Meditation Practice For Left-Brain Logical Thinkers

I’ve struggled with meditation for years. It never felt like it was “working” for me. I’d sit quietly and be “doing” it, but it never felt like anything was happening.  In fact, I often found my mind more engaged and activated by sitting quietly than what I thought was supposed to come of it.

I’d follow all the advice from meditation experts to follow my breath, let the thoughts float through, and I even invested a couple thousand dollars to learn the transcendental meditation practice, known as TM, only to forget my mantra within just a few short weeks.

So other than the one-minute meditation that Russell and I share in this audio program we created, I haven’t been meditating regularly.

I’ve had friends tell me repeatedly that I need to meditate, but I’ve resisted it because it never seemed to do anything for me or it would do the opposite of what I felt it was supposed to do.

Well, fortunately, I married the right guy.

Russell has helped me understand that I NEED meditation to move beyond the head-centered existence I’ve created for myself. Like many left-brained smartys, my mind is the predominate center of my world.

If you too reside mostly in your mind, you know it’s a path that can never lead to peace.

I often feel as if there’s never enough.  I find myself constantly looking for something new.  My body, my heart and my soul never come to rest because my mind is always chasing the next thought, the next dream, the next big idea.

Russell has a saying that “when we meditate, we stop chasing the rabbit.” We come to peace.  We become fulfilled first and aren’t looking for the world to fulfill us.  Instead, we can act from a place of having something substantial to offer the world.

He says “meditation is the golden key to grounding in the disposition of service.”

I get it and I believe it because I experience it when I get out of my mind and into my body through dance and exercise.

But meditation has never done it for me.  In fact, I found it put me more in my mind.

Well, today, in Peru, Russell gave me the glimpse of another possibility that I am now sharing with you because if you too have struggled with meditation because your mind is going a mile a minute or it hasn’t seemed to “work” for you, I may have an answer.

Do this:

Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes the way you would when beginning any meditation practice.  Then, instead of sitting quietly, for the first couple of minutes voice the thoughts that are coming into your head out loud.

Do not censor yourself in any way.

So it might sound something like this:

“This is stupid”

“I’m bored”

“I hate sitting quietly”

“I’m irritated”

“I’m cold”

“Hm, maybe this feels a little good”

“Woah, there was a second when I didn’t have a thought at all”

And when that happens begin to notice the space between the thoughts, like the space between the popcorn pops when you are making popcorn and it’s almost done.  Become aware of how your body relaxes in that space.

Find yourself at a natural point of stillness and silence.  Now you are meditating!  As additional thoughts come up (and they will) just let them pass through, but do not become attached to any of them; there is no longer a need to say them out loud.

Russell wanted me to be sure to tell you that this is not meditation; it’s a meditation technique.  Meditation is what we open to as a result of using a technique.

Use this technique, free your mind, and open to the much deeper wisdom of your heart.

Share your experience in the comments.  And if you’d like more of this, join me and Russell in our Clean Up Your Life program starting in just a couple of weeks where we will spend the last month of 2010 preparing you for the most aligned, best 2011 ever.