When I was younger and when I didn’t have any experience about meditation, I was always thinking that meditation is something mysterious, difficult to study, esoteric… Also, I was always thinking that only “strange” (well, not strange, but different, that is a better word) people do meditation.

Then I was reading a lot about yoga and meditation. I attended a yoga classes. I remember that after one and a half hours of yoga, I was totally calm and in peace with myself. Nobody could piss me off (not even my ex husband!).

Everybody knows that Yoga is great for body and mind. But what I found amazing is that I have learned how to breathe (finally! ), how to relax myself or how to calm myself down (in times of trouble)…

Many people think there is nothing special about breathing. Well, there is! Babies breathe with their abdomen (check that if you have opportunity), but as we grow older, we start breathing way up in the chest area. You can see that very good in movies, especially when a woman is upset, how her breasts going up and down (of course that’s also a special effect ).

So, breathing with your chest is wrong! Bad breathe habit… The key to correct breathing is to use your abdomen rather than your chest!

How to:
Lie on your back with knees bent. Put your hands on the lower abdomen. Relax and inhale deeply into your abdomen so that you can feel how your hands move up with your stomach. When you exhale, your hands should go down with your stomach. Do this about 10-15 minutes every day. You can do this when you wake up, or before you go to sleep, or when ever you are in a situation to do this exercise. It has to become your new habit and unconscious action.

From this exercise, you can very easily go into what I called “simple meditation”. I have started with “how to breathe”, because the meditation is in very close connection with correctly breathing.

I will explain you “phrases” what gurus or yoga masters use and we don’t have any idea what that means . I needed a lot of time and reading and practicing to catch the point finally.

Find the quiet place (you don’t have to be in cave to do your meditation ); sit in a chair with your spine erect and forming with your legs a ninety-degree angle with the ground. Put your hand on your legs with palms facing up. Relax your hands. You can also lie down if that is the only way that is comfortable for you (for me it is). Begin with 10 to 15 minutes. Never meditate after eating.

Close your eyes, but try not totally. If you can’t, never mind. Relax the lower jaw (when you do this, you will realize in that moment how your jaw was stiff, how actually you are not relaxing). Put your tongue on the palate. Mouth should be just a little bit open.

Begin to quiet your mind. That means, try not to think about anything (especially not about problems from your daily life) Of course, the thoughts will come and they will always be there. Don’t struggle against them. Let the thoughts come, but don’t dwell on them. Focus on your breath (that means, focus on your breath how it’s going through your body to the abdomen, actually from your mouth, through your body to your abdomen). If you have problem with concentration, focus on one thing, a word for example. Word “calm” can be very useful. Any word that has a calming effect on you. Utter the word “calm” in your mind with every exhalation.
So, short brief:
Inhale: focus on your “breath pathway” from your mouth, through your body to your abdomen.
Exhale: utter the word “calm” in your mind.

Do this simple meditation about 15 minutes every day. You can do it twice per day (morning and evening) what will be the best. You can also increase your meditation time with time. As you wish and as you feel about that.
The aim of this simple meditation is very basic: You should feel calmer and find yourself more relaxed.

I also found this blog very useful for me, because it’s a good way to refresh my memory and to share with other people good experiences (also bad as “not to do things”) what I have learned and unfortunately forgot or replace with other things in my life. Now, after a while, when I am living totally different life, I realized how many good things I forgot. Fortunately, I am coming back to them…