how to create calm during quarantine: 11 minimal meditations to ground your energy today
I credit my positive, calm state during quarantine almost entirely to starting each morning with a grounding meditation before I get out of bed.
Meditation may seem daunting at first. Do what works for you. If it looks like setting a timer for 5 minutes to sit in stillness each morning, go for it. Maybe you need a guided meditation to get in the right headspace, do it! Or perhaps you need to be out in nature, great! Meditation has only one requirement: your mindful attention to the present moment.
Creating a meditation practice has been proven an affective tool for all kinds of incredible affects on depression, anxiety, stress. Aligning with the energy of calm allows you to deal with any negative emotion that comes up more quickly, and creates space between you and the emotion.
Its one of those things that you don’t always realize how impactful it can be, until you stop. I was told for years to start meditating before I actually did regularly, and have had a morning practice for years off and on, but of course I didnt get serious about it until quarantine.
guided meditation apps
If you prefer to meditate with calming sounds, or a guided audio meditation, audible has some great free options as long as you have an audible account. I especially love the recording of the hoh rainforest, in the Olympic national park.
I find that with guided meditations, enjoying the voice is important. I especially like the male australian voice on this app.
If you’re looking for a wide variety of styles, practitioners, lengths etc. insight timer has it all. They offer a free timer tool, as well as 45,000 free guided options, sleep tracks, and music options.
have you heard of a better duo? I love both of these humans, and they offer free 21 day challenges regularly
movement + meditation
tapping
Something Ive newly found as a calming ritual with a physical component, is tapping, allso called emotional freedom technique (eft). I discovered this modality through Kelsey J Patel, a reiki + energy healer who posts free tapping videos on instagram regularly as well as a class through mindbodygreen I’d recommend.
kundalini
I first discovered kundalini through a wellness podcast a few years ago. It can be quite intense, and not a fit for everyone with the repetitive movements + rapid breath work that are important to kundalini practice, however its very impactful. I recommend Guru Jagat’s Ra Ma TV, who also has a class on mindbodygreen.
I really love kait, a portland local who combines her movement with a meditation after each workout. Its one of my favorite combinations for a 30 minute workout for mind and body. She has options for just meditations, as well as full workouts. You can check out some free options on youtube too.
sound bowl
if you curious about making a small investment to enhance your meditation practice, I recently purchased a tibetan sound bowl that helps me center in more quickly. not a requirement of course, but it’s something I enjoy doing before meditating.
written meditations
Here’s some grounding + energizing meditations I’ve written out, adapted from other practitioners.
grounding meditation
Sit in a comfortable position, making your spine straight.
Close your eyes and take several deep, belly breaths.
Imagine a cord extending from the base of your spine, penetrating whatever is beneath you.
Imagine this cord anchoring into the core of the Earth. You are now fully grounded.
Visualize and feel the energy of the earth move up through the cord, energizing your body. This powerful life force energy is swimming through your body, replenishing each cell.
Now, release through the cord any stress or negativity you are experiencing. The Earth gladly accepts and transmutes this energy back into a useful form.
The more you practice this routine, the faster it goes. Practice this anytime during the day, especially when you feel distracted or unfocused. Being grounded keeps you in your power.
soul meditation
Open up arms, breathing in through the mouth + out through the nose. Focus on the third eye chakra as you empty out your body. Continue for 5-15 minutes. Great for when you’re feeling anxious.
heart meditation
Open up arms breathing in through nose and out the mouth, as you breathe in imagine all the positive energies in the world coming into your heart space as golden light. As you breath out all the negative energies and stresses in your life dissolve, leaving the body with an audible sigh. Continue for 5-15 minutes.
body scan meditation
Run hands over entire body, pick an area to focus on and breathe into that area. Increase intensity by bringing hands together and swirling the energy in a clockwise pattern, while increasing your breathing in noise and out nose. Imagine the energy increasing in the area as you get closer in and move your hands counterclockwise and release. Continue for a few cycles, then relax.
Life force energy meditation
Bring your attention to your body. Focus on your body, honor your body.
Take a breath in through your nose, out through your mouth.
Take your attention to energy. Bring awareness to the feeling of your body sitting on the ground. Imagine energy flowing through your body. You can imagine it as a color, as golden light, as a tingling sensation. Whatever makes sense to you.
This is life force energy.
Bring your awareness to different regions of your body. Scan down your body starting at your head and moving down through your throat, heart, abdomen, root. legs, feet. Notice where your hands naturally want to stop. Let your body guide you. Breathe energy into this place on your body. Let it expand as you breath in, sink into the earth as you breath out. Follow energy and imagine yourself sinking deeper into yourself. Let your hands melt into your body. It might feel heavy, it might feel light.
Breathe out with a gentle sigh. Notice if you feel resistance, this can be a sign of a disconnect with your body. Take a breathe in. Imagine energy going in, and notice how it feels. Does it feel more light? warm? Do you feel vibration? Or color? Breath in and release.
Imagine drawing a stream of energy from the earth up into your feet, through your legs, through your pelvis, up through the middle of your body to where your hands are placed. Take a breath into that area. Feel the energy from the earth coming through your body.
Feel the energy continue into your hands, imagine the energy doubling in intensity, take a deeper breath in, expand into the area under your hands and exhale out with a gentle sigh to release.
Continue to allow the energy to come up into your upper chest, heart, throat, crown, imagine the energy surging from your feet through to the top of your head. Take a breath in, lift it up. Let it out. Feel your body, bring presence to your body. Amplify the energy, feeling it expand through your body, and release.
Feel the color, the coolness, the vibrance whatever it feels like to you. Take a breath in. Feel the earth supporting you, the energy around you supporting you. When we are tuned into the the energy of the earth, we are connected to the entire earth, the universe. We are now engaged.
Breath in through the nose, out through the mouth. Feel the body physically. Notice the quality of breath, the sensations coming up. Let your body move any way it wants to move. Let it stretch. Express. Whatever feels right for 30 seconds to a minute. Get up.
See what it feels like to stand up and ground in the energy of the earth. How does the energy feel?
energy of infinite meditation
Begin to breath gently in through the nose out through the mouth, imagine roots coming out of your feet into the ground below. Energy from within the earth coming up through your legs, up through your body, spine, and crown. Arms reach up to the sky, into the cosmos, into the divine
Imagine you’re reaching into the universe itself, bringing the energy through the crown of your head, breathing through your heart, Draw energy in from above, sending it into our crown, and flowing down through our heart, and into our legs. Continue breathing energy into your nose and out through your mouth.
Squat down and touch your hands into the ground and send a flow of energy down into the earth, then pull that energy back up into you. The energy from the core of the earth, the molten magma at the very center of the earth up through your body and send that energy back through your body and when you get to your heart, send it back up into the universe, bringing your arms up to the sky again.
Now, Start at the ground imagining the energy flowing through you, releasing through your heart and bringing your arms up to the sky, releasing your breath with a whooshing sound. Then imagine the energy coming down from the sky, flowing through and releasing crouched down touching the ground, again releasing with a whooshing sound. Continue this for 45 seconds.
Imagine the whole body becoming a column of light energy, increasing in intensity as you go. Increase the speed of the exercise as you go. Imagine drawing energy through your crown pouring through your head, heart, pelvis, legs and let your arms down by your sides. Connecting to the infinite energy. The field of energy all around us. Our being is held between earth + the heavens. We are supported. Expanded. One more breath, exhale and feel the benefit of that flow of energy through your entire body. Every cell every tissue activated with movement, breath, sound.
There are a million ways to meditate. I hope these options are helpful in the exploration of your own meditation practice. Its truly the best way to create calm in your mental space during this time, and as we move into the new normal + beyond.
with gratitude,
the modern minimalist
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