30 Days of Meditation: Anatomy of a Yoga Challenge. Day 4

Meditation is hard. Yesterday I made comment on Instagram about how I was remaining calm in the chaos. In hindsight that message seemed to imply that mediation is easy, and that I had been transformed after 3 days of sitting. It's not, and I haven't been. If you are reading this blog, then you have visited my website and you may know a bit about me. I am not new to yoga or meditation. In fact, I have been practicing and teaching yoga for a few years now, and I am a few moths away from completing a 800 hour training to become a certified yoga therapist. Even so, meditation is not my strong suit. My body aches, my mind wanders, my eyes even pop open in response to the occasional noise. Yep, hard.

What I am finding is that it is counter intuitive to practice meditation and live in a state of stress. So after 3 days I find that I am responding differently to stress. It's not that I am no longer reactive, its that my reflection time is quicker. I still spiral at a times, but then I remember how I feel during mediation. I am able to see the bridge from the stress I am experiencing and the feeling of peace that mediation cultivates, and I want that feeling to return. I am able to assess my situation from a clearer lens and remember that this too shall pass.

When I am not teaching yoga, I work as a nurse. The culture is very different than that of a yoga studio. In response to a particular stressful situation today a co-worker commented to me "no amount of meditation can fix that". I beg to differ. Meditation can't make each day perfect. And I cannot promise that you will not lose you sh*t from time to time just because you sit for 20 minutes each day. But as our meditation practice asks us to come back to our anchor when we wander, life asks us the same. When placed under the demands of life we may bend. We may even feel broken. But we are whole, and perfect and beautiful. Meditation is hard. But life without peace is much harder.