Bloggers for Peace is a blogging movement I’ve been aware of for some time now, some of my best blogging buddies are Blogging for Peace and so I think it’s high time I got on board 
Peace, particularly inner peace, is an extremely important component in cultivating happiness and contentment in our lives so which is what this blog is all about! Peace starts with ourselves, it’s no use telling others what they should or should not be doing, or complaining that things are not a certain way. In the words of Ghandi “We must be the change we wish to see in the world”. Our most effective means of creating change is by being a shining example of that which we wish to spread. Peace starts with the self, and it starts within.
The 7 Chakra
And what better way to begin to cultivate inner peace than with a good meditation 
I started meditating when I was 19 after coming out of a nervous breakdown. Being unemployed at the time I was able to meditate every single day, and I did, for a number of months! It was fantastic, I was able to quickly and easily enter meditation and enjoy it’s benefits daily. It also helped me overcome panic attacks, depression and OCD! So here for you I present Rohan’s guide to meditation. This is how I enjoy meditating, if you’ve never tried it before, give it a go! But have patience, it takes a while to get to the stage where you can effectively shut off your mind and drift into meditation.
Here we go, have fun!
Somebody get this woman some clean socks!
Step 1: Find a nice quiet place, free from all distraction, or as much as you can, you do not need complete silence or complete darkness but you will need a place and a time where you will not be disturbed by other people for at least 30 minutes. You can do this exercise sitting or lying down on your back, I personally prefer lying down. Once you have found your spot cover yourself with a light blanket or sheet, this creates a feeling of comfort and safety and tells your body that you are getting ready for some deep relaxation. Now cover your eyes with something, a scarf or a pair of clean socks sitting on your eyes will do if you don’t have an sleep mask. Turn phones and other electrical devices that could disturb you off.
Step 2: Begin by slowing and deepening your breath, breathe from your lower abdomen or belly rather than your chest, try and bring your attention to your stomach so that your belly is moving up and down with little movement in your chest. If it helps you can count to 5 in seconds (roughly speaking, you don’t need a stop watch) while breathing in until you are full of air, then count to 5 breathing out until you are empty, raise the number as is comfortable.
Not a good place to meditate
Step 3: Once your breathing is slow, steady and from your belly it’s time to relax your body. Beginning with the very top of your head make your way down your body and as you focus on each body part check that it is fully relaxed, that there is no muscle tension, and if you feel yourself tensing up again in any part of your body simply relax it again. Go through the different parts of your face, cheeks, eyebrows, mouth etc, then down through your neck, shoulders, chest and all the way down to your toes. So for example focus on your scalp and tell it to completely relax, and then say the same to your forehead and all the way down your body until there is no muscle tension at all, or as little as possible.
Step 4: Once you are breathing deeply and your body is totally relaxed, gather together all the problems that you currently have and in your mind’s eye place them in a little box and tell them that you are having a break and will be back later to collect them. Then do the same with your name, where you live, your gender, your age and any other personal facts that you deem appropriate. Put them in another box and tell them that you are taking a break from these things and will be back to collect them later. Now that everything identifying you as you is put safely away, imagine for a moment all the problems that all people who ever existed must have had, and how some are now solved, some still going on and many totally forgotten, and how yours too will someday be just a memory, or not even that.
Lovely spot for meditation!
Step 5: Now that you have gotten all of that out of the way begin to really relax, start to go deep inside yourself, feel the freedom of no longer having the weight of a body to weigh you down. At this point it’s up to you, if you like you can envision yourself leaving your body and traveling to someplace that you like, or envision yourself sinking into the ground until you are somewhere that you’ve never been before, you could also travel to some other place in time, perhaps a nice memory, or somewhere in time you’ve always wanted to go. Simply allow yourself to drift in and out of meditation.
Step 6: Usually after no more than twenty minutes or so (speaking from my own experience) you will come back to your body automatically. You may feel disorientated, you may not know where you are, you may not remember what cloths you are wearing, or what position the different parts of your body are in. Enjoy this feeling for a while then slowly start to move the different parts of your body. Once you have moved all of your body a little, open up those boxes again and first of all go over all the personal information you put in the second box. I would say “I am Rohan Healy, I’m a man, I live at…” etc. Once you feel like yourself again open the other box, and without getting caught up in a particular problem, take them out and just give a little recognition to each one.
Step 7: Get up, have a stretch and go about your day. Your body might feel a little heavy after being unburdened by it for a while, but that will wear off soon. Often after a good meditation the stresses and issues that were freaking you out earlier in the day will seem much less significant.
And that is meditation, or at least how I practice meditation. I’ve meditated for years now, sometimes I will go through a phase of meditating every day, other times I will go months without it, but I know it is always there for me to use and enjoy. As you practice meditating you will find your own ways of doing things, don’t let my version restrict your meditation, if something feels good and works well for you it’s probably a good idea to stick with it. Good luck and have fun 
And there you have it, meditation! Have you tried meditation before? How is your technique different to mine? Never tried it? Give it a go and let me know how you got on 
Finally I’d like to reach out to any other bloggers who might be interested in Blogging for Peace, you can click either of the Bloggers for Peace pictures at the beginning or end of this post for more information on how to get involved. And be sure to check out the related articled for more Bloggers for Peace posts!
Thanks for reading, all the best, peace!
Rohan.
Related Articles:
- We Can Make A Difference, Right Here, Right Now!
- How To Improve Your Medical Condition When Everything Else Doesn’t Work
- Imagine World Peace
- The Meaning of The Dawning of The Age of Aquarius
- We Are a Global Family
- One More Person Promoting Peace
- Peace & Love are Eternal
- Monthly Peace Challenge – Mad Men
- Creative Ways to Pass Peace Around
