The Breathing Room
There are a few non-negotiable practices that I employ to live a sane and peaceful life and at the top of my list is meditation. I started to meditate during my divorce to manage the onslaught of enormous life changes it instigated, and have had a daily practice for almost ten years. I met Grace Estripeaut of Boostyourzen.com a few years ago, and have admired her approach to life and meditation. She combines a healthy mixture of theory with a relatable quantity of practical application that makes her advice exciting and manageable for the busy woman.
Meditation for the Busy Woman
In this interview, we discuss the often hectic and overwhelming daily challenges that grip many of us. We have children, jobs, spouses (or partners), or maybe we are trying to do it by ourselves! Grace points out that you cannot parent or do anything from a place of lack, and therefore self-care takes on enormous importance. What does self-care look like for you? How does sitting in silence benefit your levels of peace and wellbeing? What are the common obstacles to meditation, and how can you overcome them?
Grace, the Anti-Guru
Grace is the Anti-Guru of meditation. Many meditation teachers offer guidance in methods that do not serve the individuals lifestyle. In fact, I attended a two-week meditation retreat once that recommended that practitioners sit on a floor cushion, back straight, hands folded in your lap, for an hour in the morning and an hour at night! As I sat in the class, I realized that because the guru was a man and had a wife to raise kids, cook, clean, and manage his affairs, therefore making his two-hour a day practice reachable. As a single mother of two then elementary school age daughters, I decided to ignore his advice and sit in a comfy chairs sipping tea with my two doggies curled in my lap every morning for twenty minutes, and I haven’t looked back. For many of us, attempting to follow advice like his creates discouragement, and an inability to maintain a skill that, in the long run, will change our lives in a dynamic and dramatic way.
Start with Four Minutes a Day
In contrast, Grace advices four minutes a day of meditation to start, in whatever position or activity suits you. She offers guided meditation, plus online classes that provide excellent and practical guidance to create a quiet space in your life that you can maintain. She doesn’t use hard to understand abstract theory, but rather makes it understandable and do-able for any of you. I highly recommend her classes that she calls The Breathing Room, and click here for a free meditation Check out her website and see if her approach resonates with you, and let me know your thoughts from the video and our discussion. Good luck, ladies!
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