Anchors aweigh
Recently, a friend mentioned meditation anchors. Think of meditation anchors as stabilizers for your wandering thoughts. As your mind wanders during meditation, anchors such as your breath may serve to focus, restore attention, and calm the mind.
Of course, meditation anchors are personal choices, and one type of anchor may work beautifully one day and may not work at all the next. While the breath is used as an anchor in many meditations, for some it just may not work for a variety of reasons such as respiratory issues or even trauma. Other anchors in meditation may include mantras, visualizations, feeling bodily sensations/body scans, and mudras or a symbolic hand gesture.
There is much scientific research supporting the numerous physical and psychological benefits of meditation. Meditation offers general health and mental/emotional benefits including these:
lower blood pressure
reduced stress
better sleep
improved emotional regulation
increased focus
enhanced mood
reduced aggression
greater adaptability
healthier aging process
a greater sense of empathy and connection with others
improved immunity
If you are not meditating and want to start, I suggest that you start small, do not judge yourself, and remember there is no right or wrong way to meditate. When I say start small, I mean that your meditation can take the form of sitting quietly, counting or observing your breaths or repeating a single word to yourself for as few as three to five minutes and planning to add a few more minutes over time.
While there is not a right or wrong way to meditate, it is important to find a practice that works for you. Some -times the easiest way to start with meditation is with a guided meditation rather than an unguided one. There are many meditation apps available. I like Insights Timer because it’s free. There are also all sorts of meditations on YouTube. One of the benefits of guided meditations is that when your mind wanders, the guide’s voice can gently bring you back to the present.
Read more Maintaining Balance:
One lovely guided visualization meditation I do with clients is “leaves in a creek.” It begins with some deep breaths and body scanning. I ask you to visualize a beautiful creek in a forest in the fall. Perhaps your toes are dangling in the creek, and you feel yourself connected and grounded to the earth. Notice the sound of the creek or babbling brook. As thoughts enter you mind, place the thought on a leaf and gently place the leaf in the stream and watch it float away. Just observe the leaf floating. As the thoughts come into your mind place them on another leaf and put it in the stream. Observe the leaf and feel a sense of mastery over it. Do not judge the thoughts or interact with them; just let them float away.
Maybe a leaf gets caught on a stone. Acknowledge it as the water eventually moves it down the stream. Restrain yourself from trying to change the speed of the creek. Just observe it. If you have many thoughts, look at the sky and watch the leaves fall around you as you visualize the leaves landing in the creek and floating away.
This past column describes a lovely meditation that is one of my favorites and one could say it uses two anchors!
May your mediations create a sense of peace, calm and inner harmony.
Feel free to share your thoughts with me: ashton@ashtoncannon.com.
Ashton Graham is an educator, book publisher, photographer, cowgirl and yoga teacher. She is currently studying to become a yoga therapist and lives on a ranch in West Texas. Visit www.ashtoncannon.com to learn more.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Anchors aweigh
