A Life Coach’s View Of Meditation

When I first take on somebody for life coaching I require them to fill in 3 forms. One of the forms I use as a benchmark to get and idea of not just where they are, but more importantly, where they think they are. This actually gives me an insight into how they will view themselves and their achievements

 

I ask them to rate 16 areas of their life from 0 –10, 0 being totally unsatisfied to 10 being as good as it gets. One of the areas is meditation. That may seem a strange thing to ask when more often that not I have absolutely no idea of whether they even practice meditation. However, I stress on the form that if it’s something they don’t do and have no intention of ever doing, then mark it 10/10 and I’ll not bring it up.

 

The thing that used to really take my by surprise was that I almost never got anybody marking it 10/10 and more often than not it was between 2 and 6. Clients would often look sheepish when I asked them why they gave it the score they did and the response would often be something like “I don’t really know what meditation is or why I should do it”

 

I really like it when a client admits to not knowing what the hell I’m talking about, because there is nothing worse than me banging on about something only to find out later that they were composing their grocery list in their head.

 

The cool thing about this, is that when I get a score of less than 8+ I know that there will be a certain level of interest and that is cool because it’s a brilliant thing. Look, if it’s good enough for the Dalai Lama it’s good enough for you and me, alright?

 

Meditation is so easy to explain that it makes a mockery out of the people that try and mystify it.

 

Meditation is a concentrated form of focus.

 

That’s it really. You can spin that a few different ways if you want. You could say it’s a trance state or that it’s being in the moment or even refusing to think about the past or future and you’d be equally right. You can meditate lying down, sitting upright, standing up or even walking but as long as you are there in that very moment, you are meditating.

 

I often have people tell me they can’t meditate so I tell them they must be dead then, because if they can breathe they can meditate. I then get told that they have a mind that is always going 10 to the dozen and never shuts up. Welcome to the human race!

 

I can give you a guaranteed way to quiet your mind if you suffer from that problem.

 

Concentrate on your breathing. Feel the breath coming in and the breath going out. Then also concentrate on your body sensations, maybe your chest rising and falling. Hey presto your mind is way too busy to chatter and it’s now shut the  **** up. Ok it may only stay like that for a few moments or even less but it WAS quiet at that particular point, so start over again. Keep doing that every day for the next 40 years and you’ll have it cracked.

 

I know 40 years seems like a long time but whilst you’re hanging around waiting to die you have to do something, so why not this? It’s a practice so you will get better and better over time and the results will start to surprise you. See here to understand what I’m talking about.

 

If you are a complete newbie I’d recommend you reading on the subject and also getting some good meditation books and cd’s. I wasted a lot of money to begin with so below are a few examples of great starting points.

 

Go on then, don’t just sit there, do nothing!

 

Seven Masters, One Path: Meditation Secrets from the World’s Greatest Teachers - John Sleby - Brilliant, brilliant introduction

 

Chakra Balancing: Body, Mind and Soul - Deepak Chopra - He has avoice designed for guided meditations

 

Meditations for Manifesting : Morning and Evening Meditations to Literally Create Your Heart’s Desire - Wayne Dyer - If you are into The Secret and manifesting success, you’ll like this.

 

Guided Meditations: For Calmness, Awareness, and Love- Bodhipaksa - Fabulous guided metta bhavana and minfulness of breathing meditations.

 

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life- Jon Kabatt-Zinn - Another fabulous introuction to meditation

 

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