How to Get All the Benefits of Meditation by Balancing

"Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it." - Bruce Lee

Ding.

The meditation timer chimes, and through a small miracle of willpower you managed to sit through an excruciating ten-minute meditation session.

What you should feel is a sense of accomplishment. After all, you often skip it altogether.

But instead you feel frustrated having just spent the entire session fidgeting, lost in fantasies that involve bragging to a friend about meditating today.

Your “monkey mind” is strong. It’s like a whole jungle of monkeys in there.

I went through the same thing back in 1998 when I first came to the cushion. My mind was like an overgrown garden full of angry racoons.https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-get-all-the-benefits-of-meditation-by-balancing/

Sitting on a pile of pillows, back aching, knees screaming, and mind racing, I would wonder, “Am I doing this right?” But the promise of freedom from my inner turmoil kept me coming back to the practice.

And, even though I always felt a little better afterward (if for no other reason than I was doing something good for myself), it took months to see more tangible and lasting results.

What I didn’t realize then was that I already knew how to meditate. I had been doing it for years as a young boy, but it didn’t look anything like the exotic (to me) methods I was trying to learn from my grandmother’s dusty old books.

In fact, I had completely forgotten about the temporary state of calm, clarity, and focus that settled over me like a soothing balm on those dusty summer afternoons of my childhood.

Now I meditate every day, but I’ve also returned to some of those earlier “practices” from my youth. Methods that you should know about too because I know how hard it is to adopt a consistent practice.

Our Attraction to Distraction

When it comes to focus, you’re fighting an uphill battle.

Our world is a sea of distraction that you’ve been swimming in your whole life.

Bombarded with ads, alerts, and alarms, you watch films that jump from one scene to the next with dizzying frequency. Texting causes your brain to slavishly listen for the next “ping.” One-click shopping allows you to gratify any urge almost as quickly as it arises.

The mind must be trained to focus, and I think you’ll agree that we live in an environment engineered to do just the opposite.

So don’t feel bad if it’s difficult to quiet your mind and maintain steady attention.

Traditional meditation doesn’t come easily to anyone (no one I’ve met, at least). And even those who are completely sold on its many benefits often struggle to maintain a consistent practice. Yet they stay committed to the idea of it, hoping they’ll find their groove someday.

If this sounds like you, don’t despair. There is an easier and fun way to experience that meditative state, one that doesn’t require the traditional butt-on-cushion approach.

Don’t get me wrong, a formal meditation practice is wonderful and rewarding. It helps you cultivate consistency and discipline; connects you to a tradition; and lays the foundation for more advanced spiritual practices.

But, while you’re working on that, wouldn’t it be great to start enjoying some of meditation’s benefits right away?

A Balanced Approach

As a boy I suffered with intense anxiety and emotional turmoil.

Maybe it was my parents’ divorce that left me feeling scared and angry. Or possibly the bullying that terrorized my early years.

I was weaker than the other kids and would become paralyzed with fear when they took turns choking and punching me in the schoolyard. Sometimes I would lie about not feeling well so I didn’t have to go to school.

I hated that place.

Paying attention wasn’t a struggle because I didn’t even try. I learned that it was futile. Instead, I stared out the window, daydreaming about running free outdoors.

And when school let out that’s exactly what I did.

Across the street from my house were the railroad tracks, the unofficial boundary line of a special world we called the “Pipeyard.”

This piece of land was dotted with old warehouses and crisscrossed by dirt roads that provided access to the piles of steel pipes being stored until they could be sold to oil leases and other industries.

There were big fat pipes you could climb inside, and skinny pipes that flexed when you walked out to the middle of them. Sometimes they were piled ten feet high, while other racks were almost empty, allowing the pipes to roll as you climbed on them.

For an unattended eighties kid, it was the ultimate playground.

But this dangerous place wasn’t just for fun, it was my sanctuary. A place where I could spend hours alone, balancing back and forth above the dusty weeds.

And that’s when the magic happened.

All of my worries and anxiety would disappear. On those narrow pipes there was no room for the nagging fears, the unhelpful inner dialogue, and vague uneasiness that haunted me.

I would enter a kind of meditative trance, immersed in the sensory experience of my feet touching the surface of the pipe, the little wobbles in my legs, the sound of high-top sneakers scuffing against rusty steel.

There was power in the simplicity of it.

It helped that I was outdoors. Alone, quiet, and focused single-mindedly on the task at hand.

The physicality got me out of my head and into the present moment. When a yoga teacher tells me to get grounded, I know exactly what that feels like.

In balancing, every moment is novel.

Step onto any elevated surface with the intent to balance, and your mind will immediately sharpen—a protective mechanism evolution hardwired into our nervous system.

You could say it’s the ultimate meditation hack.

With even a little time balancing, you’ll find how quickly you adapt. There is constant and immediate feedback telling you to relax, bend your knees, breathe… and focus.

Do it for a little longer, and your mind becomes increasingly clear, perceptions heightened—creating a magical experience where time seems to slow down. The same things you experience after a great meditation session. ... read more

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