Joys of meditating informally!

Increased stress levels and the Covid situation has attracted a lot of people to meditation off late. I started to value this practice more after moving to Waterloo, Canada that has long winters with cold, short and dark days, which makes it tricky to find joy externally. The last two years of Covid made me realize the importance of experiencing fulfillment inside, and being less dependent on outside factors. 

It feels wonderful when I meditate. However, not everyday am I able to create an opportunity to sit in a quiet place, light a candle, put on relaxing music, have an aroma diffuser and my earthing mat, and just go on a mindful date with myself. Self-care tends to get deprioritized when there are competing responsibilities of being a mother, a wife, a working woman and a gazillion other roles.

Fortunately I came across the concept of informal meditation. While FORMAL meditation involves focusing on a specific thing and tuning out everything else around you,  INFORMAL meditation is about fully experiencing whatever you are working on, being aware of and involved in the present moment and doing whatever you do, with an intent. 

I am in love with the idea as I can now meditate while eating, washing dishes, walking in the forest, driving and so many other creative ways. It has helped me start enjoying mundane tasks and also reap the benefits of meditation.

There was a time when I stepped out for a walk, I would try to make the best out of it by listening to a podcast, an audio book or talking to someone over phone. A chop chop attitude led me to running the mad race of getting more and more accomplished and moving the body to reach certain steps. Instead, I started to not multitask during my walks and just allowed myself to feel the air, listen to the sounds of birds, flowing water, rustling trees; feel the texture of the ground beneath me; observe the gorgeous and interesting plants and animals and the shapes of the clouds. Taking in the beauty of nature and my surroundings during the walks left me refreshed, more connected to myself and the vastness of life. It made the targets I set and the life I was leading, a lot simpler and less complicated. Btw: Have you tried hugging a tree? Try it, it's a wonderful grounding activity! :)

There are times when I am really busy. All I get is a 10 minute break to eat. Sometimes I wish I also had time to meditate a bit before I got back to the stressful conversations and the challenging activities. I then started practicing informal meditation while eating my food. I paid attention to the smell of the food, the texture of what I was chewing, savoring every bite I swallowed, the taste, the goodness it carried and felt gratitude for having good food on the table. I chewed and swallowed the bites slowly, allowing myself to taste it more mindfully. It enabled me to eat the right amounts and right dishes instead of just gobbling anything and everything not realizing what I just ate. By the end of such a session, I felt more centered, composed and ready to get back to whatever I had to with more grounded strength.

Well, can you believe it? Doing dishes is my favorite chore now. Yes 😃 you read it right! I kind of look forward to it. Feeling the warm flowing water on my hands, experiencing the scrubbing of the dishes slowly, noticing the joy of moving the dishes from a dirty to a clean state, acknowledging the accomplishment of processing the full sink and getting it to an empty state. Believe me, it's sometimes the only 'me' time on a very busy day and I love it. I also apply similar mindfulness to driving. Instead of finding driving by myself boring, I consider it as an opportunity to just flow. Breath slowly when you drive. Don't rush, don't go beyond the allowed speed, observe the surroundings, sometimes instead of listening to music sing! or just hum.. notice how it feels to hold the steering wheel. Just be present and feel the drive.

These may feel silly to read at first, but I have really tried them and they work for me. These and many more such small and big mindful experiences enable me to function sanely, talk slowly, stay calm and grounded even on days when I am not able to do formal meditation before starting my day. I encourage you to try and see how it goes for you. You will never know if it works for you, unless you give it a shot! 😊  I would love to know your perspective, learn from your experiences. Please share your experience in the comments section below.

While I share the joys and benefits of informal meditation, I still believe that it cannot completely replace formal meditation.  If you have time and space, don't miss out on that opportunity! Practicing formal meditation helps make informal meditation more effective and easy. It enables our mind to get hard wired to meditation, which then becomes a habit. Our mind then seeks natural ways to meditate.