If You Hate Meditation, Try These Alternatives.
My mind chirps constantly – and closing my eyes and breathing deeply does not lead to tranquility, let alone approaching bliss. Rather, it is when all bad thoughts begin to surface, causing what I can only imagine is the complete opposite of nirvana.
I am definitely not alone in this: many people who try to meditate fail. However, suppressing the mental carousel is important, and there are other ways to do it, all of which go beyond what we usually associate with “meditation.”
Try “immediate” or active meditation
Earlier this year, I sat down with Becca Williams to experience her practice, which she calls “nonmeditation.” Williams is a nutritionist and nutritionist who has designed her program with her own needs in mind. She tried to overcome the frenzied thoughts in her head with traditional mindfulness meditation, but found it too difficult to overcome static.
Instead, she has developed her own program, which she recommends combining with cannabis (although we didn’t go that route, as it’s still for the job). Sitting while talking to Williams on Zoom, she advised me to breathe fast and hard with my eyes closed, hands on my knees. It was the most energetic form of meditation I have ever experienced. Quite frankly, it was like exercise, and in a way it made sense.
“My work offers a form of very active meditation that includes powerful breathing patterns, deep resonating sounds and expressive movements of the upper body, arms, hands and fingers,” says Williams. In fact, this method is intended to “respect the fact that the mind is often frantic and difficult to slow down.”
This is a riff about active meditation and is not a completely new concept. But Williams changed her routine to act in opposition to the traditional mindfulness environment, allowing negative emotions to come to the fore in the mind and directly confront them.
She tells Lifehacker:
Using this very active approach to meditation, the meditator can expend a lot of pent-up energy, which helps him / her to slow down and ground himself. In addition, unlike quiet, quiet sitting meditation, they are invited to actually remember and focus on what hits the loudest in their head – stress and depression, anxiety, self-doubt, anger, despair, and the like.
Ultimately, Williams says, her approach allows practitioners to “meet, greet, and release the mental noise that keeps our lives unsettled.”
Other Meditation Alternatives That May Work For You
All of these alternatives to meditation offer different ways of achieving the same goal, namely, finding peace and contentment. Beauty, if one doesn’t work for you, it is possible that another does.
- Journaling : Putting your thoughts down on paper can be a cathartic exercise, especially when you are repressing certain emotions. You can choose from many different types of journals, and there is much more than just journaling.
- Martial arts: Training in martial arts can do the same thing as meditation, in at least one sense: it will firmly strengthen you in the present. You will test your body as well as your mind and perhaps learn a thing or two about yourself in the process.
- Cleaning: Yes, cleaning can be meditative. Those who hold to this wisdom encourage others to truly rely on tactile cleaning elements. Feel the lather, listen for the squeak, and perhaps notice how your body releases tension.
- Yoga : The meditative qualities of yoga are well known and are a great way to build strength. As with the martial arts, it is quite difficult to master certain postures without calming the mind. Making yoga a daily or two-day routine can go a long way towards making your mind more calm.
- Music : Listening to soothing music can calm your mind in many ways, considering that you can let the song take you on a journey from your thoughts. Draw a bathtub, light candles, and put on a mixture that soothes the atmosphere.