I came to this course with some experience with meditation, but my practice was getting a bit stale - having used the same techniques and routines for over a year, my meditation was starting to become more empty ritual than effective self-cultivation.

As I went through this course, I came to several important realisations:

- I need to cultivate a daily practice; I get up early on work days to have time to meditate, but even a short meditation on a social weekend helps my state of mind
- 20 minutes is the right time for me; any less and my mind doesn’t have time to completely settle, any more and I start to restless.

There were a few questions that I carried over from my other practice, that I realised I needed to ask myself for each meditation;
- why are you doing this today? - it’s important that each day I sit down with a real motivation
- how are you feeling today? - recognising lingering emotions can help me release them
- how others benefit from this meditation? - I try and recognise that I my meditation will benefit my future self, as well as others I’ll interact with throughout the day

A few key points I’ll take forward from this meditation practice are;
- thanking each part of the body; I’ve scanned through the body before, but taking the time to thank each body part helps me be more aware of my body and aid in post-exercise recovery
- asking is there anything I am holding onto, or that’s unspoken; letting go of those thoughts before the meditation helps me avoid being distracted by them later

After this experience, I have also recognised the importance of trying different meditation techniques, so that I can graft the ones that are effective for me into my own practice.