Beyond the Apps: Meditation Is More Than You Know
As a meditation teacher, I can tell you things have really changed in recent years. Not long ago, you couldn’t get away with saying you were a meditation teacher at a dinner party without people looking at you sideways. Even on the west coast.
Now, meditation is more familiar. New students arrive to my classes excited to talk about their direct experience with mindfulness and meditation, and many having tried apps or classes of some kind.
How about you? Maybe you’re brand new to meditation or maybe you’ve been meditating for years. Perhaps you’ve tried an app…or a bunch of apps.
Whatever your journey, if you’re like many people, you might define meditation as endeavoring to be calm and peaceful. To be less stressed or reactive. This is true. But it can go much further than this.
Do you know you can use meditation to manage your energy? Little known fact: meditation is a really amazing way to replenish your energy and release energy you want to let go of.
You’ve probably heard of energy audits for homes, right? You can figure out how a building is losing energy and make changes so it runs more efficiently and sustainably.
Well, you can do the same thing with your personal energy. You can do an energy audit to reveal how, when and where you’re using (and losing) energy in daily life.
Let me ask you this…where in your life do you expend the most energy? And on the flipside, what relationships, activities or experiences recharge you the most?
If any of this intrigues you and you think you could benefit from learning to power up your energy using meditation, consider joining me on May 27 and 28 for the Lightwork Meditation Energy Management Life Skills Workshop: 10 Techniques to Replenish Your Energy.
In the meantime, here are just three areas (there are many more) where meditation can improve your energy level.
Energy Save #1: Energy-Savvy Relationships
Relationships enrich our lives, but they can also test, strain and trigger us. If you’re not aware of how to handle these stressors, you can needlessly lose tremendous amounts of your personal energy.
Meditation can help you better understand how to define your personal boundaries, allowing you to let go of stuff that really isn’t yours to manage. With guided instruction and practice, you can become more skillful at navigating relationship dynamics — even challenging ones.
When you’re not losing tons of energy to relationship drama and stress, you far have more energy to apply to whatever you want.
It becomes easier to choose relationships wisely and recognize patterns you want to change. You can bring out the best in your existing relationships, and prioritize healthier relationships as a norm.
Energy Save #2: Learn to Switch Gears
Are you good at not doing your job? And I use “job” in a broad sense here, as whatever primarily occupies your time, like being a student.
How good are you at putting work aside so you can flourish in your time off? Can you focus your full attention on your downtime, bringing a healthy balance to your life?
Many people really struggle with this. It can be hard to switch gears and really embrace fun, or restful, restorative time.
Our society is addicted to thinking and doing. This incessant future-focused, goal-obsessed life approach taxes the nervous system. Bodies need time to restore…and to just live and thrive.
Using meditation, you can learn to calm down the analytical part of your mind at will, and be more present for all aspects of your life. This is a huge win for saving your personal energy.
Energy Save #3: Let Go of External Opinions
We live in an age of social media. We’re constantly faced with how other people’s lives look in comparison with our own, and how we are perceived by others.
Try to stop and notice throughout the day how much attention you’re investing in other people and what they may think of you.
Don’t get me wrong, we all need to engage in the world. We are fundamentally social creatures. But focusing too much of your attention on how others view you can seriously diminish your energy and quality of life.
Meditation helps you get to know yourself more deeply. This begins with learning to invest more energy and attention on you.
Now, let me be clear, I’m not describing narcissism. I’m talking about having a healthy relationship with yourself.
Meditation helps you experience life’s simple pleasures profoundly, without anyone even noticing.
Curious to know more and learn a powerful set of meditation techniques? I hope you’ll join me for my two-day workshop.
Check out Tiffany Robinson’s PRC workshop on May 27 & 28.
Everyone is welcome, ages 16 and up. PRC diploma students will receive 1 NU/WHS academic credit.
Lightwork is a Vancouver and Gambier Island-based meditation centre that has been helping people learn meditation since 1996.
Tiffany Robinson is a full-time Lightwork instructor. She has studied meditation for more than 16 years. She lives at the Lightwork Ecovillage on Gambier Island, an off-grid permaculture farm-meets-meditation centre overlooking Howe Sound.
