It’s safe to say that we all have those certain activities we’d rather not do, but there are also the activities that we love to do! The kind of activities that bring us peace, happiness and a sense of calm. The ones that we do when we’re putting off those other dreaded tasks.
Know what I’m talking about here?
Chances are good that your soothing activity is actually serving as meditation for you. Meditation is not restricted to sitting still in complete silence while you strive to clear your mind of all thoughts!
Surprising to hear isn’t it?
There are two general types of meditation, active and passive, but most people link general thoughts of meditating to the passive meditation category. Granted it is more common, but is it really as much fun as active meditating?
Active meditating involves numerous activities such as walking (most commonly practiced in the Buddhist meditation practice) or dancing (commonly known as Sufi Whirling). Osho, a well known meditation and spiritual guru, is a fan of active meditating and has created many types of of meditations that fall under this category.
Don’t think that your active meditations are limited to only dancing or walking though!
Remember those activities that popped into your mind at the beginning of this article? Bring those back into the picture right now because they may very well be your meditative activity.
One of my meditative activities is finely chopping food. Now this might sound bizarre, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of calmly chopping vegetables and fruits. I find that I’m completely in the moment and by the time I finish this task I’m relaxed and my tension from the day has disappeared. My roommate loves to cook. For her, the entire act of cooking is meditative and she often cooks late at night to unwind before she sleeps.
Maybe weight lifting, folding laundry or practicing yoga are meditative activities for you. Whatever it is, make sure to incorporate your satisfying, meditative activity into your daily routine. You’ll become much more relaxed and you’ll naturally incorporate a meditation practice into your day!
