Transcripts
1. EXPERIENCE MEDITATION TODAY: Hello, hello you guys and welcome to this
Skillshare course. Welcome to how to start meditating as an
absolute beginner. It is my pleasure to have you. My name is Eunice
Chen and I'm so happy that you guys are
here because today we are going to dive
into the topic of how do you start
understanding Meditation. I'm going to break it down into four important steps so that you can use your experience,
your observation. You can use you're noticing with your eyes wide open
and start practicing the observational skills
that you are going to carry into your meditative experience. So the reason I
created this course is because I've had such a hard
time learning meditation. This is the same for
everyone around me. Anyone who has experienced
meditation around me, whether if they're experienced meditators
are beginner meditators. A lot of times I find
that people have a really hard time getting
into the habit of doing it. Because rightfully so, it is
not the easiest thing to do. Sitting there by
herself in silence, even though as simple
as it may seem. And also I find
that there are not a lot of resources that address the questions that I have
as a beginner meditator. So in this course, I am going to help you
to feel more confident, to feel more comfortable. Actually help you to enjoy
your meditation experience so that it can become the most
rewarding thing for you. You pull, you're going
to fall in love with it and go back for more. So if you are
someone who is just starting and dipping
your toes in the water, testing out what
meditation is all about. You'll want to check this out, or if you want to have a better understanding
of what meditation is, how this can work for you and really understand
the mechanisms that go behind that and ultimately feel more
confident, more reassured, and go into it feeling
like you already know what you're
doing without feeling like a total newbie, then you are going to
enjoy this course. I can't wait to take
you through this. It is going to be
super practical. I'm super, super excited for
this experience with you. So without further ado,
let's dive right in. I'll see you in the first video.
2. MEDITATION AS AN ACT OF NOTICING: Hello you guys and welcome
back to this course. So in today's video, I want to talk
about meditation as an active act of noticing. And I know that there may be lots of different
interpretations of what a meditation is or how
to conduct a meditation, how to do a meditation. But I've derived, having
meditated for so long, I realized that meditation isn't just an active act of noticing. It's an act of noticing the
things that are around us. The things that are in
our external world, the things that we see,
hear, taste, smell. And then simultaneously
being able to notice what is happening
in our inside world. Noticing our emotions or
feelings or thoughts, sometimes repetitive thoughts, and how we talk to ourselves. This is very powerful because what I've
noticed is the more that we're able to pay attention
to our external world, and the more we're able to pick up and notice the things that we wants have taken for
granted in the past or we just completely
overlooked in the past. The more we're able to
notice the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions that we have overlooked in
our internal world. So being able to
sit with a mundane, with a boring, with a plane, the things that are
just sitting in plain sight really
helps us to gear our attention towards the things that have been sitting there and our subconsciousness that
had been sitting there in our heart that is actually
asking for our attention. And now practicing the art
of noticing can allow us to attune back to the feelings that we are experiencing back inside. So in the next video, I'm going to be sharing with you the four very powerful
steps in training your mind to pick up on your automatic
thoughts and really enter a meditative experience. I'll be seeing you
in the next video.
3. STEP 1: BREATHING BACK TO NORMAL: Hello, hello, my
friends and Skillshare. Welcome back to this course. So in today's video, we are going to be talking about choosing a point of
focus and also learning to return your breathing
back to normal when it comes to choosing
a point of focus, the reason why it's so important is because imagine you're closing your eyes and all of a sudden you are by yourself, left alone in the darkness
with your eyes closed. You have no idea what to think about and
where to focus on. That can tend to be very overwhelming feeling
for a lot of people, it's a lot to handle. So what we're going to do
is learn to find one thing, just one thing to focus on. When we found that one thing, it could be a visual thing, it could be an object, it could be a sound, it could be a texture, it could be a sensation. It doesn't matter what it is
that you choose to focus on, but for as long
as you can choose one thing for your mind
to pay attention to. So that when you go
into a meditation, your mind is not over the place. You don't feel overwhelmed. You don't feel like there's too many thoughts coming to you. At the same time, you're able to hold your focus onto
that one thing. So what will be
that thing for you? Now, the second part
of this video is to learn to return your
breadth back to normal. So in today's practice, I'm going to ask you to set a timer of one-to-two minutes. In the first part,
you're going to find your point of focus. The second part is
learning to sit still and return your
breadth back to normal. When I say that, I don't
mean trying to drag out your breath or trying
to slow your breath down. Like our breathing
is probably one of the most overlooked things in
our walking in daily life. And what we want to do
is just simply return our breathing back to its
normal pace to feel natural, to feel relaxed so that we
can feel safe to inhabit our body again and bring the attention back
into our body. Because a lot of times
when we're stressed, when we're dealing with
the external world, when we're talking to people, when we're excited, when we're agitated or frustrated
or in a rush, a lot of times our
breathing is disregulated. So what we want to do is feel
safe in our body to calm ourselves down with the use of our breadth and just feel
connected with a breadth. And that is all you have to do. So set your timer of one-to-two minutes and
enjoy the exercise. And I'll see you
in the next video.
4. STEP 2: RELEASING BODY TENSION: Hello you guys and welcome
back to this course. And in today's video
we're going to talk about neutralizing your body. So any tension that
you're holding in your body right now as
you're sitting down, as you're, you've chosen your
point of focus and you're focusing on it, and you're doing it with
your eyes wide open. Now, you're going to move your attention
towards your body. Ask yourself, am I holding
any tension in my body? Am I clenching my body? Do I feel like I'm flexing a
part of my body and this is the opportunity to just allow your body to relax
and be comfortable. Again, you don't
necessarily have to go from point to point to scan
every part of your body. But just allow yourself
to notice if there are any muscle tensions
that stand out to you. This is the practice of learning to be at home with your body, to be comfortable sitting
in your own stillness, sitting in your own silence. Because oftentimes we are so busy running to the next
thing are getting things done or just bring our
body everywhere but not really paying
attention to ourselves. So today in this practice, you are going to set a timer of one to two minutes and just allow yourself to be at the
comfort of your own presence. That is all for today's video. And I will see you
in the next one.
5. STEP 3: MAKING MENTAL NOTES: Hello you guys and welcome
back to this course. In today's video, we're
going to be talking about noticing the things
around your surroundings. So you have already chosen
your one-point of focus. Now we're going to zoom
back a little bit and start to notice the
things around you. And it doesn't matter what object you land
your attention on. Are you land your eyes on? Notice what thoughts are
coming up about that object. This is going to be a
really good practice because as you start to practice your observation and land your focus on a few things
you're going to realize. All the things that you
didn't notice in the past. For example, maybe
there's a speck of dirt on the wall that
you have not cleaned or maybe a crack on the floor that you had not
noticed that was there or maybe a scratch
on the glass window that you didn't even see for
as long as you were here. And so the practice of noticing
our environment around us is actually the same way of thinking when we
start to practice, paying attention to
our inner environment and noticing the
thoughts we have, the feelings we have
about the things that we have stored in
our minds and our hearts. So set yourself a timer
for one to two minutes. Your eyes are still wide open. You're still noticing
that things around you. But now you're adding the additional step of noticing the thoughts,
the feelings, the inner conversation
you have about noticing that object or a few
of the object around you. So with that said, enjoy this exercise and I will
see you in the next video.
6. STEP 4: MOVING ATTENTION: Hello, hello you guys and
welcome back to this course. Today we are going to
be talking about moving on with our thoughts and
letting your mind like Glide. And naturally, this is very powerful because this is
exactly what happens. Our meditation's when we
have our eyes closed. So what we're going to do
today in today's practice is set yourself a timer
of one to two minutes. And as you are
paying attention to the objects that are
in your surrounding, you're paying attention to it. You're noticing your
inner dialogue, you're noticing any thoughts and feelings you have
about these things. Or maybe this thing, this cup right here
reminded you of a friend and the conversation
you had with a friend or anything like that, then allow your mind to just glide and naturally from
one object to another. So this is exactly what happens in our minds
in our meditation. You don't necessarily have
to stay with one thought. You don't necessarily have
to push your thoughts away. All you have to do is
allow your attention to drift naturally because
this is how our minds work. This is how we naturally think. Our minds are so
fascinating in a sense that it will seek things
to pay attention to. So there's no point
for us to force it. There's no point for
us to try to stay with a thought or to try to
think about something. And just allow ourselves to effortlessly flow through
the different thoughts that come through our
mind to flow through the different objects
that we want to observe that we lay eyes on. In today's practice,
allow yourself to just drift from one
object to another. From the ceiling to the wall, from the wall to
the door handle, from the door handle
to the grass, from the grass to the
stove or anything. So enjoy today's exercise
because in the next video, I'm going to be introducing
to you how we're going to be doing all of this
with our eyes closed. I'll see you in the next video.
7. EYES CLOSED, HEART OPEN: Alright, you guys, everything
that we have practiced, we have done all the
steps that we have done has led us to this final step. This final step is going
to sum it all up for you. Essentially,
everything that we did is a meditative experience, except we're just doing it
with our eyes wide open. So in today's video, I'm going to be introducing
to you the practice of doing the meditation
with your eyes closed, following the steps of
one to four that we did. The only difference, only difference that
exists here is that we're no longer focusing on visual qualities or textural qualities
or sound qualities. We're focusing on the internal
things that come up to us. Memories, emotions,
thoughts, feelings, inner dialogue, how
we talk to ourselves, flashbacks, visions,
dreams, desires, all the things that
are intangible. We're all, we're all going to play with them together today. So I'm going to walk you
through how you're going to experience this meditation
with your eyes closed. So having closed your eyes, you're going to step one, return your breathing back to normal and find a
point of focus. It could be a focus of the
humming of the refrigerator. It could be a sound, it could be the
dripping of water, it could be the sound
of air conditioner. It doesn't matter.
Just find a place of focus where your mind can
rest for a little bit. Then allow your breathing, go back to normal. Just relax your breathing. No need to pace it out. No need to drag it out. Go back to your most
natural way of breathing. And then step number two
is released tension. Any tension that you feel in your body now as you are
doing with your eyes closed. Any tension that you're
feeling in your shoulders, your stomach, your jaw, your arms, allow yourself
to just unclear, pinch those areas. Step number three. Now, this is the powerful part. You're going to start noticing your thoughts and what you
think about those thoughts, anything that comes up. You don't necessarily have
to ask yourself questions, but it's really about what comes up to you in
the first place. What stands out to you? What's coming up to you
when you close your eyes. Those are the first things that are like in the
front of your mind. And then you're going to notice, thinking about this thought. What am I feeling
about this thought? How long have I
had this thought? And just start to pay
attention to anything that is coming up around
that thought itself. And step number four, now you're going
to allow your mind to drift very effortlessly. This is all about enjoying
the meditation practice, not having to make it about
one thing or one thought, or one emotion or another. There's no objective except for the active engagement of your noticing and
of your attention. And if you're able to
glide from one thought to another effortlessly without
forcing, without pushing, without holding herself steady, without resisting the thought, without trying to
push the thought away because it's
so uncomfortable, then you are doing
an excellent job. So set yourself a timer of one to two minutes for each step to complete the four steps in one setting and
enjoy the exercise.
8. FINAL THOUGHTS: Welcome to the last
and final video. You guys, we have successfully gone through
steps one to four, the introduction to meditation. And on top of that, and you have done it successfully
with your eyes closed. So how do you feel
about this experience? Please let me know in
the class discussion, in the comments so that we
can have this conversation together about how you're feeling and what
you're experiencing. I have to say, I am super proud of you that you
decided to do it and you decided to stick with it and
you decide to fall through because meditation is
no easy thing to do. And what I also want you to
know is that even having done meditation for
so many years now, it is still not an easy thing. There are still days where I don't want to
meditate because I know that I'm going to encounter a lot of thoughts as
soon as I close my eyes. Have grace on yourself
and be gentle to yourself as you start to develop your own practice of meditation in the way
that suits you the most. And like I said, a good
meditation is like gliding. There should be no resistance. There's no fighting,
there's no resisting, there's no not wanting to
think about something. It just is. And if you're able to experience your
meditation's this way, you can also experience your life without
resistance, without kicking, without fighting, without trying to push
back on whatever that is happening in your life and
allowing yourself to glide from one activity to another
21 thing to another. Just like in our meditation's, we glide from one
thought to another. However you choose to do your meditation is the
right way to do it. So I hope this course gives
you the encouragement, the empowerment to do your meditation's with
confidence so that you can actually really enjoy the
meditation experience if you loved this course
and if you find it helpful, please let me know in the comments in the
class discussions, I would love to hear from you. And if you enjoy this
kind of material, you will also find my other
courses on Skillshare. I'm teaching a few
other courses as well that I know
you're going to love. I'm also really
active on YouTube and talk all about
manifestation, meditation's self-development
and self-expression. If you want to connect in the YouTube world and see all of the things that I would
love to see you there. With that said, thank you for joining me in this course today. It was such a pleasure
having you and I will be seeing you
in the next one.
Eunice Chan, LET GO OF INHIBITIONS & EXPRESS YOURSELF
