Want to create a quiet, inspiring space for rituals like meditation or yoga — or just a place in your home that helps you feel more mindful to what's meaningful in your life? Creating your own sacred space lets you express your very human need for ongoing spiritual nourishment. Whether it's at home, at work or in some "third space" such as a hotel room when traveling, everyone can benefit from creating places where they intentionally choose what surrounds them. Your sacred space might contain a single object such as a statue, sculpture or private altar you deliberately place in a special location, or it may be an entire room or garden or even your entire home arranged with furnishings, objects and décor that have special meaning for you.
Here are some misconceptions about meditation that you’ll be relieved to hear don’t have to apply to mindfulness.
1. You have to sit still to do it
When I first started, I found sitting still was absolute torture because I was so used to moving at ninety miles an hour all the time. If this sounds familiar, then starting off with mindful movement can be a good way to ease yourself in. (Yes, your yoga class counts!) Even when you are doing sitting practice, you don’t have to force yourself to sit cross-legged. Thankfully, you can choose whatever posture is comfortable for you – which might be sitting on a chair, kneeling on the floor using cushions for support, or lying down. And while regular sitting practice can certainly enhance your mindfulness skills, it’s not the only way to get some of the benefits. When you learn to cultivate the attitude of mindfulness, you can also meditate while you’re just living your normal life – while you’re walking the dog, eating your dinner or exercising.
2. It’s religious
These days, a huge amount of scientific evidence has emerged that shows mindfulness can have a positive impact on your health and well-being. Sometimes people think you have to convert to Buddhism to practice mindfulness. Although this is where mindfulness has its roots (and I know a lot of very lovely Buddhists!), you can learn the skills in completely secular environments. Mindfulness is no more religious than yoga.
3. You have to empty your mind
Mindfulness is more about developing awareness of what’s going on in your mind, rather than trying to eradicate all thoughts. You mind will always throw up thoughts, and that’s ok. Stopping thinking isn’t necessary when we’re getting to know how our minds work in meditation. It can be easy to think of mindfulness as yet another thing to succeed (or fail) at. But it’s much more gentle than that. In fact it can help you become more comfortable being human and not always doing things ‘right’. You don’t need to pressure yourself to become any different to how you already are, and instead you can move towards accepting yourself exactly as you are.
4. It involves chanting or visualization
Some meditation traditions do bring in these techniques, but mindfulness is about paying attention to what’s actually here in our experience. So while some meditations may include imagery to help you develop a mindful attitude, that’s about as far as it goes. Mostly you’ll just hear very down-to-earth guidance about where to direct your attention, and how to work with thoughts and emotions. In fact you may be surprised that there are instructions, rather than complete silence – but guided meditation can help you learn how to apply mindfulness skills before you try meditating alone.
5. You have to make your breathing really slow and deep
It may be that you’ve come across other practices where you try to manipulate the breath in a certain way. But in mindfulness, you just ‘be with’ your breath, however it is right now. You don’t need to make it change, you just notice it. This can be a relief to know if, like me, your breathing can get fast or shallow when you’re in an anxious mood. If focusing on your breathing feels too challenging or uncomfortable for you, there are other practices you can try instead. You can place your attention on your body by doing a body scan, or focus on feelings in a kindness meditation.
6. If you don’t feel instantly calm, you’re doing it wrong
To get the benefits from mindfulness meditation, it needs to be a cumulative practice. It’s a bit like running to get fit – sometimes you’ll enjoy your run and feel good after doing it, but not always. Similarly, regular mindfulness meditation can reduce the stress you feel in life generally, but you won’t necessarily feel more calm during a sitting practice. In fact, some of the sessions that you find most challenging and least calming can teach you the most valuable lessons! Thinking of it as building mental and emotional fitness helps me to maintain my practice, even on the days it feels like a struggle.
7. It takes up a lot of time
In fact, studies have now shown that just 10 minutes of sitting practice a day can be enough to attain significant benefits. And you can practice mindfulness without changing the things you normally do at all. Mindfulness in daily life might include things like mindful walking, or applying mindful awareness to activities like housework or cooking. The more you do it, the more creative you can get about how to weave mindfulness into your life in a way that works for you. These ‘informal’ practices mean that you don’t even need to stop what you’re doing to bring some meditation into your day.
