Hey there, steve pomeroy again and thank you so much for joining me for this month's podcast. It's good to be with you as always sending prayers and good energy strength, hope, courage and love to all of you as always and for those that might be sick right now struggling with an illness, I don't need to to go through what's been um talked about and on the news and you know, it's good to have a heightened awareness and not gonna dismiss any of the protocols out there. Good hygiene and self care is always important no matter what environment that we're in. So today I'm gonna talk to you about getting started for a meditation. Four things that you can focus on if you're a beginner, someone that's meditated on and off for a while that has found themselves struggling or even where you found yourself and you've tried it a few times and you said, hey, this isn't for me, I just don't do the meditation thing, but you still might be curious because you see how it works for other people and you know how they might have a little more even temperament. So I'm gonna take you through these things in short order this evening. Again, this is a time right now where we need to focus on our self care, our energy level, we want to avoid groups, affiliations, sitting in front of the tv too long where it's low energy, low, vibrating energy, too much fear anxiety, it's good to be aware to take things seriously if we're not feeling well. Hey, let's back off, let's chill out. Let's take care of ourselves and be respectful of others, that's the right thing to do in any environment. So I'm not here to dismiss anything whatsoever. So again, great time to focus on self care, watch something funny on tv some good humor, being able to discern again, avoiding low energy and there's plenty to be grateful for. So incorporating gratitude is always a healthy thing to do. It's the healthiest of all emotions. So that will segue into getting prepared for your meditation, you know, they say. And what I've been told and read about is that worrying is a learned behavior in some cases, many of us have become conditioned to this for some, including me at one time it became the new norm, I was so full of fear and anxiety and was coming from that place that I continue to turn to some very unhealthy coping. I drank too much and eventually I became alcoholic as I've talked about in previous podcast, so I really fell prey to some unhealthy coping. Um, and it weakened my immune system. You know, fear and anxiety weakens our immune system too much of it, too much stress. It's stressful. So I became sick all the time because I was, you know abusing my body and wasn't taking very good care of myself. So we've all dealt with fear and anxiety at some level, we just don't want it to become the new norm and if we find it's creeping in, we want to have the ability, the access to do something about it, we just don't want the self critic, which we all have that never has anything nice to say. It thinks it's trying to protect us that part of our ego, We don't want it to take over and control us, like it did me for a while, so I went back to treatment a couple of years ago and I always like to meditate and I wanted to get back into it and I was struggling because I wasn't, I was coming from a very unhealthy place with a lot of fear and anxiety off the charts and if you're in recovery, you can relate to that. If you're in some form of recovery, you can relate to that. I mean it owned me, I had very limited functionality. It was very, very sad state and not a very good state of month. So as I'm preparing you for maybe your first meditation or giving this another try, I just wanna kind of lead into this a little bit. So again, we've experienced this at some level, you get started with this resistance is very, very normal. I I still get it and I'm not here as an expert meditator and I'm not teaching seminars and doing stuff like this, I and not, you know, doing stuff like that. I'm here to just share with you what's really helped me the last couple of years and before my relapse, the last relapse because I had a history of relapse. So I'm here to just share with you something that I find very effective that I can do for a few minutes, 10, 15 minutes and longer if I choose to. We just want to get you going here. So as you go into this, there's some important things to remember that are very key one when you get started and you start to focus on your breath because that's where it's gotta start. The other things you don't have to do in any specific order, but we gotta breathe right? We can breathe. We want to focus on our breath and slow things down because that's what we're practicing on. We're gonna slow things down, we're gonna slow down the pace of play, We're gonna practice our pause, our ability to pause. So we want to acknowledge our worries, our fears, our distractions. Each and every time you go to meditate, there could be some noise outside people talking off in the distance, the neighbors building a playhouse, It's okay. You can acknowledge distractions like that as you get into your meditation and you're focusing on your breath. I'll give you an example me, I can get into a meditation and I went through a period where I was really busy because that's what we're doing, we're busy, we're actively participating in life. So this is normal, this is okay and I'm thinking, oh wait a minute. I got this great thought in the meditation, I've got to write it down now, I gotta do this now. I don't have time for this. I got what I needed. I gotta cut my meditation short. I can tell you that there hasn't been one day yet that I've meditated where at the end of the day as I'm recapping my day celebrating the winds, which is always important before we go to bed at night that I've, there's not one day where I've said, you know, if it wasn't for that meditation, I would have had a good day. Sounds a little funny hearing it that way. This is not going to hurt you. It is the opposite of worrying. There's gonna be some resistance. It's very, very normal. We're gonna be, it's like working a new muscle group, it's like learning a new hobby, a new skill. It's gonna take a little time. It's gonna require a little patience. So if you think you got to jump up and move away from it and then you come back to it, it's okay. The most important thing and you've heard me say this and other podcast is to not pass judgment on yourself. That is the key. Let the thoughts come and go, So here are the things that I focus on and then I'm gonna get you set up to do your first meditation and I really hope you give this a shot, number one, you gotta focus on your breath. It's gotta start there a nice inhale through the nose for a count of 45 or six. We're not trying to hyperventilate here and then a very nice controlled exhale out through your mouth where your mouth is open just enough to where someone may not even be able to tell your mouth is open. A nice controlled exhale out for a count of 6-8. A lot of times I start out at six, I work my way to eight. This may take you if you're really up tight and you're worked up very normal, it happens in our society all the time. It might take you a few minutes or so to focus on your breath. Remember the goal for this? As we're starting out, we're practicing our paw, we're pausing the worry cycle for a few minutes. That's not gonna hurt us. How many times has it been helpful to not hit, send on that email to not send that text message to not take that call coming in. It's like maybe I shouldn't take this one. I'm not talking about avoiding something necessary or healthy, but maybe something that's unhealthy somebody that gets us upset or maybe we decide, you know, this person has got a lot of toxic energy. You know what? I don't think I'm gonna meet with them today. The power of the pause is one of our greatest powers. So you get going. You can simply start to recite a gratitude list. You have shelter, your roof isn't leaking. I notice that right now as it's raining cats and dogs here in L. A. I have heat if I need it, I have a C I have warm water, I have clean water. Anybody can recite a gratitude list. It's not going to hurt you positive affirmations. I am enough. I'm good enough today. Remember, it's just for today for me as a recovering alcoholic. I can't sign up for a lifetime. That's too much. I just focus on, I'm not gonna drink today. So again, recite positive affirmations. That was very difficult for me in early recovery. Again, I give you an example what I want and need is coming to me. I sometimes broke down and teared up. You talk about the unknown and some anxiety. I had no idea if I could stop drinking, I didn't know I just kept showing up. I kept making the effort and it kept getting better and better. And here I am a couple of years later talking to you positive affirmations. If you pray pray for others. These are all tools that you can use to bring it back and have a very effective meditation in very short order. It's taking me longer to do this podcast. Then you need to practice meditating. If you're a beginner. I started out doing four minutes a day, six days a week and six, yeah, six days a week, took a day off and then I wanted that extra day and making a few notes. Four minutes guaranteed after a month it's gonna improve your happening. If you pray, you can pray for others. Unselfishly not for our will not like, hey, I hope someone so figures it out and comes around to my way of thinking and I get what I want in life more of sending people good energy, health, happiness, strength, hope, courage. And of course love even with people that we may not like right now, you know what they say, it's okay to pray for our enemies. It helps us with forgiveness. Sometimes it takes a little time. So you can do those four things if you ever getting distracted or if you're just getting started or both. Now I'm gonna give you 1/5 1 and that's something I started doing as well back then you can set your intentions for the day for me. It started out with a few things because it was hard to do. I mean I, my brain needed to heal physically, not just physically, but my brain, you know, a lot of emotions working on my shame level a lot coming up. So I would start out with intentions like and I still use them today. Listen patience, humility and then three things of how you want to be received by others, humble, confident, compassionate. It's amazing how those things will come up as you start to build your practice with this And it may not happen in the next hour or even in that deck. You're setting your intentions, It might be 23 days a week from now. And you know you're saying wait a minute. I'm finding myself very compassionate for other people right now. It takes time. We're working a new muscle group, so to speak, we're reconditioning our brain, it's all positive stuff. Again, we're working on our paws. So in summary here, sit comfortably, focus on your breath. Start to relax your neck, your shoulders, your limbs if you want to go palms up. Like you see people do on tv or in classes. That's a gesture of openness and willingness and receiving acceptance. That's why people do that. It might even feel vulnerable in the privacy of your own home, settle in. And remember as you're settling in to the chair, the sofa focusing on your breath, the key is to not pass judgment on yourself. It will be okay, give it a shot. I'd love to hear from you as always those of you who reach out to me, it's great. We chat a little bit through messenger text or whatever it may be or on the phone. It's all good. So anyways stay healthy self care right now. Good energy right now. We need it. We need it in our societies, our communities in our country and all over the world. Let's do our part, Good luck to you with this. God bless you! You banner. Your efforts will be enough with this. I promise you and you are loved. I love you. Take care and God bless.