Adapting Meditation Practice to “When the Sh!t Hits the Fan” Times
There’s meditating when the waters are still and then there’s reaching for meditation when there is already a tsunami of thoughts, feelings and reactions. They feel different and the latter is A LOT harder. When your entire system is reacting to massive stress, you are most often pushed into fight-or-flight processing. Your brain is PERCEIVING danger, whether it is immediate or real. So sitting and breathing quietly, while anchoring your intention can feel uncomfortable, annoying and downright ridiculous. So, we must adapt.
Yoga and meditation allow us (and demand from us!) that we adapt our daily practice to our life and body conditions. This is why they are enduring practices. When we understand the basic mechanics of meditation or asana practice, and we are allowing ourselves to show up daily - messily, imperfectly - we start to be able to discern what our being needs at any specific time. This awareness builds over time with regular practice, and before we know it, we have a relationship with ourselves that is deeper, truer and more secure than before.
So what works for those breathless moments, the moments of racing thoughts and panic?
Small doses. I adapt my daily meditation standard from 30 - 60 minutes per day to short sits of only 2 to 5 minutes, with a few short sessions per day.
Positivity and acknowledging the effort even if we feel the meditation was short, incomplete or somehow else not ideal. Remember that it has been scientifically proven over years that we get more traction with motivating ourselves or others when we use positive reinforcement. Being stressed will often trigger us seeing things negatively, so it is particularly important to acknowledge your effort.
Use a grounding or comfort item. I may hold a stone or small buddha statue, or my mala beads, feeling the weight and energy of the item. Working with natural stones also allows us to explore their unique energies, and I’ll be sure to write a blog about my favorite stones to work with, depending on the energy that is being called in. I often think about the history of the item, calling in good memories or associations.
Walking or moving meditation. Sitting still can be extra hard when dealing with a lot of emotional movement or burdensome thoughts. Learning walking or movement meditation practices is a great step in developing your mindfulness toolkit. Look for a blog about this meditation option soon!
Using short, guided meditations. Having the additional structure of a voice guiding your meditation can be super helpful when stress is up. I suggest finding a few that resonate with you - meditation apps like Calm have 5 - 10 minute guided options that can target a specific state you might be in - anxious, dealing with fear, depressed.
Remembering that there’s no such thing as a failed meditation. If you sit and breathe, you succeeded. If you showed up and sat with the discomfort, you win. Even if you don’t feel the benefit right away, the benefit is there, and you’ll feel it soon after. Even if your mind kept racing the entire sit, it is not a failed effort, because you got to practice.
After even a few consecutive meditation sessions, you will start to observe more peace, more contentment and less reactivity. Similarly, you will feel it when you skip a few consecutive days as well. So go for it when it’s most needed, and know that your modified approach is not only ok - it’s you showing up when it’s hard, and that deserves to be celebrated.