In last week’s blog, I discussed how to manifest what you desire. I talked about how you must focus deep within yourself to experience who you truly are at your core. Your true nature is that of consciousness, being, awareness or soul, but few people ever get to realize this because they are so embroiled in the external world and all its dramas that they never make the time to go within.
It is only by withdrawing from the external world, from time to time, and going within that you can experience your true nature. This is done through stillness practices. I am going to describe a few of these here.
1) Journalling is probably the simplest of stillness practices. What journalling allows you to do is to get your thoughts and emotions down on paper and to express them so you can release them. The more you release your thoughts and emotions, the closer you get to experiencing who you truly are. I recommend a daily journalling practice for everyone, which can simply be an account of what you experienced during the day and how it made you feel.
2) Spending quiet time in nature is another stillness practice, which many people do but few realize its true value and importance. By spending more time experiencing nature through your five senses, you will eventually sense the deeper essence of life and the world you live in, which you will realize is the same as your core essence. This is why this is considered an important stillness practice. You should spend at least 15 minutes daily in a natural setting to reap the benefits of this practice.
3) Mindfulness has gained a lot of notoriety in the last two decades as a way to be fully present, deal with daily stress and overwhelm and to experience greater clarity and focus. This can be done in small amounts throughout the day by simply stopping what you are doing and observing your thoughts, your feelings and what is going on around you. Through mindfulness you experience the depth of each moment instead of just skimming the surface of life, which subjects you to the ebbs and flows that life brings, much like changes that occur on an ocean surface. You go to the depths of the ocean through mindfulness.
4) Meditation is an ancient practice, which has been around for thousands of years, practiced in the East, but has been rediscovered by the West in the later part of the last century. The purpose of meditation is to get a glimpse of your deeper nature through going beyond your thoughts and feelings. There is no right or wrong way to meditate but there are many different ways to practice this and I encourage you to find a way that resonates with you. One simple way is to simply focus on your breathing, without changing it, while taking a slow, full deep breath.
5) Prayer is a stillness practice which is common to most of the world’s religions in one way or another. Even if you are not religious, there is value in prayer, especially if you are not able to or do not resonate with meditation. Look to your religious tradition to discover how to pray and explore various traditions to find out what resonates with you.
6) Tai Chi and Yoga are movement practices from the East, which have exploded in global popularity in recent decades. This is not surprising since they benefit the body, the mind and the spirit.These practices go way beyond physical health and are not about their movements but how these movements can take you deep into your core essence. If these practices resonate with you, find someone who can, not only teach you how to practice them, but understands the deeper meaning behind these practices.
These are some of the more common stillness practices but anything can be used to experience stillness if it takes you deep within. This includes practices such as long distance running, swimming, spending time with your pets and many others.
I encourage you to find a stillness practice that resonates with you and start doing it immediately. Spend at least 15 to 20 minutes daily doing a stillness practice and you will, not only experience who you truly are, but start to realize your infinite potential, the first step to manifesting what you desire during your physical incarnation on earth.
Dr. Nauman Naeem