Welcome to Wicca

Meditation!

 Although some may disagree in my personal opinion meditation is one of the most important tools when getting to know yourself and your religion. It helps bring balance and calm to your life and has been scientifically proven to aid with the improvement of mental and physical health! I recommend meditation to even non-pagans, Wiccans or witchcraft practitioners as it has countless benefits. 

There are multiple different methods of meditation and each has different prime goals that they work to achieve. These include but are not limited to mindfulness meditation, spiritual meditation, movement meditation, mantra meditation, focused meditation, transcendental meditation and many more that I have forgotten to mention I am sure.

Here are my personal steps to a basic meditation session and little tips I've picked up along the way. 

Meditation

 Sit or lie down comfortably. It can be in any position you want. You can put your butt down on a pillow or couch or anything really as long as you are comfortable enough that you can stay there for an extended period of time. Then close your eyes, you can feel free to use an eye mask if you would like. While you sit there breath naturally, do not work to control your breath just let it flow through your body as it does so every day. Now focus on the way you breathe, how your body moves as you inhale and then exhale. How your chest, belly, and shoulders may shift with each breath. Work to simply focus on the movement of your breath without working to control it. I recommend doing this starting at roughly 3-minute sessions and working your way up to longer sessions as you become more comfortable with it.  If you would like to practice other forms of meditation my personal favorite is mindfulness meditation, and of course, by personal favorite I mean it is the first form of meditation I practiced. It comes from primarily Buddhist techniques and is quite possibly the easiest to practice alone without guidance. While you are meditating you simply allow your thoughts to pass by, and never focus on a single thought for an extended period of time. I've always visualized it as almost a slideshow running through my mind. You do not judge or focus on thoughts you have during this time but can pay attention to patterns that form in your thoughts and through that can become more mindful of yourself, hence the name,  mindfulness meditation. If you would like instead of focusing on your breathing you can also focus on an object. Focused meditation is another favorite as it seems to play a part in all other forms of meditation. Just as it sounds it's the idea of focusing on something while meditating. In this case one of the five senses. You may focus on anything from the sound of the rain to your own breathing to even the appearance of a flame. It helps bring focus to your life and at times can be more difficult as it does involve a great deal of patience. The form of meditation I practice most often would have to be movement meditation. Upon hearing that your mind most likely travels to the practice of yoga, however, that's not all it is! Movement mediation can be anything from going for a walk to dancing in your room. It is a form of meditation where you allow movement to guide you. It is a wonderful option for those like myself who struggle to sit still for more than twenty minutes. 

Whatever form of meditation you chose to practice I'm sure you will see benefits in your spiritual and physical life and I hope you enjoy it. Whenever I meditate it's like a weight I never knew was there becomes lifted off my chest and I can finally breathe without restriction again. If I did not describe how to do a previously listed method of meditation or perhaps did not mention one at all it would be because I do not feel educated enough to speak about it and how to perform it as I may have little to none experience with it. However, I am always looking for those who want to collaborate on information so feel free to message me if you wish to add information to my writing. Have a blessed ass day 

- Shay xo