🙏 MS Simple Meditation Technique

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SUMMARY 

Welcome to the MS Simple Meditation Technique. Jen DeTracey walks you through the steps and the benefits of meditation she's been since living with MS.

🙏 MS Simple Meditation Technique

Welcome to my MS Simple Meditation Technique. I'm going to walk you through the steps and talk about the benefits of meditation as well as my journey with meditation since living with MS.

I actually was doing it long before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. However, when I came home from the hospital and my diagnosis, I was a big, hot mess. I had never been really consistent about meditation before living with MS. So for me, I had that big question, mark. You ever had that? The big question mark saying, like, where is my life at now? It's just horrible.

I don't know what I'm going to do. The end of the world is coming. Well, I realized I needed to make some changes in my life. I just didn't know what they were at the time. I felt extremely isolated. I was single and living at home and grappling with my future.

I started by reading a book by Susan Piver. Her life was a hot mess in a different way. She used meditation to really figure out how to have more control in her life. That really inspired me. Susan recommended doing a silent meditation retreat for two days at home. So I tried it. It was a crazy idea at the time, but I thought, why not? Then I started sitting and doing meditation regularly.

I still felt this sense of isolation. That's when I found a meditation group that I could attend. That was run by a woman named Kira. I was surrounded by other people while meditating. How amazing was that? She would guide us through the meditation. We'd meditate for up to 30 minutes.

Her perspective on meditation was more relaxed than a lot of Buddhist or meditation gurus. I appreciated that about her. I found that gave me permission to find my own way in terms of meditating. I attended several 10 day silent retreats and did a lot of meditation there.

Now I want to share with you my MS Simple Meditation Technique with you.

If you've never tried meditation before, don't worry. It doesn't have to be perfect. It may be messy at first. It doesn't matter if it's messy in the beginning. It's okay. MJ is the latest teacher and I've learned so much from her. She recommends doing meditation for 10 minute a day, that's it.

I find doing meditation first thing in the morning or early in the day to be beneficial because if I don't do it early in the day, forget it. It's just not going to happen. MJ Ryan was told this as well, but she said, you know what? Mornings are not my thing. I can't do it early in the day.

Her and her husband do their 10 minute meditation right after they finish their dinner. So finding the best time to do your meditation and the best place to do it.

Ideally, you don't want to be interrupted during that time. So if you can be in a closed room and have a door behind you closed, that makes a big difference.

When you meditate, what it does is it helps calm your nervous system, even 10 minutes a day over time can make a big difference. It helps build resilience and capacity so that when you're navigating in the world, whether it be struggling with fatigue and feeling like you've hit a wall or dealing with a difficult conversation. You can tap into that breath work because you're doing it regularly and it helps calm your nervous system.

It can be very powerful. So let's cover the actual breathing technique. The key in meditation is to breathe into your belly. You want to avoid breathing into your chest. If you take a breath in now and you put a hand on your belly and a hand on your chest and you breathe in and out.

Where do you notice the breath?

If you notice it in your chest, that means that your breathing capacity is very low. You're not using a lot of your lung capacity. We want to breathe into the belly. That is a very grounding force to the body, in a positive way. You can start by putting your hands on your belly and just love that belly. As you take a breath in through your nose and breathe down to your belly,

you'll notice that your belly will expand. Then as you breathe out through your nose, you'll notice that your belly will contract. Now, if it's not doing that automatically, that's okay. You can fabricate that process until you get used to it. You can practice breathing in and pushing your belly out. And then as you breathe out, you push your belly in.

Belly out. Belly, in. Belly out. Belly in. Try that a few times.

Let's talk about your posture, how you sit. It's really important that you can have your feet firmly touching the floor. So I'm moving my body forward a bit on the chair so that my feet are flat on the floor.

They're an anchor as well as my bum. So just take a moment to get yourself into that position. Or you can watch the video later and do it. Notice your feet anchored to the floor. Then imagine that you have a string, like a puppet, a marionette pulling your head up so that you're sitting tall with your posture. Yet your shoulders are down.

That's what we're aiming for here. Try that out and see how that feels.

The hands, the palms of the hands are resting on the legs comfortably. So we've got the feet anchor to the floor, the butt anchor to the chair, the puppet string pulling your spine and head up with the shoulders coming down and your hands are on your legs.

Now you're ready to go. Yay. Good stuff. If you made it this far in the video/blog, you're doing great. Even if you haven't had a chance to practice it yet. So let's keep going.

In this position, you're getting comfortable. You can even put your chin down a little bit. We're going to breathe in through the nose all the way down to the belly, expand out through the nose, belly contract. Like a balloon being blown up and then released. Belly out, Belly in.

I'm close my eyes and invite you to do the same. It's one less thing to be distracted by.

Notice that when you do this, you may hear sounds around you. You're just going to continue breathing into the belly and letting it expand and breathing out. That's it. That's all your job is. It's not even a job, it's like a treat. As you do that, you might notice a sound.

You might have a thought popping into your head and that's okay. You can just notice that thought. You can even say the word "thought" if you want and then just let it go.
It's almost like waves coming to the shore with a thought, and then taking that thought away. Maybe in the beginning, you're saying the word "thought" over and over again as you meditate because the thoughts are coming in a lot and then they're going out.

All you're doing is noticing them in and out and in and out.

I like to use a timer. I have an old iTouch. I still use it for meditation. You can use your phone.

I use an app called ZaZen Lite. You can many apps for meditation that have a chime sound. It's a lovely way to start and end your meditation. Nice. Gratifying to hear the chime when you finish your meditation.

You can go, yay. I did 10 minutes! You know what though? You can start with five that's. Okay too. If you want to start with five and just say I did it! Then that's awesome.

Let's just do a few minutes together, practicing that, and then I'll add an extra step.
Before we do, let's recap. Feet flush on the ground, they're your anchor, as well as your butt on the chair. Then you have a string that's pulling you up with your shoulders down and your hands on your lap.

We're going to focus on belly out, belly in, belly out, belly in, belly out, belly in.

Set a timer for one minute and give it a try.

When you hear the timer close your eyes and start belly out and belly in. Keep going until the time ends.

So how did that go for you?

Once you are able to do that and just notice the belly going out and the belly going in, breathing in through nose, you've got it.

If you want to add another technique, just to help you concentrate in a relaxed way, You can listen to the sound of your breath going in and out. Try it. Just pay attention to the sound of your breath as in inhale and exhale. What you'll notice over time is that you'll get into a rhythm with going breathing in and out, and you don't even need to think about it.

But in the beginning, it's good to be aware of that, because that helps you get into the habit of breathing with the belly going out and in. Once you get into that habit system, then you can notice the sound of your breathe.

That's it. Just ten minutes.

How often are you going to do this?

How often are you going to do your 10 minute meditation? Well, of course I recommend every day. Let's face it, maybe that's not realistic for you to start with.

I recommend you pick three days a week that you can do it. Ideally in the morning before you start your day.

If that's not possible, then pick another time in the day or evening when you can commit and put it in your calendar so that you get a reminder telling you on your phone, "Hey, it's time to meditate now."

So let me know how that goes for you. I'm really excited that I'm able to share this process with you because I've been gifted by so many teachers teaching and supporting me.

Jen DeTracey is the founder of Women Thriving with MS and a certified coach. Women Thriving with MS is an online community for women living with MS. You can join the private Women Thriving with MS Facebook group it's free and YouTube channel. Jen offers online courses, a membership and coaching.

Jen's been living with multiple sclerosis for over 11 years. She went through this process of surviving with MS to striving MS to thriving MS. She is a guide, coach and teacher who helps you move forward on your journey from surviving to thriving with MS.

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