How Meditation is Changing My Life, Again

I got into meditation around the same time that I got into coaching.

Meditation came first.

I was at a friend’s apartment in downtown Manhattan, having pizza and watching Shark Tank. There was a new meditation app aiming to raise money for their business, Simple Habit. I was feeling particularly stressed at work, and the pitch spoke to me. When I went home, I downloaded the app on my phone and tried a short meditation the next morning.

The email I received from Simple Habit, 5 years ago, almost to the day.

It wasn’t the first time I had ever meditated, but it was the first time I actively took meditation into my own hands and thought, this could help me.

A good friend noticed I was going through a period of self-growth (therapy, meditations), and she gave me an offer that changed the course of my life. “My aunt is getting certified to become a life coach,” she said, “I think you might like it.”

When I started working with Risa, meditation was a big part of our sessions. I would tell her about this habit I was dipping into, and how the meditations were helping me. They were making me feel calmer and more connected. Clearer. Sometimes we would do some deep breathing exercises on calls. I always felt better afterwards. More me.

A Commitment 

By the end of 2019, I had worked with Risa for many months and my next step became as clear as a just-cleaned window. I enrolled in The Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) to become a certified life coach myself. It was November and I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions differently, in a way I never had considered them in the past.

Rather than a resolution, I made a commitment for 2020: I would meditate every day.

I tried all sorts of meditations that year. Various series on the Simple Habit app (Cory Muscara became a favorite teacher). Deepak Chopra’s 31 Days of Abundance experience. Gabby Bernstein’s Manifesting Meditations. Listened to Tara Brach and Jon Kabat-Zinn. Took a 3-day “Learn Meditation” course with a teacher in Brooklyn, albeit remote. I learned about Guided Meditation, Loving-kindness Meditation, Transcendental Meditation.

A real time reflection, halfway through 2020, a few months after the pandemic hit. When I contemplated what was good, meditation was the first thing on my list.

Most days I meditated for 5 minutes, some days upwards of 20. Even just 1 minute mattered and was an act of me honoring the commitment to go inward. To show up for myself and prioritize my wellbeing and mental health. It didn’t hurt that I started this habit during the first year of the pandemic. Daily meditation gave me much-welcomed hope and perspective..

By the end of the year, I had meditated upwards of 350 days, which was pretty good! Not perfect, but perfect wasn’t ever the commitment…

Integration

After that year, I let go of the commitment to meditate daily, but I usually do anyway.

It just helps me feel grounded.

And just like Risa did with me, I sometimes start or end a coaching session with a meditation. I love leading clients and groups through a small centering exercise, body scan, or even 3 deep breaths. They smile softly afterwards. Tell me they feel relaxed, relieved. Some even start meditating on their own.

I talk to people about the benefits of meditation and what I’ve gotten out of it – more peace, better sleep, perspective about slowing down – without “should”ing on them. I’ve learned that, as with most pursuits, getting into meditation is most sustainable when it comes from you wanting to do it. Not from someone else wanting it for you.

Miraculous Relationships

Recently, I visited a friend who is going through a difficult time. We went to the beach together in sweatshirts, it was overcast.

She asked if we could listen to a meditation together. She put on Day 1 of “Miraculous Relationships,” Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Meditation Challenge.

The beach is a wonderful place to meditate. But so is a crowded, noisy subway. You don’t need the perfect setting to feel connected.

We meditated together the next day too.

Then I went back to the city and said let’s keep doing this together. She agreed.

So every day for the past 18 days, I’ve done the 15-minute meditation in the morning and texted it to my friend. Sometimes she “hearts” it. I saw her the other day in person and she told me about a recent one she especially liked, about presence.

Not only am I receiving wisdom from Deepak, and health benefits of meditation itself, but what I’m really getting right now is the connection of our friendship…what it really means to be there for someone. And it has me wondering, what could be more miraculous than that?