with Jenna Grace

I started meditating when I lived out West. A far way away from where I grew up in the Midwest. I was searching for something. As we all do in our 20s. But I had been struggling with my mental health for as long as I could remember. I wasnt okay. And I didnt know how to get better. I was completely lost. Both in my life and in myself. And meditation was the first thing that helped me find my way.

Meditation found me. I was walking home from a nearby flea market and someone handed me a booklet on yoga. Always intrigued by yoga but never having been exposed to it (this was in 2005; before yoga was everywhere), I accepted the booklet, made a donation and headed home curious.

Once home, as I began thumbing through the pages, I was a bit discouraged not to find pictures of the yoga poses Id imagined. Instead, the booklet focused on breathing. On postures when sitting. On finding stillness. I was looking for any kind of guidance, so I took this as a sign that I should start meditating. And so my meditation practice began.

I made myself meditate every day. And considering I knew no one in the latest town I was in, I had a lot of time to practice. And I needed to practice. Its amazing how hard it is to just sit. To sit in stillness and to focus. On your breath. On your thoughts. On your feelings. Perhaps thats why we dont do it as much as we should. For when you focus on your thoughts and feelings, you have to be ready to deal with what you think and feel. But I began to notice that meditation was slowing things down for me, helping me find a stillness inside myself that I desperately needed to find. Helping me feel okay.

Id been anxious and depressed and dealing with suicidal thoughts for over a decade at this point in my life, and I was searching to figure out why. Meditation gave me my first glimpse inside myself. A glimpse that brought me joy and made me feel peace. A peace I had never known; one that I needed to feel. It gave me body awareness. Helped me focus my thoughts. And connected me to my feelings. To my soul.

Now, over a decade later, my practice looks much different than when I started. I find beauty in this as thats how it should be things should evolve, as life does. Because while we all need to practice finding stillness, well go nowhere if we dont move.

So if you find yourself beginning your meditation practice, here are some basic steps to help you get started:

I wish you light and love as you begin your practice. May you find peace and joy in yourself. Namaste.

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Jenna Grace is a neurodivergent writer and educator with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sensory processing disorder (SPD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) diagnoses. She writes and speaks about topics including neurodiversity and SPD in order to help others and to explore new meaning. Visit her website or Twitter, @jennagracewrite.

APA Reference Grace, J. (2019). Mental Health, Spirituality and Self-care: 8 Basic Steps to Beginning Your Meditation Practice. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 30, 2019, from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/neurodivergent/2019/11/mental-health-spirituality-and-self-care-8-basic-steps-to-beginning-your-meditation-practice/

Last updated: 29 Nov 2019 Statement of review: Psych Central does not review the content that appears in our blog network (blogs.psychcentral.com) prior to publication. All opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the author alone, and do not reflect the views of the editorial staff or management of Psych Central. Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

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Mental Health, Spirituality and Self-care: 8 Basic Steps to Beginning Your Meditation Practice - PsychCentral.com