Start your journey with Meditation
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I wish I would have started meditating earlier in my professional sports career, now I know what a positive effect it has on my body and consequently would have had on my tennis, especially in the latter years. I have been able to reflect a lot recently about how stressful life was and can be in this fast world we are living in and meditation helps me to unwind a lot. When I meditate I can relax deeply, the nervous system is relaxed, I don’t need to go on social media and see what others are doing, my outlook in stressful moments is more positive and I just want to enjoy the moment and that special ‘light’ feeling. I would really recommend and invite you to try.
Meditation is not something that can be learnt overnight, it takes time, energy and a lot of practice to master, and I am still working on perfecting my meditating skills and probably will be for many more years. There are many different ways to relax yourself with breathing techniques and deep meditation, so it can be a personal preference and is up to each person to see what works best for them, and can be a matter of trial and error before you find the right way for you. Due to the individual nature of meditation it is hard to say exactly what to do and I will dig deeper in future blog posts about techniques I use but I would recommend to try the following actions first, in combination or just one, to see what works best for you to build a baseline in meditation:
1. Start exploring meditation by yourself:
Choose once-twice per day, and commit to completing short meditation at the same time everyday
Find a quiet space, with as little background noise as possible and set a short 5-minute timer (to start, and increase once you feel comfortable…)
Sit with crossed legs on the floor or a mat - this position facilitates the movement of energy around the body, you can focus on good posture, breathing and readily feel the different sensations of the body.
For approximately 2 minutes (or 10 inhales), take a deep breath deep into your stomach and then exhale all the way out very slowly. Try not to allow your mind to wander, and just focus on the stomach muscles expanding and contracting.
You should feel very relaxed now, and the next step is to do what I like to call a full body meditation scan. Starting with your little toe and slowly moving all the way up to the top of your head, try to feel the sensations on the skin and in your muscles, whilst staying completely relaxed. Again, try not to let your mind wander and if it does, just try to refocus back to the moment.
Once done, be kind to yourself and slowly stretch out of the meditation pose in your own time.
2. Follow guided meditations for beginners
- there are a number of great resources available at no cost in app-form or on youtube. Personally, I would recommend using the free trials on offer from Calm and Headspace and then a great permanent zero cost option includes: InsightTimer.
3. Check out your local yoga studio,
where you start to really feel and understand your mind and body. Good options will depend on where you are located.
Enjoy the challenge of working meditation into your daily routine! It may be difficult to stay in the moment to start with, but it will get better and the benefits are amazing, especially in a world where there is so much stress and emotions, both good and bad. Follow along in upcoming posts as we dig a little bit deeper into meditation, once you have built your good baseline. Let me know what you think and how it goes, I love hearing from you guys.
JG x