Returning to Meditation

I used to be really into meditation. I did it daily. I even taught a class on it back in the day. It was one of my daily habits, but somewhere along the last year, it’s kind of dropped out of sight. There are so many benefits to meditating. It can help clear stress, focus your mind, and generally get a better hold on mental health. I think it strengthens willpower, mental fortitude, and gives me tools to get through high-stress situations. It’s finding a safe rock through violent storms, a moment of quiet in a crowded room. The benefits are endless and can be different for each person. So why did I stop? Life, laziness, lack of priorities. At the very least, I’ve become aware of my failing habit and I’ve set a course to correct it. One of my annual goals is to meditate 4x/week and I’ve been semi doing okay on that goal.

Jan302019

New Year’s Check-In Meditation

In two days, we will have finished January and entered a new month. What does that mean for you? What were your goals for January? What was your intention? Did you set any for the month? For the year? January flew by for Hungry & Fit and to be honest, we didn’t do great with our January goals, but we did alright on annual goals. Life works a little funny that way. It’s always push and pull like the tides. Just because you didn’t accomplish all 20 goals for your month (wow, might be too much?) doesn’t mean you are inherently bad. I want to guide you through a short meditation so that you can check in with yourself and be in tune with how you are and where you’re at.

[Suggested playlist: Tibetan Bowls]

Jul312018

Visualization Meditation (Audio!)

We have finally produced the second meditation in our meditation series! It’s a Hungry & Fit team effort–Fit writes and records the meditations and Hungry edits the video and adds effects. So we finally collaborated and got ‘er done and we’re quite happy with the result! You don’t need to watch the video, you just need to listen to it.

Apr052018

Good Vibes Meditation

Life is this unruly, un-tamable, do-what-it-wants wild thing. It doesn’t really care how you feel, it does what it wants. Sometimes, it is great. Life is on your side, the birds are singing, you got your flow on, and you smile at the world. And then, well, life is moody, so it changes on you in a flash (whether that’s a death, break-up, job loss, or anything else). Where once the birds that sang to you now crap on you and it’s hard not to raise a fist to the world. We’ve learned (through much failure and struggle) that we can’t control life or what happens to us (to a certain degree), but we can change how we react to the world. I love this quote by Maya Angelou:

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.“

And that’s what we’re here to do today. Maybe life is treating you well, maybe you’re on life’s bad side right now, either way, it helps to spread some good energy. So let’s get going on a good vibes meditation.

Mar022018

Meditate With Your Pets!

Animals are the joys of our lives and our constant companions. Whether they’re a cat, dog, or a snake, they’re usually by our side and present daily in our lives. However, when it comes to things like meditation, they can be a bit of a pest. Either they’re meowing in your ear, nudging your hand for pets, or jumping in your lap, pets can be darned distracting during meditation! You’re trying to find your breath and oomph there goes the cat jumping on your lap or the dog barking. Yeah, we love ’em, but pets can be annoying in situations like these. This meditation is to challenge that. The other day, I did a short meditation early in the morning before Hungry was awake. The animals were either on the couch next to me or somewhere close, hoping it was close to breakfast time. And somewhere between their pining and my peace-seeking, I found a balance and it was really great.

I focused on companionship. The unconditional love you can get from your animals is a powerful thing. When it feels like the whole world is against you and nobody really likes you, you can still get plenty of face licks from your dog. She will sit with you forever and never get tired of you. To me, animals exhibit and teach us true love and also how to love. We can learn a lot from observing them and reflecting on them. So that’s just what I did for this meditation. Even if you don’t have your own pet, think of an animal you love–that will still work for this meditation. This can be a short meditation if you wish it to, but don’t rush it if you can. Enjoy.

Jun082017

Meditation to Find Your Center

In this rough and tumble world, it can be exceedingly difficult to find grounding. Most of us live in an environment of stress where it feels like we are just bouncing along and unable to get a grip. The stress whips us up and it’s hard to find grounding and perspective. The tornado of stress is the center of our attention and everything else falls to the wayside. It feels turbulent, dangerous, and unsettling. There could be a myriad of factors that play into this: your work, your partner, your boss, family life, money, and so forth. Unfortunately, the list of stressors is a lengthy one.

I find that the meditation below helps calm the world around me down and reminds me that everything I need is already inside of me. I hope you find it useful.

Oct242016

You DO Have Time to Meditate

When it comes to anything health-wise, people (including myself) find many excuses to avoid doing said activity. It could be a physical workout or, what I’m focusing on today, a mental workout. Yes, I’m talking about meditation: slowing down your life for a couple of minutes to find center and balance (though I’m sure that’s not the exact definition). Meditation has astounding effects on one’s day-to-day life; it can cheer you up, help you find perspective, give you new revelations, fine-tune your focus and so forth. Wow, sounds like great benefits, why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, one big reason is that people don’t think they have time to meditate.

Not enough time to meditate?! Claiming that for a full-hour workout, but for a meditation that can be as short as two minutes long… try searching for another excuse. But, hey, I do it too. It’s funny, the thing that can help us most in life (exercising, meditating), we try to avoid with any excuse possible: it’s too cold out, it’s too hot out, that cloud looks ominous, I’m too tired, I don’t have time, yadda yadda yadda. Nobody is innocent to this. We all do it, though perhaps on different levels of severity.