It’s really not hard to practice meditation. Anyone can do it—even you. Having a successful meditation practice doesn’t mean you have to conquer your mind by the strength of your will and clear it of all thoughts. If you have tried to do this and have become frustrated, I’m not surprised. The mind is notorious for jumping around from one thing to another—in fact that is its nature. But don’t despair.
It is actually impossible to stop the mind. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to meditate. Spiritual teachers since time immemorial have been teaching a system of meditation that enables you to use your mind and senses to help you meditate. So there’s no need to try to stop the mind or ignore the input from your senses. Instead, you use your senses to help harness the mind. This form of meditation is Yoga Sound MeditationTM.
The first step in this simple practice is to receive the sacred sound through your ears. You can do that here: https://wailana.com/lifestyle/meditation/ysm/breathing/ . Listen to the sounds carefully as I repeat them. Receive them through your ears and take them into your heart, like a warm embrace. Then repeat them yourself, still listening closely to the sounds as you say them aloud. Focus all your attention on the sounds—notice how they vibrate in your mouth, in your ears, in your heart, and throughout your body.
By practicing like this, your senses are helping you to meditate. Your sense of hearing lets you listen to the sound—whether you’re listening to me say it or you’re saying it yourself. Your tongue is engaged in repeating the sound. You can feast your eyes on the beauty of nature with my visual meditation here: https://wailana.com/lifestyle/meditation/visual/ or you can practice outdoors and be inspired by nature’s wondrous beauty while hearing and repeating the Yoga Sound.
Using these sounds is the secret to being successful in your meditation practice. Not that your mind won’t wander—it will—but hearing the sounds will help you bring it back to your meditation.
If you’d like to learn more about different ways to practice Yoga Sound Meditation, my Easy Meditation for Everyone Kit presents ten different methods. Learn more about it at: https://wailana.com/lifestyle/meditation/
