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Episode 5: Meditation
1.8k Plays2 years ago
Welcome back Witches! This week we will be discussing Meditation. We'll talk about the various types of meditation, some of its history, and some tips and tricks to help you use meditation in your daily practice. So get in losers, and lets discuss Meditation.
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
- Turner, Armina. The Witchy Way in 21 Days: Your Personal Guide to Daily House Magick. (2020).
- Chaotic Witch Aunt. The Basics of Meditation & Astral Projection (History, Skepticism, and my Experience). (2020). Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFqQCr15Vqo
- Auryn, Mat. Psychic Witch. (2020). Llewellyn Publication, Llewellyn Worldwide.
- Murphy-Hiscock, Arin. The Witch’s Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit. (2018). Adams Media. Simon and Shuster, Inc.
- Mead (BSc.), Elaine. The History and Origin of Meditation. (2021). Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/history-of-meditation/
- Penczak, Christopher. The Magick of Meditation. (2007). Llewellyn. https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/467
- Wong, Kathy. (2020). Health Benefits of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Very Well. https://www.verywellmind.com/benefits-of-mindfulness-based-stress-reduction-88861
- Gutierrez, D., Fox, J., & Wood, A. (2015). Center, Light, and Sound: The Psychological Benefits of Three Distinct Meditative Practices. Counseling and Values, 60(2), 234-247.
- Renato. (2019). How to stick to meditation and make it a mindful habit. Medium. (https://medium.com/@hermitage/meditation-and-rituals-3fea0d6b1c30
- Stockwell, Tony. Sitting in the Power. (2008). Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP51UJCDBZc&t=28s
- Ravenswood, Scarlet. (2021). Power of Pagan Meditation. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EJYIjeCuNI
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Transcript
Introduction and Theme Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In, Loser. We're doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So get in, witches, and let's discuss meditation.
Benefits and History of Meditation
00:00:30
Speaker
Last episode, we briefly mentioned that meditation has psychological benefits, and today we are going to dive deeper into those benefits, the history surrounding meditation, how to make meditation part of your practice, and a few of our favorite meditation practices.
00:00:46
Speaker
So what is meditation? Meditation is defined as to think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time in silence or with the aid of chanting for religious or spiritual purposes, or as a method of relaxation to think deeply or carefully about something or plan mentally or consider. So the word meditation stems from meditatum, a Latin term that means to ponder.
00:01:13
Speaker
Through meditation, we can become better connected to our body and become aware of how our thoughts and emotions influence our behavior. It can help with patience and it can help with us being more present in the moment. It can also help balance and boost your energy. It creates a calm space for your energy to grow. The clearer the mind is, the more influence a witch has. So some basic history on meditation.
00:01:38
Speaker
Meditation dates back to as early as the fifth century BCE and it has a lot of religious ties behind it. So a little bit of a basic timeline would be about 500 to 3,500 BC. There was early development with little documentation. And with that little documentation, what we do kind of know about it is that it appeared to travel along the Silk Road from China through India, Egypt, et cetera.
00:02:05
Speaker
And then 1500 BC, we see it practiced in India and referenced as the training of the mind in Hindu traditions. Buddhist Indian scriptures and texts of the practices are like the first documentations, mostly. So third to sixth century, there's mention of meditation practices found in China and India.
00:02:28
Speaker
Ancient Chinese philosopher writings include techniques like shou xiang, which is guarding the middle, bao yi, embracing the one, shou jing, which is guarding tranquility, and bao pu, which is embracing simplicity.
00:02:46
Speaker
If I butchered any of those, I'm sorry. I went on YouTube and I'm doing my best here, guys. Yes. You did amazing. There's no way you could think of any of that. You know, I had to like listen and listen like 10 times to each one. And I'm like, am I doing this right?
Early Forms and Influential Figures in Meditation
00:03:05
Speaker
Um, and then in the 10th to 14th century, we start seeing Christian meditation in Greece and it involves something that was the repetition of the Jesus prayer, which I don't really know what that is. I couldn't find like, there's different versions, I guess. I don't know. So I don't know if there was a specific one for this timeframe or if it was like, depending on where you were or like what like church you followed at the time, if they each had their own. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that.
00:03:34
Speaker
I have no clue about what the Jesus pair would be either. And whenever I was doing some research around the history and whatnot, one of the things that I saw mentioned in relation to meditation and how they practice it in Greece was that they use it to help understand the unconscious and ways to make the unconscious
00:03:54
Speaker
conscious and understanding your true desires. Okay. Um, which I thought was really interesting because nowadays, whenever you're talking more about meditation, that seems to be kind of a theme within current day meditation practices. And so it's crazy to think that back
00:04:13
Speaker
then they were also doing that as well. And it wasn't, I mean, I know a lot of the ancient stuff was a lot of like religion focus, which we'll talk a little bit more about that. But yeah, something that's kind of like lasted through time. That's that is interesting to see something like it was practiced, you know, like forever ago, but we're still doing the same thing.
00:04:33
Speaker
So, and throughout history, there's, it's been noted that there's a lot of Norse pagan practices around our surrounding meditation. Not a lot has been written down. But I will say that if you are interested in learning more about pagan meditation and where it stems from, definitely check out Scarlett Ravenswood on YouTube. She does a great pagan happy hour on pagan meditation.
00:04:56
Speaker
And she talks a lot about Norse pagan practices. And then I'll make sure to list the episode link in our show notes. That way if you are interested, you can go check that out. So also in the 18th century, this is when we see meditation being discussed more by philosophers. It's not so much as it's like, oh, this is just a historical thing. They're actually like pondering it and thinking about like, what does meditation do for us? What does it do for the mind, the body? What does it do for our spirit?
00:05:26
Speaker
So it's becoming more prevalent at this point.
00:05:29
Speaker
One of the things that I saw whenever I was researching this topic as well is in ancient Roman times, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, he had an entire journal that he wrote a lot of private notes on meditation and that has since been published. And you can find the book on Amazon. You can also search the book on YouTube and there's actually a free like five hours, I think it's like five hours audio book on YouTube of something really cool, which is really cool.
00:05:59
Speaker
So in 1936, we start seeing more expansion. So we see Islamic meditation becomes more prevalent and then Western research starts to be seen at this point. Even though there's little precise documentation related to meditation,
00:06:17
Speaker
It's fascinating to see how it's been used throughout many different religions because it's not something that as you were saying, it encompassed Hinduism and ancient Greek and Roman religions, Norse paganism, you see it in Christianity and Buddhism. Literally, it seemed tied to pretty much every religion at some point in time, whether they keep up with the practice or not,
00:06:45
Speaker
whether it's something that they phase out in the more current times, but it is something that we see it in pretty much every religion at some point in time. So in the 20th century, meditation is introduced to the US.
Meditation in Modern America
00:07:01
Speaker
It's relatively new to Westerners.
00:07:04
Speaker
And then this becomes more disconnected from religious roots at this point. It's taught more in a Western way. So we kind of take it, make it our own, pull out the religion, and just kind of use it as like daily practice at this point. In the 1960s and 70s, we see it being researched through scientific studies, which further removes its spiritual context and encourages the practice to be used by just anyone, not those that are just seeking a spiritual fulfillment
00:07:34
Speaker
but it's used for relaxation or recharging your energy or to help you fall asleep. In 1979, meditation starts to be used as a medical application in America. John Cabot Zenn opens the Center for Mindfulness and he teaches mindfulness-based stress reduction to treat chronic conditions. And in his treatments, he uses meditation to help do this.
00:08:00
Speaker
mindfulness-based stress reduction is still being practiced widely today in therapeutic sessions.
00:08:07
Speaker
And they include meditation and yoga to address unconscious thoughts and feelings, emotions, and behaviors that influence stress levels and health. And the focus is on identifying intrusive thoughts and rumination in a loving way. So in this type of meditation, the emphasis is on identifying the thought without judgment and then coming back to the present with breath to recenter. And if you're interested in learning more about MBSR or wanting to
00:08:36
Speaker
practice mindfulness-based stress reduction with guided meditation. A great app that I have on my phone, I use it a lot. It's called Insight Timer. It's a free app. There's a lot of great guided meditations on the app. A couple of the ones that I use frequently and I have used whenever I've been leading MBSR mindfulness classes are the awareness of breath and the calm your thought traffic ones.
00:09:01
Speaker
Um, those are great meditations. They're guided, like I said, and they're really short, like 10, 11 minutes long. And it's a great way to, you know, if you're having intrusive thoughts, if you're ruminating on something, those are great meditations that you can incorporate in your daily life. Well, and you can find guided meditations almost anywhere too. So whether it's through an app, you can find them on YouTube. A lot of books have them, but of course you have to like read it as you're trying to meditate or like,
00:09:31
Speaker
to memorize it before you meditate. And Sam, you know, I was a mental health technician when I was in the Air Force. And we actually did guided meditation for our alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence groups. And so we would go in and have this binder that we sat and guided them through like, okay, let's, let's relax, like think of your happy place, or we would do like a beforehand like
00:09:56
Speaker
What's your favorite thing that calms you down? And like, we would do this whole board session where they like put, you know, like being on a beach or listening to the ocean or whatever.
00:10:05
Speaker
so like we would use that to build it into a guided meditation. Like imagine that you're laying on the beach and you hear the waves crashing and there's a seagull flying by and so you can find stuff like that anywhere and in any setting. I thought it was interesting like being in the military and actually sitting and doing that for people was interesting because you don't think of like you think of mindfulness and guided meditation as being kind of
00:10:29
Speaker
a lot of people will see it more like, oh, hippy-dippy. Whereas we were actually using it in the military for our military members. I think people, like you were saying, they don't realize just all the psychological benefits of it and how it can be used in a lot of therapeutic settings and help with pain management as well, which is crazy.
00:10:52
Speaker
So in the 1990s, meditation experiences a boom with the context of mindfulness. So it has been paired with cognitive behavioral therapy in psychology and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. This approach has been clinically approved by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence in the UK.
00:11:13
Speaker
and is considered a treatment of choice for depression. By 2012, there were over 700 mindfulness-based programs available across the world. In 2000, the first major clinical trial of mindfulness with cancer patients is conducted with results indicating beneficial outcomes for mindfulness-based stress reduction programs.
00:11:34
Speaker
And it's also really good to note that mindfulness and meditation is prominent, not just in MBSR, but also in DBT, which is dialectical behavioral therapy. And that is, I mean, it's a newer type of therapy that's helped to treat BPD. And it's also used in acceptance and commitment therapy. And again, with, along with MBSR, the focus is on awareness of your thoughts and emotions without judgment.
00:12:03
Speaker
bringing awareness to your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a way that doesn't lead to further emotional dysregulation.
00:12:10
Speaker
And so the fact that it is again, being used in all these therapeutic modalities, it just goes to show how beneficial meditation is for
Types of Meditation and Their Benefits
00:12:19
Speaker
everybody. And that's a common theme too, that I've seen like researching this topic a little more in depth was being aware of your thoughts without judgment or being aware of like your feelings without judgment and releasing them. So like a lot of the stuff I read would be like, you know, as you're meditating.
00:12:35
Speaker
If a random thought comes into your mind, like acknowledge that it's there, no judgment while you're doing it, and then just release that thought and focus back on like your breathing or whatever. But that was like a common theme in almost every one that I searched. I was like, this is interesting because I've never thought of it that way. I just, anytime I did meditate, it was more just like, okay, let's bring it back down. Because I am chaotic.
00:13:04
Speaker
So some of the uses of meditation. Meditation can help you learn to relax deeply, enhance our quality of life, and after calming the body, one can then start tapping into their focused state of consciousness, helping to eliminate any background noise.
00:13:22
Speaker
According to Erin Murphy Hiscock, who wrote the witch's book to self-care, meditation offers your mind a break by allowing it to disengage from the ongoing commotion of the world around you. Meditation is a whole approach, like a whole body approach. So physically, meditation can slow the heart rate and help lower someone's blood pressure. Mentally, it improves concentration and counter stress, depression, and anxiety.
00:13:49
Speaker
It fights recursive negative thinking. Emotionally, meditation encourages self-acceptance and optimism. And that kind of goes back to where we were saying that theme of you acknowledge these thoughts, you go into it with no judgment, and then you release them. Spiritually, it fosters calm, serenity, and a sense of peace and harmony with the universe. And then meditation also helps cultivate kindness, starting with yourself. So again, with that non-judgment, accepting and releasing negative thoughts.
00:14:19
Speaker
So when we talk about the different types of meditation, there are a million of them, right? We're not going to cover them all today. I found a bunch of them within the witch's book of self care. And some of those were mindfulness meditation. And that one's about keeping your awareness focused on the present moment, becoming better acquainted with your reality, your thoughts, your body, while also observing yourself without judgment.
00:14:43
Speaker
thoughts just happen. So you should just observe them and then let them pass. The focus isn't on clearing your mind. It's about focusing on your breath. So after I identifying the thought, like, like don't get upset whenever you're trying to focus on your breath and the thought comes in that you're worrying about dinner or you're worrying about something stressful going on at work.
00:15:03
Speaker
you recognize the thought and you allow them to pass and you can visualize it in ways like say you allow it to pass like floating off on a cloud. You just, you allow it to pass without judgment. Also another good visual for this too is you can just imagine your thoughts coming in and you're at a bus station and you just imagine that thought. Once you identify that thought and you are recognizing it without judgment, you're recognizing that it's an intrusive thought.
00:15:30
Speaker
Or, um, whether that be, you know, negative self-talk about yourself or something like that, or you're ruminating on something that's going on in your life that you're trying to work through with your meditation. Imagine those thoughts once you've identified them, imagine them getting on a bus and just going away and trying practice. That visualization is really helpful in mindfulness meditation.
00:15:55
Speaker
a little bird that just flies right on through and one out the other. So the goal is to learn to release self-judgment and it can also help combat anxiety, pessimism, pain, and negative self-talk. Another version of meditation is breathing meditation or breath awareness. It's a form of mindfulness meditation that uses breath as a focus. It uses regular pattern of inhaling and exhaling as your point of focus and it's often used with counting.
00:16:25
Speaker
So for example, it's called box breathing. So you would inhale for two counts, hold your breath for three counts, and then exhale over four counts. So just releasing slower than you did inhale. Slower exhalation helps you to slow your heart rate and to physically calm your body. And it's a great use to help you fall asleep as well.
00:16:47
Speaker
Another amazing breathing meditation that also incorporates mindfulness meditation, and it's something that everybody can do it's called body scan. With this you're visualizing relaxing different parts of your body.
00:17:02
Speaker
This meditation can be done on your own or with a guided meditation. And there's, like I said, there's guided meditations on the app that I recommended, Insight Timer, or on YouTube. There's a lot of different body scan versions on YouTube. And then I'll share a few of my favorites that I use on Instagram and on our Facebook pages.
00:17:24
Speaker
But essentially for this meditation, it's super easy. The focus centers on scanning your entire body, starting from your toes and working your way up to your head, visualizing your breath flowing into these parts of your body. And with that, you're relaxing and you're easing any tension that you hold throughout your body.
00:17:43
Speaker
And I will say that this meditation is great to use anytime you're wanting to center yourself, but really it's really helps me if I'm having trouble sleeping or if I wake up in the middle of the night and I just can't go to sleep instead of picking up your phone, try to do a body scan and I guarantee you will fall back asleep. It works so well. One of the providers that I worked with actually did this a couple of times in our guided meditation before group.
00:18:10
Speaker
And half the time we would have to wake like half of the room up to just start. You know, we would try to get them like calm and centered and ready to like go through their therapy and then they would be like napping. It's amazing. And it's the first time I did it. I'm just like, Oh my gosh, like this is going to be
00:18:28
Speaker
boring as hell because like, if you're doing a guided meditation for body scan, it can be up to like 15 minutes. I've seen some, they're like 30 minutes long. Yeah. And whenever I would, I started going to like mindfulness classes and started learning how to teach them and stuff. The first one I went to, I'm just like, Oh my God, this is going to be boring. But then I didn't realize, and I think most people don't realize just how much tension we hold in our body. Yeah. Yeah. We're focusing on that specific part of our body and we're relaxing it and
00:18:58
Speaker
It's amazing how great you feel afterwards. Um, another version is walking meditation. This one's probably better for people like me. If you have a mind that is just like wandering completely because I fully suck at just regular meditation with walking meditation, you use it outdoors and it incorporates exercise and being in fresh air.
00:19:21
Speaker
So to start at the beginning, you would close your eyes, center and ground yourself. And then once you feel like you're at the point that you're ready to start, you just start walking. You can do this in your neighborhood. You can do it in a park. You could do it in your backyard. If you just aren't comfortable being out, you just walk, you know, laps around your backyard if you needed to. And just observe things as you pass them, but don't think of them.
00:19:45
Speaker
So like as you pass by and you see a squirrel on a tree, you observe that it's there, but don't sit and think about, oh, look at that squirrel on the tree. I want to touch that squirrel. I want to give that squirrel a peanut. Which is usually how my mind works, but you just observe them, notice that they're there and keep going. Just note them and then let them go. And the point of this type of meditation is just to be able to be in the moment versus like constantly thinking about every little thing.
00:20:11
Speaker
I think this meditation is wonderful because while it's just as simple as walking, it is pretty much the easiest meditation that you can do, especially if you're just starting out or if you don't want to do a guided meditation or you don't have time to do a guided meditation. It connects you with nature and removes the distractions of technology that we normally have on a consistent basis.
00:20:33
Speaker
So focusing on like the sounds and the smells, all the visuals around you, the way the ground feels under your feet. This can be really useful, especially if you are trying to.
00:20:45
Speaker
get into that ritual mindset. You're trying to connect with the earth, which is very magical in and of itself. So yeah, no, it's a great, it's a great easy, like you said, especially for beginners meditation. Um, I think I have it listed later, but, um, a lot of the research that I came across talks about how a lot of beginners give up on meditation because they don't understand that you're not going to be a master of it on the first day.
00:21:10
Speaker
And it's a, it's a process like no one ever masters meditation. It's something that it's going to differ day to day based on the time of your life or like what you're going through, or maybe that day particular was just a stressful day or maybe it wasn't a stressful day. So your meditation fluctuates based on your day to day. So another one is called focused meditation.
00:21:34
Speaker
This technique is one in which you focus on just one thing. So this helps you to relearn the skill of focusing on a task at hand. This type of meditation goes hand in hand with awareness of the moment and being able to focus on the task at hand, like reading, eating, exercising. It allows you to be aware of the sensations tied to that task and examine how you respond to them.
00:21:59
Speaker
And one area that I found this used a lot in is mindfulness eating. So if you have issues, whether it's eating too much or not eating enough because you're unfocused, it makes you focus on just eating at that time and eating only when you're hungry and eating until you feel full, but no more. That is really interesting. You know, I have heard about it, but I've never actually practiced that.
00:22:28
Speaker
I'm like, oh, a piece of candy. Right. Yeah. And let me just scroll into talk while I eat it or yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I like that. I think another great example of this is like cleaning meditation too. And it's something that I try to do on a consistent basis. I was getting into the habit of every time I would clean, I would put on a podcast or I would listen to
00:22:51
Speaker
an audio book or something. But now like, I will try to go like three times a week with nothing, just focus on what I'm doing and using that as a time to meditate because I mean, everybody's busy. Not everybody has the time to meditate on a daily basis. And this could be a great way to incorporate meditation into your daily practice if you just don't have the time.
00:23:14
Speaker
And you can even incorporate some of the mundane magic practices that we discussed last week, like mopping and putting, um, mopping with sigil work and everything. Um, so this would be a great way to create some mundane magic and clean and meditate at the same time. Another one is green space meditation.
00:23:35
Speaker
Greenspace meditation offers you a moment to reconnect with the magical energies of nature. So this one you do outside and just take your time to be present and mindful within nature. So whether that's your backyard, the park, if you have a hiking trail or something, just find a little cozy spot that you can sit down and just spend some time being present in nature.
00:24:00
Speaker
I really like this and I like how like I have a thing whenever I'm out and about and I'm going on walks or something in nature or I'm visiting new places that are historic. I like to sit in that area and then connect myself with something that's there, whether it be a rock or the ground or something. I absolutely love that. So this is great. Yeah. So those were all from the witches book for self care, other sources.
00:24:30
Speaker
that you can find, like I've just found these on the internet and through YouTube, have meditation practices like Vipassana meditation. It's one of the oldest Buddhist meditation practices and it can be roughly translated to mean insight. So just having awareness of what's happening. The individual is encouraged to use their concentration to gain true insight into the nature of their own reality. Samatha meditation,
00:24:58
Speaker
roughly translates to meaning tranquility when the mind is brought to a resting state and allowed to wander from thought to thought. Transcendental meditation is a technique in which a personally assigned mantra such as a word, sound, or a small phrase is repeated in a specific way. This is practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with your eyes closed.
00:25:22
Speaker
I like that. I, whenever I was doing research on the different types of meditation, at first when I came across this one, I was like, what is this? I can't, I don't know what I, what this one is. But then I saw somebody, I think it was Scarlett Ravenswood on YouTube. She was talking about this one as well. And she had mentioned, she was like, everybody knows what this one is. It's like, whenever you're coming up with a personally assigned mantra word or sound or small phrase, she's like the easiest one that people use is um,
00:25:53
Speaker
And I was just like, oh, I know exactly what she's talking about.
00:25:58
Speaker
This one is, according to Scarlett, she said that it helps with relaxation and brings self-peace into your practice, which I think is really awesome. I've never actually tried that type of meditation. Me either. I feel like as a kid, you know, when you would like joke around, you'd be like, oh, yeah, with your like fingers touching and sitting like cross leg on the ground. Guided meditation, which we've talked about quite a bit already,
00:26:25
Speaker
is also referred to as guided imagery or visualization, and it's a method of meditation in which you form mental pictures or situations that you find relaxing, typically led by a guide or a teacher or even a recording, and it's suggested to use as many senses as possible so
00:26:43
Speaker
Um, this, again, this is something that we would do when we would, you know, do our little soundboard at the beginning, like what relaxes you, what sense relax you, you know, is it a blanket? Is it, you know, laying on a shag carpet kind of thing?
00:26:57
Speaker
And then when we were guiding them through the meditation, we would use those things to help relax them, whether it be like, you know, like I said, laying in the sand on the beach, listening to the waves, a seagull flying by, maybe they have, you know, a certain drink that smells like pineapples or something.
00:27:14
Speaker
And there, you know, as we've already said before, there's many ways that you can find guided meditation online. And one that I have really liked recently is sitting in the power. It's a guided meditation on YouTube, totally frame. The guy's name is Tony Stockwell, and it's from like 2008. And I mean, I will say the cover art for the meditation is kind of, I mean, it's his, it's his face and
00:27:41
Speaker
But you don't have to look at it. And this guided meditation is amazing if you're interested in heightening your spiritual awareness and help you develop your sixth sense. Um, and because it raises your vibration to be able to interact with the spirit world.
00:27:59
Speaker
And I really recommend this meditation, especially if you feel like you could be psychic in any way. It's amazing. There's also tons of guided meditations for communicating with spirit guides as well. So if anyone is interested in that sort of thing, let us know and we can send you out some great resources.
00:28:20
Speaker
And I've even found a couple off of TikTok that have recommended me and I've done them and they've been awesome too. So I mean, definitely just look around if you're interested in guided meditations. There's so many free resources out there for you. There really are. Okay. So the next one is loving kindness meditation or meta meditation.
Meditation's Role in Witchcraft and Higher Awareness
00:28:44
Speaker
This is a practice of directing well wishes towards others.
00:28:49
Speaker
Those who practice recite specific words and phrases meant to evoke warm hearted feelings. So an example could be, may I be happy, may I be well, may I be safe, may I be peaceful and at ease. You end the meditation with a universal mantra of may all being everywhere be happy, which I thought was kind of cool. And then we have chakra meditation.
00:29:15
Speaker
This is an ancient Sanskrit word that translates to wheel. Chakras refer to centers of energy and spiritual power in the body. There are seven chakras located in different parts of the body and each have a corresponding color.
00:29:31
Speaker
It's made up of relaxation techniques focused on bringing balance and well-being to the chakra. So even if you don't know what it is, you've probably heard the term before. I feel like this is a term that's used quite often, even outside of the witchy community.
00:29:49
Speaker
And then yoga meditation. This dates back to ancient India. It's a wide variety of styles, but all involve performing a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises meant to promote flexibility and calm the mind. The poses require balance and concentration.
00:30:05
Speaker
And I'm sure everyone has at least done something like some type of yoga pose at some point in their life. Um, so even if you didn't use it to meditate, you probably at least know what yoga is. And you can think of the body poses themselves as a way to practice meditation. Um, and then obviously at the end of every session you have the Shavasana, which is
00:30:29
Speaker
the end of the yoga session where you're laying corpse pose and you're just my favorite having my favorite part. I live for that. Um, to practice meditation. And if you're like me and enjoy guided yoga, there are some amazing resources for this as well. So
00:30:50
Speaker
There's yoga with Adrian. She's free on YouTube. She talks a little too much for my liking. Um, especially if I'm trying to relax while I'm doing it. Um, but I do love her channel because she's easy to follow. She's very easy for beginners. If you're just starting out with yoga, she does a lot of amazing, um, challenges or like 30 day challenges. Um, she has a ton of them on her channel.
00:31:15
Speaker
And she has them for everything. Like if you have back pain or if you just want to do standing or sitting or strength, whatever it is, like she has a lot of different types of videos. And then also I would recommend the down dog app. It's a subscription based service, but you can tailor the yoga sessions to whatever you want to practice that day. And my favorite part, you can control the length of the Shavasana as well.
00:31:43
Speaker
If you want like a five minute long one, you can. It's amazing. Well, and even if you don't want, like if your session ends, you can just stay there. Exactly. Yeah. You don't have to worry about any ads coming up in the middle of it. It's just perfect. Okay. So now that we've talked about a ton of different types of meditation,
00:32:07
Speaker
Let's talk about meditation and witchcraft. So this is an important skill for witches to learn. Training to quiet mental chatter and listen to intuition more clearly helps to focus on magical work and it gives access to higher awareness. Visualization is so incredibly crucial to spellwork and you have to be able to quiet the mind to be able to visualize your spell and visualize it being successful. Meditation can be used for this. It's a great way to practice
00:32:37
Speaker
that visualization and so if you're having issues with.
00:32:40
Speaker
especially starting out, it might be difficult to sit down, close your eyes and visualize like that ball of light or whatever it is that the guided meditation is having you visualize. Keep at it because that visualization piece is so important in spellwork. Also meditation can be used before reading tarot as a way to tap into that collective unconscious that we were talking about a bit earlier and bring the unconscious to the conscience. So it can bring up hidden desires and it uses your intuition and um,
00:33:10
Speaker
and it taps into your subconscious so that you could get better at reading. And if you're working with a deity, you can use meditation to connect with the deity as well. So, I mean, if you have, for instance, an altar set up to honor a deity, you can give an offering to the deity and then try to meditate in front of that altar or meditate with the intent of connecting with the deity. That can be a way to
00:33:34
Speaker
Bring your meditation into witchcraft and maybe connect with the deity if it's a deity that you want to work with. I think that's a really good point. Meditation also allows you to work with your inner energies and your inner patterns. This allows you to transform and understand why you react to things the way you do. Outside of tarot meditation can help strengthen other divination skills as well so that you're more self-aware in your practice. And again, it helps you strengthen your intuition.
00:34:02
Speaker
So meditation works through three steps. First, you alter your consciousness, then you're interacting with the inner world and then using your will to transform. To go with that, I think it's important to note how our minds are so incredibly powerful and we don't realize how our thoughts influence our behavior. And so oftentimes, you know, you hear that phrase like, don't put any negative energy out there or think positively.
00:34:30
Speaker
And I, that also works in magic and using witchcraft as well. If you are focusing your energy correctly, you can transform your world. I like that because I, and this is something we say in our house all the time, like put it out into the universe. Exactly. Keeping it positive, keeping it to what you want to achieve. And also too, this is a little bit off topic, but I think it's a really great example of how
00:34:55
Speaker
somebody has done this and really changed their world. I know Kanye West is a very, can be seen as a very problematic artist, but I- He's a wild card. He's a wild card. But if you have not started watching that Netflix documentary on him, I definitely suggest it because in the first episode, all I could think of, even my husband mentioned this to me and he, you know, he's not really like,
00:35:20
Speaker
He supports me in whatever I believe, but he's not like the most witchy person in the world. And he was just like, man, it is crazy to see Kanye West manifested everything. He was just creating beats and before he was signed to Rockefeller and did anything, he manifested that. He lived into that and created that and he did it. And so I'm just like, if Kanye West can do that,
00:35:47
Speaker
I mean, obviously he's super talented and he's like a genius when it comes to music, but it just goes to show you if you manifest it and you put it out there, you can do it. Well, I think it's just like it's keeping it there, right? So you're saying it out loud. It's something that you're thinking about all the time because it's something that you're working towards.
00:36:08
Speaker
And instead of being like, oh, I'm never going to get there or I'm never going to, you know, make good music, you know, he was like, no, I'm going to do all of this. It's going to happen. And it did. Yeah. He already was like, I'm not just going to be a star. I am a star. Yeah. I'm like living that mindset now before he even knows who my name, I'm creating a documentary. Who does that? Kanye.
00:36:34
Speaker
Um, okay. And it can also help aid in astral projection. This is a topic that will probably be a future episode because there is a lot that goes into that. So I'm not going to go into astral projection right now, but just know that meditation also ties into that.
Creating a Meditation-friendly Environment
00:36:51
Speaker
So a few things that can help you with meditation. If you treat meditation like it's a chore, then it's going to feel like a chore. You're not going to want to do it. If you're always like, Oh, I have to meditate today.
00:37:02
Speaker
Like it's just, it's not going to happen. It's going to always feel negative because you're, you're treating it like it's a negative. If you treat it like it's a method of rest and rejuvenation for your mind, for your body, your spirit, you'll become more welcoming to the practice and you'll, you'll be more like willing to do it daily or a couple of times a week. However, you set up your practice.
00:37:24
Speaker
The key is to become aware of your focus and concentration. Even with the benefits of meditation, it can be hard to turn it into a routine. The more you can make it into an automatic part of your day, the easier it's going to become. As random thoughts come into your mind, acknowledge them, release them, and then return your mind to the point of your focus, whether that be your breathing, if you're
00:37:45
Speaker
using it for eating, exercising, whatever it is, just release the thought and then go back to what your focus was. Training yourself to focus takes time. This isn't something that happens overnight. And it's a lot of times it's discouraging for people when they don't understand that you're not going to jump into meditation and
00:38:04
Speaker
and master it in five minutes. This is something that people have been doing for years and they still struggle because it depends on like your mental state at the time. If you're stressed out, if you had a really stressful day or exhausted, or if your day was really good and you're excited about something and you can't stop thinking about it, these things can kind of fluctuate through your meditation and cause your meditation to fluctuate too. So just don't think that you're gonna jump into meditation, clear your mind immediately and just be a master.
00:38:33
Speaker
How do we make meditation an automatic part of our day the same as brushing our teeth or taking vitamins or medication? It can help if we attach it to a meaningful event and a lot of that is centered on our environment. So your environment should be somewhere that you're entirely undisturbed and you can feel completely relaxed.
00:38:52
Speaker
So make sure you rid your meditation space of all the clutter and mess so that it can help you just get into that mindset and actually relax and meditate. Turn off and silence all your electronics.
00:39:05
Speaker
You can leave them in a separate room if that's easier to avoid distractions. There's a lot of noise outside, so make sure you're closing your windows to help block out sound because sound is very distracting. I know where we live, we have nine billion birds. So every time I open a window, all it is is like, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, all the time, which is very distracting if you're trying to meditate.
00:39:26
Speaker
where we're at, it's jets, which I hate. But if you have children, this can be especially difficult, but try to do it during a time when maybe your kids are down for a nap or if they're off to school or maybe before they wake up in the morning or after you put them to sleep for the night. That seems to be the best time for me is when my kids are either asleep
00:39:51
Speaker
or out of the house because guarantee if I am upstairs trying to meditate and it's the middle of the day. And even, you know, with my husband's home, there's always going to be like a knock, knock, knock mom. What are you doing there?
00:40:06
Speaker
Can I come in? Yeah. Can I have a snack? That's usually what it is. And I'm like, your dad is downstairs. Yeah. So essentially, yeah. If you find a time that works for you when you have no distractions, that's the best time to do it. I will say I don't have kids, but I have pets and I have to, um, shut the door.
00:40:28
Speaker
so that they don't jump on me or Lucian my Rottweiler loves to be in the room with me whatever I'm doing and he'll lay down and go to sleep he won't bother me but he snores so I was trying to do like a guided meditation the other day and he's just laying there snoring and I was like I cannot focus on anything like that.
00:40:49
Speaker
and it's not even like you can't even drown it out like a what is it called a metronome yeah it's not even like you can't even do that because it's just it fluctuates yeah and it's a big dog so it's very loud super aggressive snoring you need some uh what's that called nose strips
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah. So make sure that you choose a space that has natural light if you're doing it during the day and have fresh airflow. I know for me, I like to have like a fan going. It just helps me like relax and focus a little better.
00:41:27
Speaker
and then create a space that's psychologically peaceful to you. So again, that's, you know, making sure that there's not a bunch of clutter that's going to distract you or make it so that you can't relax and you're focusing on the clutter. Just make sure that it's something that's like calming, whether it be like the color of the walls or the decor in the room. But don't choose something too comfortable either, because then you're just going to fall asleep.
00:41:51
Speaker
That is completely true because that has happened to me before. And then I woke up and been like, what the hell? I was trying to make sure. How long have I been asleep? Two hours? Right? Just to slip my day away. Yeah.
00:42:07
Speaker
Another thing that you can use to get yourself in to a meditative mindset is ringing a meditation bell and it could just be it doesn't have to be like a special meditation bell that you find somewhere just be anything if you have a bell or wind chimes or something if you.
00:42:26
Speaker
ring them consistently. Every time you meditate or you try to meditate, eventually it's going to become such a habit that whenever you go to ring them or even just hearing the sound of that bell or that chime or whatever it is that you're using as a meditation bell, once you've
00:42:43
Speaker
practice it consistently, that sound itself will help put you into that meditative state and get you ready for that ritualistic mindset. And also another way that you can use your environment to help you get ready to meditate is creating your own mantra or affirmations. So if you're someone who likes to journal or write things down, you can incorporate some of the ideas from the loving kindness meditation that Tiffany talked about earlier.
00:43:10
Speaker
and that can make it a lot more personable to you. Also make sure that you wear something that's loose and comfortable. You don't want something that's constricting or maybe like a scratchy fabric or a heavy fabric. Wear something that's going to make you feel relaxed. Body position is another big thing, so make sure that your spine is straight. Don't slouch your neck and your shoulders. Relax your hands at your sides.
00:43:36
Speaker
and either sit with your feet on the ground or sit cross-legged on the floor. Work to release all the tension from your body and avoid, like I said, avoid overly soft chairs or laying down if you can, unless you're using meditation for sleep. Closing your eyes can help shut out any visual distractions. And one thing that helped me too, like if you are in a meditation group or something or mindfulness group and you guys are meditating,
00:44:02
Speaker
I am very short. So for me, when I sit in a chair, it's not comfortable for me to practice meditation because my feet aren't touching the floor. Yeah. And so it's fine to just sit on the floor, cross like, like just sit however is comfortable for you and what's going to work for you because at the end of the day, it's not going to do anything for you to get you into that meditative mindset. If you're uncomfortable the whole time and you're thinking about
00:44:30
Speaker
Oh my gosh, my back hurts or my hips hurt or I'm just, I'm sitting so uncomfortable right now because my legs are dangling. Like do what is going to be comfortable for you. I sit cross-legged and chairs because my feet also don't match.
00:44:44
Speaker
Same, yeah. I feel like a child sometimes when I sit on some furniture and I'm like swinging my legs back and forth. Yes, I have the same problem. And then as Sam mentioned before, you can use triggering items to help get you into the meditative mind frame. So like she said, ringing a bell.
00:45:05
Speaker
You can light a specific scented candle or incense that'll help trigger your brain. You can try making your own loose incense blends as well, so make it something that's more personal to you. Try listening to a specific like instrumental music or a sound like we talked about the waves crashing on the beach or if it's like rain that soothes you. Find like
00:45:29
Speaker
Um, a station that plays that or on YouTube or Spotify, whatever, like wherever you listen to music. If you're looking for any sort of witchy recommendations from music, there's a ton out there. Two of the ones that I really like because of just the instrumentals and just the beat of the music is dead can dance is, um, a group from the nineties, I believe like they're pretty old, but, um, they have a lot of amazing songs out there and just music in general.
00:45:58
Speaker
and also Lorena McKennett, both of those artists, I would definitely recommend if you're looking for just something a little bit witchy to get you into a ritual mindset for meditation. So you can also brew yourself a cup of tea and just like with the incense, you can mix your own meditative blend of teas with herbs, herbs or flowers.
Meditation Practice Tips for Beginners
00:46:20
Speaker
Just make sure you do your research like we talked about in last week's episode on what herbs and flowers you're using so that you're not
00:46:28
Speaker
using something that's going to make you sick or poison you. Don't force your breathing. Just breathe normally, focus on your breath. And then just some final thoughts.
00:46:38
Speaker
Remember that meditation is an ongoing practice. We keep saying this because it's important to know that you're not gonna master it and then stop. Like a lot of beginners get discouraged when they can't clear their mind or if they attempt to meditate and they fall asleep. These are completely normal. We've said it a few times about us just falling asleep and being like, oh no, I was trying to meditate. And so it's completely normal. It's part of the learning process and meditation takes time to just really get into.
00:47:07
Speaker
Start small. So try just doing like a five minute meditation session first and then slowly increase your time. Once you can manage five minutes, move on to 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, and so on for however long you want to meditate.
00:47:23
Speaker
Don't force your breathing. Just breathe naturally. Bring your awareness to your breath. If you can, meditate once a day to help build your ability to focus. But if you can only do it a few times a week, that's okay too. Don't get discouraged. Sometimes your mind will wander. Sometimes you might struggle to focus. This is all part of the process and part of understanding how your mind works.
00:47:44
Speaker
Through this process, you learn how to override what your mind is wanting to do while it's undisciplined. Just acknowledge the wandering thoughts and bring your focus back to your breathing or whatever your focus is for your meditation that day. Yeah. And we're super interested. So if you, if you're listening to this and you practice meditation,
00:48:03
Speaker
on a daily or weekly basis or just in general, we would love to know what your favorite way to meditate is, what are some great tips that you've used that have helped you. And just share with us how you meditate and what you do and what you use. And if there's anything that we're missing, let us know. And if you're struggling through meditation, know that you're not the only one.
00:48:27
Speaker
I like run on chaos. So every time I try to meditate, I'm like, ooh, I have to do this. Oh, I need to do that. Oh, tomorrow this is happening. And I have to like refocus myself. So it's completely normal. It's all part of the process. Don't let it discourage you. Don't let it make you feel like you're failing because everybody goes through this. Exactly. Yeah. And whenever those intrusive thoughts happen, instead of judging yourself for having those intrusive thoughts,
00:48:55
Speaker
Return back to the breath because the breath is always there.
Closing Remarks and Engagement
00:49:00
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get in Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you loved this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get in Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:49:24
Speaker
There you can purchase a membership to our podcast and obtain exclusives like getting episodes early, shout outs on the show, access to our Ask Me Anything forum, our monthly newsletter, a promo code for merchandise, and more. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Get In Witches or email us at we'redoingwitchcraft.gmail.com. Check us out next week where we'll sit down and discuss all things cleansing, charging, and vanishing. Until then, blessed be witches.