4 ways to somatically support yourself during meditation
Have you ever experienced discomfort, pain or unpleasant emotions and thoughts during meditation and felt that you needed to push through?
This is fairly common and unfortunately, there is a belief that to be a ‘good meditator’ you need to transcend your body’s experience or continue meditating in the face of difficult experiences. Unfortunately, in doing this we may be bypassing very important signals our body is sending us. This can lead us into experiencing disregulation, fight, flight or shutdown and disconnection.
By turning toward and trusting our body’s signals and our instincts, we are better able to gain some autonomy over our system and more regulation in our lives. This can support us to work with our body and nervous system and have a more informed and responsive approach to our sense of wellbeing.
Here are my 5 tips on how you can tend to your body’s needs during your meditation and mindfulness practice:
Choose a position that feels supportive
There is a misbelief that you must sit up, cross legged on a cushion on the floor in order to meditate properly. While this works for some, it can cause pain, distress and physical discomfort for others. Supporting your body is extremely important during meditation. I cannot stress this enough, please honour your body when meditating. This might mean choosing to lie down, sit for periods and change position, standing up and stretching, and having back support. While suffering may be a part of life you can choose to be kind to yourself and soothe that suffering where possible.
2. Invite a compassionate not critical mind to your practice
When we move out of feeling safe and connected to ourselves we can enter into a state of self criticism. This can come to occur for many reasons during meditation practice and we find ourselves judging our thoughts, feelings or experience harshly. Our meditation practice can take us on a journey that illuminates a lot of pleasant, mundane and unpleasant experiences. When unpleasant things arise it can help to recognise the struggle, and know that our body or biology is responding from a place of survival and that this is a normal part of life. When we tune into these signals with compassion we are better able to make choices to support ourselves with care.
3. Meditate with others or in environments that feel nourishing
Humans are relational and our nervous systems thrive when we are around people and environments that feel safe, regulated and welcoming. Our ability to co-regulate is critical to our sense of wellbeing and survival. Finding a well regulated and supportive meditation teacher and/or group can help us to deepen our feelings of safety more than if we meditate on our own or in environments that are lacking these factors.
4. Let go of the rule book
Meditation often comes with so many ‘shoulds’. I should sit still, meditate for 30 minutes, have no thoughts, be disciplined, close my eyes, transcend my body...and the list goes on. Approaching meditation from a place of joy and lightness can help shift our relationship with meditation and also our relationship with our body. We are better able to tend to our needs and desires when we release the rules and set an intention to create a practice that enables us to nourish and lovingly tend to our body. See meditation as an empowering practice to connect compassionately to your inner landscape, embrace your natural ebbs and flows and honour your whole self with a reverent heart.