How it all started
My friend and I went to the Health & Wellness Show at the Vancouver Convention Centre in February. We were approached by a woman from the Bodhi Meditation booth and she told us about a free all-day class in Richmond where we could learn about and practice meditation. Check out the Bodhi Meditation website (www.puti.ca) for future workshops and everything else they have to offer!
We had a great experience at the meditation workshop. We learned about Bodhi Meditation, practiced what we had learned, we were served a delicious free lunch, and not once did anyone ask for money! After the class, my friend and I bought a 30-minute CD of one of the guided meditations we had done. We decided to do a 30-day challenge where we would meditate every day using the CD.
And so the challenge began…
Forming a habit
One of the valuable things I learned during this 30-day challenge is being very conscious about the process of forming a habit. Having the physical object (The CD) in a visible spot that I saw several times a day, and having to physically pick it up when I wanted to meditate, was a great way to remember to do it every day. Even better, was having my friend asking me if I did it and giving me a bit of grief if I complained about it or considered skipping a day.
30 minutes might sound a bit too ambitious for some people but because the CD was a guided meditation, it was easy to just do what we had learned in the session. You don’t have to start with 30 minutes a day. Start with something smaller and more manageable, say 5 minutes, even if it’s just taking 5 minutes to breathe deeply and consciously focus on your breath.
Having a defined block of time was very helpful for me. I could put the CD in and relax knowing that in exactly 30 minutes it would be done and I could carry on with my day. It eliminated the time worry during the meditation itself.
I don’t like to admit it but I did miss 3 days altogether and then I made them up at the end. Two of those days were easily avoidable and it was just a matter of laziness that I skipped them. Another thing I learned about forming a habit is the importance of not skipping any days. As soon as you have broken the cycle, it’s a lot easier to skip another day. Being consistent is crucial in creating new habits and sticking to them!
Is it working?
Check out My 30-Day Meditation Challenge (Part 2)… Is it working??