your living room is ideal. Or perhaps there is an empty studio at your gym or an empty space at work.

3.     Create an Atmosphere

It’s not just about creating a calm atmosphere; it is also about avoiding things that create an unconducive atmosphere. You don’t need complete silence, but a bustling atmosphere full of busy people, a very bright room, or putting on thrash metal will probably not be ideal. Close to silence with a calming bit of music or nature sounds in the background works well. Brown noise is also fantastic, as it brings your brain down to a more meditative frequency. A room or place with gentle light is also a good move.

4.     Get Comfortable

Comfort is not only important because it’s nice to be comfortable, but if you are uncomfortable you are likely to be distracted by the fact. Wearing comfy clothes, and sitting somewhere comfy and in a comfy ambient environment will elevate your meditation session, helping you to get the most out of it.

5.     Focus on The Breath

The easiest meditations begin with focusing on the breath. Don’t push the breath to do something unnatural, just focus on it. This will soon bring you to a state of mental calm and clarity. Simply focusing on the breath for ten minutes will do you a lot of good.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group,  The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Meditation Tips for Newcomers appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

I hear ‘I can’t meditate because’, and then comes a laundry list of reasons, which all sound rather valid and impressive, but have absolutely nothing to do with a human being’s ability to meditate.

You see the fact that you are terribly busy, have a jumpy mind, can’t sit still, and can’t imagine finding the time to fit anything else into your Piccadilly Circus mornings juggling off-spring, zoom meetings, and your personal hygiene are in fact, simply put, all of the reasons why meditation would be so very good for you.

I used to teach courtroom advocacy to trainee lawyers at leading law firms and the first thing I would get them to do on day 1 of the three-day programme would be to check at the door any negative story they held about their public speaking ability. My invitation to them was to give themselves a blank slate and to use the next 3 days to discover whether they are actually any good at public speaking. By the end of the course, they were all performing in a Mock Trial as if they had been doing it for years.

And so, when it comes to meditation too, we must remember the truthful words of Marianne Williamson:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us… Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

So right now – I’d love to invite you to give yourself a blank slate here in respect of meditation. Why not try meditating for a few days with an open mind and see what comes. See what you discover about yourself and an ancient practice that has perhaps always held a type of allure, for the simple reason, that you know deep down that it is part of your birth-right.

Start by reminding yourself that meditation is not a destination-based activity – there is nothing to do and nowhere to go – nothing to achieve and no one to award points. Meditation does not exist in a binary – there is no moment of arrival either as a meditator or as proficient, there is simply a practice that unfolds. There is no need to join a club or sign up for a story or doctrine, just the next breath within your miraculous body to experience and explore.

To investigate meditation you only need two things: the breath and the body. You have both, so I see you came prepared. The journey within beckons you forward, yet perhaps you are yet to fully hear and accept this timeless invitation. Perhaps today is the day? Listen to your heart – it holds the answer. And like everything – hold it gently. There is a rhythm to all life, including your readiness to embrace more fully your inner world of thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Meditation offers you a map. It turns out to be the map of your own consciousness.

If the last year has led you on a journey of self-discovery and you are ready to deepen that process – remember that at a certain point, all awareness falls within. The breath begins in stillness and ends stillness. So will you.

As within, so without.

My last year has taken me on quite the journey too, during which I was inspired to create a course specifically for people who think they can’t meditate but secretly wish they could. I have called it: Zen In Ten – The Mindfulness Accelerator For People Who Need To Slow Down and it is open for enrolment today on Teachable. In less than 20 minutes per day for ten days, you will learn the basics of mindfulness meditation and by the end, you will be able to meditate solo for 10 minutes. There are 15 places available at the introductory price of £55.

The full price thereafter is £95. You can find it here: Zen In Ten

And so I leave you with a final reminder that emerges as a whisper from the soul of humanity: You Can Meditate!

By Neil Seligman

________

Take The Next Step:

1. Join The Conscious Professional Mindful Community (my private Facebook group) for access to live weekly meditations and energy transmissions.

2. Learn the foundational practice of mindfulness in ten days with my flagship online course: Zen in Ten.

3. Discover if working with me one-to-one is right for you. Book your 15-minute discovery call HERE.

4. Make a corporate enquiry to bring The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes into your workplace. Book a call HERE.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Why You Think You Can’t Meditate appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Finding the balance between life and work is a delicate and ongoing task. This balance fluctuates and topples throughout our lives, some of us more than others. But perhaps at no time is this balance trickier than when you have small children in your life!

Work has to happen, of course. There is really very little many of us can do in order to spend more actual time with our families. This being the case, it is important that your are mindful that time you do spend with them is of the best quality. Yes, you must put as much effort into the time spent at home as the time spent at work, but this doesn’t mean it has to be hard! Here are a few ways to ensure that you are getting as much quality family time as possible on a daily basis, without having to come up with a significant compromise or crazy master plan!

1. Plan

The key to any busy but efficient life is planning. There have been times in my life where I have been living one day to the next without much of a plan; free-falling through life. There is a thrill to this, but it can make for an inefficient use of time. As you may know, there is little room for badly spent time with kids! So, scheduling, planning and specific timings are your friend here.

Keep to bedtimes, keep to dinner times, and keep to plans. This may often be easier said than done, but with a plan there is much less chaos when things go wrong. Indeed, contingency planning is also wise.

2. Keep Your Promises

Speaking further in ‘plans’ here. The best thing you can do, in order to get the family time you and your kin desire, is to be strict with yourself. If you say that you are going to be home a certain time, be home at that time. If you say that you will cook breakfast with the kids on Sunday or read a story tonight, make sure you do. This will not only create positive bonds and create memories you will treasure, it will also make our children feel secure and looked after. All of this help to make those moments of connection grounded and positive.

3. Involve Them in Your Everyday Life

Kids love to be involved. So, if it is the weekend and you have a load of ‘life admin’ to do (shopping, DIY or cooking, for example), let them get involved. This is a great way to spend quality time with your family, whilst also getting done what you need to get done (albeit, maybe a little slower than usual).

4. Relax with Them

When you come through the door from work, don’t feel bad about not going to be with them immediately. Sure, your family may be excited to see you, but you don’t want to plunge in before you have had time to gather yourself. Go and get changed, have a shower, be quest for 5 minutes. prepare yourself to be relaxed and at ease with your family. Be mindful of your own needs. Short decompression periods are a way to ensure good levels of self-care, and to give your family access to a happy and present ‘you’.

5. Meal Times

Food is not just a way to fuel yourself, meal times can be great bonding moments. There is a reason that the heart of most homes is the kitchen! Making easting with your family at least once a day offers a fantastic opportunity to share both food and conversation with your family. It’s a good a check in point as you can get. A designated opportunity to catch up with the day to day lives of everyone, and to build a bonded family unit.

6. Talk to Them… and Listen

Taking to your children is perhaps the most important way to connect with your children. This is not always easy. In order to build trust, you must be mindful of how best they communicate. Maybe they will get deep an meaningful with you over dinner? Or perhaps they like to chat in private, or passively whist doing an activity. Find ways and situations that facilitate quality connection. Oh, and don’t forget to really listen and to react mindfully and thoughtfully.

By Chris Thomson

For more ideas on how to make your home life a bit more efficient and chilled out, check out this handy article from our archives…  Mindful Living: De-Stress Your Mornings

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Working Parents: 6 Tips for Maintaining A Healthy Work/Life Balance appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

1. Always try to meditate on level ground to enhance alignment.

2. Set a timer to indicate when you have finished your meditation. This allows the mind to release its grip on scheduling and gives you more chance of reaching silence.

3. Meditating in nature is especially beautiful. Parks, forests, mountains, oceans and lakes all offer enriching access to deeper states of being.

4. Meditation is simply evolving the capacity to stop, sit down and watch yourself ‘happening’, don’t expect too much too soon.

5. You can meditate anywhere and whenever. Whilst travelling from one place to another is a particularly good time to meditate. Perhaps you could practice during your daily commute to work or whilst you’re on the plane travelling to your next destination!

6. The act of stopping in itself is a powerful commitment. Even if you commit to stopping and meditating for only 5 minutes a day. A commitment to stillness is a wonderful touchstone for sanity in a world going by at a beguiling rate.

7. The benefits of meditation come online as soon as you get into a regular practice, you don’t have to achieve stillness or enlightenment first. Benefits include, increased presence and awareness in day-to-day situations, reduced stress, more stable moods, better sleep, improved recall and focus as well as neurological benefits in various parts of the brain. These effects may not be noticed immediately so be patient and realistic but remember as we remarked at the outset, a daily practice of meditation can transform a life.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post 7 Conscious Meditation Tips appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Did I lose you? Here, we encounter the limitation of words when describing experiential phenomenon. My description can only reference the experience of meditation for those who have already had the experience. For those that haven’t been there, the words can only serve to arouse curiosity of might even put you off!

With this in mind, through incorrect usage, meditation has also come to mean ‘any practice or ritual which brings one towards the pure state of conscious experience’. Thus the practice of contemplation to welcome in the state of meditation, has itself been dubbed meditation, as has the ritual of sitting down cross-legged with your eyes closed.

So when most people say they are going off to meditate, what they are actually doing is going to practice the craft of contemplation. This might be breathe-awareness or thought-monitoring and meditation is an experience that sometimes occurs during that practice.

The distinction between contemplation and meditation could be summarised as follows. Contemplation is something you do. Meditation is something you be.

I sometimes intrigue my class by telling them that meditation is something that simply occurs ‘when awareness comes to meet you in the silence’. It is just an idea, but it gives you the sense that meditation is something that arises, it is not something that you ‘do’.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post What is Meditation? appeared first on The Conscious Professional.