Give yourself a break

There is a real heavy energy right now in the world. We are being bombarded with information daily, visually painful images and videos, fake news, corrupt governments, illness, hurt and a lot of sadness. Our eyes are tired from staring at screens all day, our minds are busy overthinking every aspect of our lives and the conspiracy theories, our bodies feel stagnant from the lack of movement. We are not feeling ourselves.

When I made this website it was a place to speak from the heart and express from the soul, share things that don't fit into an instagram caption, where my true friends and followers can come to get to know me better and I can take you around the world with me. Where I can help you learn and grow as I do.

I wanted to write this post today, with everything that is going on, because it seemed more appropriate and useful to share than what I had planned. There are lot of heightened emotions right now, people have lost their jobs, a pause on incomes around the world, the fear of illness is real and only heightened by the media, there is anger about the injustice taking place and in most countries we are receiving little assurance that it is going to be ok.

There are many times throughout our lives where we can experience disconnection or an overwhelming feeling upon us. The energies of others can weigh strong, we loose total focus of our center and become heavily influenced in the wrong way, our attention leans on the thoughts of others, and our mind can have a pretty tricky time understanding what thoughts are ours and which don't belong.

I want to share with you one of the ways in which I have been keeping my cool through quarantine which maybe you can try and incorporate it into your daily routine to take the heavy weight and feeling off your mind and your body.

Meditaion has not been a part of my life for a long time, but ever since I started a few years ago I have been consistent and dedicated in practicing. For a long time I thought meditation meant sitting with your legs crossed humming "omm", eyes closed and with a completely blank mind. While that totally can be a part of it, the practice of meditation is so extensive that it can actually mean so many things.

So if you have tried to meditate before and your mind has been all over the place, and you couldn't keep your eyes closed, remember MEDITATION IS SUBJECTIVE, it is whatever it means to you. It is a moment in the day gifted to you, from you, and with regular practice can ease your mind and your body. It can clear your head to make room for the the important things that need to be thought, for solving problems & for learning, and even to help with exercise it will loosen you up and energize you.

Meditation is not a religion or a philophsy it is an addition to your lifestyle with the soul purpose of bettering it, its a moment for your mind to wander, for you to explore your thoughts to relax your brain and become a happier person.

There are many types of meditation but today I want to share with you the types of medition I personally have tried and those I most frequently use during my week, with no specific schedule, just what feels right on the day. I am not a professional, I am most certainly not an expert on the subject, I don't know the correct terminology for everything just yet but maybe what I do know can help you out. So if you've spent a while feeling like like its all a bit confusing and you didn't quite get it when you tried to learn about meditation before...I hope this helps.

I´ll share some links and some ideas on how to make it more comfortable and easier for you.

Guided meditation & Unguided meditation

Guided Meditation for someone just beginning or trying to practice for the first time can be easier and much more calming. It means listening and following someone who is more advanced in the practice than you. Usually the teacher will help you by explaining how to start relaxing and guide your mind to a point of stillness or calm, often accompanied with music or singing.

A guided meditation does not have to be sitting still in the dark or laying down with your eyes closed, there are walking meditations that you can use whilst out in nature, and actually encourage you to take in your surroundings.

In comparison an unguided meditation is where you go it alone, often sitting in silence and being alone with your thoughts, distracting yourself from the outside world, paying attention to your body, focusing on your breath. This is a moment where you sit still, or even complete a task that brings you peace and distraction.

Some of my favorite guided meditations that I use regularly are:

Mei-Ian Maurits a sound oracle and guide with the voice of an angel (honestly when you hear her you will know what I am talking about!) She produces lots of incredible music through her method of sound healing and regulairly posts guided mediations on her Facebook Page. She also has a few on her Spotify, ill add some links below.

Usually when I am listening to Mai-Ian I like to get comfortable, sitting or laying down, depends how emotionally spent I am. Grab a blanket, close my eyes, face a source of light and let myself be taken away by her words and voice. She has many different guided meditations Spotify: Mei-lan Maurits - Soul Code Transmissions

• Co-healing the core wound of Gaia (very appropriate for everything going on right now)

• Expanding into universal love

• Morning activation To only name a few.

Facebook: Mei-Ian Maurits She has tons available from live videos and recordings on her facebook page.

Joe Dispenza studied biochemistry and has a degree in Neuroscience. "he teaches the world how to empower and heal our mind through meditation and mindfulness. His studies have proven that when well practiced these tools can put us on the path to understanding and breaking deep-rooted bad habits and even heal illnesses." For many years I have been using his walking meditations that you can find on Youtube, but I also have Spanish versions that I would happily send out to anyone who would prefer to hear them in Spanish just send me a message and I will dropbox them to you.

Unguided meditation for me has many areas to explore. Depending on the time of day or the mood I am in will indicate what sort of practice I want to use, let me remind you again I am no pro, so these types of mediations are names I have given them, of course you are more than welcome to use these names, change them, or find out the official names and please share. We can learn together.

It can get loud up in your head with so many things passing through your mind, upto 60,000 thoughts a day! WOW! So if we have no way to channel them how do we expect to be able to focus our attention on what we want and need.

- Prayer Visualisation and organizing my thoughts. The word prayer has an obvious religious connotation but for me my moment of prayer is to the universe. Space & time, planets, galaxies, energy, matter, everything living, stars, everything we are made up of, everything bigger than us. Its my moment to visualize my future and also how I want my day to go, and think it into existence. I let the universe know through my vizualisation that I am determined and dedicated to my dreams, my tasks and what I want to do. I am sure you have heard about the powers of the universe and as someone who believes that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves this moment in my day is a reminder of that. It is a time to organize mentally everything I must do to grow and get my goals whilst staying grounded. Ask and you shall receive, the universe and its energy is powerful, we can manifest our futures. I would recommend finishing this meditation with some affirmations out loud, asserting the things YOU ARE speaking into existence. Always speak in present tense, say the things as if they are already in your life. I AM STRONG MINDED. I AM SUCCESFUL. I AM BEAUTIFUL. I AM RICH IN LOVE. I AM RICH IN MONEY. I AM ACHIEVING MY DREAMS. I AM HEALTHY. I AM HAPPY. I HAVE AN INPIRATIONAL PLATFORM. I SPEAK MY TRUTH. I AM THE BOSS OF MY OWN BUISNESS. I AM A QUEEN. I AM STRONG MINDED. I AM STRONG BODIED. (these are just some examples, but your affirmations will be personalized to each one of you, maybe they will be health focused or business focused....whatever they are say them with certainty and pride) I used this technique for months leading upto my operation in December, speaking my health and recovery into existence and it helped me keep my mind focused and present in healing.

- Silencing of the mind This is the practice I want to perfect, still to this day I find it hard, but like everything practice makes perfect. Of course when anyone tells you not to think of anything your mind is going to run wild. But I want to teach you a technique that definitely helped me, taught to me by my facilitator in a ceremony. Close your eyes, legs crossed however you feel comfortable, situp straight and comfortably. Now imagine yourself by some running water, a river, a stream, somehwere you know or even somewhere you have never been before. Wherever it is that comes up in your mind will be your sacred space. For everyone it is different and here there is no right or wrong place to imagine. When you close your eyes picture yourself sat by this running water, and start to focus on your breathing, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Every time a thought pops into your head, acknowledge it and let it run down the stream, and come back to the breathing. You might find that you find yourself wandering off into trails of thought but as soon as you notice come back to your place by the running water and concentrate on your breath. The idea is not to ignore your thoughts, but let them wash away and focus on your breath and the stillness you can create through imagination. Its been a nice way for me to quiet my mind as trying to see nothing and think nothing as simple as it sounds was hard! And its nice to go back everytime I need to, to that place in my mind by the running water that nobody knows about expect me.

- Breathing Something we all do without thinking, and its a big part of every kind of meditation. But sometimes we forget the importance and the power of our breath! I remember the first time I sat on my bed and started breathing with intention, heavily and powerfully. It was mesmerizing to focus on the air passing through my nostrils into my lower stomach, and out with power through my mouth. I played a song by Edo &Jo on my phone and throughout the whole track didn't take my mind off of the connecting with the air that was entering and leaving my body. I don't often practice these types of meditations, as my knowledge is still so little and they can be very intense, the first time I did it my body was fully vibrating!! But I find it very useful when I am having a panic or anxiety attack to snap back to the moment. Its an area of meditation that really interests me and I want to learn more about and will be happy to share more about in the future.

- Activity based meditation. We all have that one activity that brings us joy and peace. Reading, writing, painting, baking. Maybe you have been unknowingly able to meditate this whole time. Meditation is all about bringing you back to the present moment. Cooking when you are doing it for joy you are in the here and now, smelling each ingredient, focusing on the final dish, each step heightening our senses, we are being mindful and engaging in one task. (put your phone away and don't get distracted, loose yourself in the task you love) Painting, when you can loose your mind on the page, connecting with your imagination, the color palettes, the music, the canvas or the paper. It can help you connect with a deeper and quieter part of yourself. Reading & writing can be another moment in your day where you get lost between the pages. It requieres you to focus on one thing, forget the world around you and enjoy the moment.

Disconnect with the outside world for 10/20/30 minutes and giving your mind a moment.

Clarity comes when you come back to your center, your mind and body will thank you for taking time out of your day to silence the rush upstairs whichever way works best for you. But don't spend all day surfing the web, calling up friends, trying to complete too many tasks each day if you haven't even gifted yourself 10 minutes at least to meditate.