FAP769: Financial Aid Podcast April Fools Edition

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How To Meditate

Welcome to the Financial Aid Podcast meditation session, a 6 minute meditation designed to help you relax and de-stress during your workday, study, or whenever you need a break. The meditation itself is only 6 minutes, so it’s perfect during a lunch break or coffee break, or any time of day when you have a few minutes to spare. This meditation can be done wearing headphones or listening on your speakers. You will have a different experience depending on how you listen, so try both.

Before we begin, here are some basics to help you get the most out of the next few minutes. Find a place where you’re unlikely to be disturbed for the next few minutes.

Turn off your phone, your PDA, anything that can interrupt you. Tradition recommends that you remove anything that can conduct electricity, but at the very least, take off and put away any modern technology likely to cause interruption.

Have a seat either in a chair or on the floor. Whatever you choose, your hips should be slightly higher than your knees. If you sit on the floor, a firm pillow under your seat is enough to elevate your hips.

Keep your eyes mostly closed, just enough to let a little light in. Fully closing your eyes could accidentally put you to sleep, so let just a thin sliver of light in.

Sit with your back straight but not rigid. Here’s an easy way to do this. Right now, take a very deep breath and hold it, pushing the air down into your belly. Let that deep breath expand your ribs a little and naturally straighten your spine. Keep holding it for just a second longer, feeling your body settle in around the breath. Gently and slowly release it, and your back will be naturally straight.

Take a deep breath and gently release it, let it spill out of you. So hurried are we today that we often forget the simple pleasure of a deep breath of fresh air.

Another deep breath, at your own pace. There’s no hurry, no place to be, no thing to do, no schedule to keep, just breathing fully, deeply, in and letting the air flow out of you like a slow moving stream.

As you continue to breathe, begin to pay attention to your senses. Even with your eyes mostly closed, can you perceive light and dark in the room you’re in? Can you see colors, shadow, light, even motion?

When we close our eyes, we naturally pay attention to sound. What do you hear in the background? Slow melodies on a flute? Rain falling? Do you hear other sounds in the background, perhaps in the next room?

Our sense of smell, intertwined with taste, are two of our most delicate. Breathe deeply. In the environment around you, what scents can you detect? Are they faint or strong? Can you even get a sense of direction from them? Do the scents even have a perceptible flavor to them?

Our sense of touch is all too often relegated merely to our hands, when we can feel with our whole body. As you breathe, capture the feeling of the room you are in. Is the air still or moving? Warm or cool? How does your clothing feel against your skin? Can you relax some tense muscles as you breathe?

As our time together draws to a close, continue to breathe. Pay attention to how you feel right now, and remember this feeling by saying out loud, home, I’m all good. Vibrant. Shining. When you feel tension and stress creeping into your day, remind yourself of how you feel now – home. I’m all good. Vibrant. Shining.

Slowly and gently open your eyes, take an extra deep breath, perhaps even reach up to stretch and slowly move in whatever way feels naturally good.

You’ve just completed a short meditation session in a practice called shi-kan, or centering meditation. It has no spiritual or religious affiliation, and is merely to help center your mind and put you mentally back in balance. Feel free to listen to this recording whenever you need to put stress on pause and get back to being yourself. If you have a friend, family member, or coworker who would benefit from this, please share it with my blessings.

Thanks for listening to this special edition of the Financial Aid Podcast.

Additional meditation resources:
+ Stephen K. Hayes Basic Meditation DVD
+ Stephen K. Hayes Advancing Meditation DVD
+ Stephen K. Hayes Heart of Wisdom DVD

Sacred Spirit Tribe
“Canyon Rains” (mp3)
from “Deep Meditation Vol. 1 – Lakota Rain”
(Ultraviolet Productions)

More On This Album

Promo
+ Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch

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Reminders
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+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook

+ Private student loans
+ Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help

+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

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