People often ask me what they should wear for meditation class and if they should bring anything. The answer is simple. You should wear anything you like and which you feel comfortable in.
Make sure you will be warm enough or cool enough, depending on the temperature. Bring water as it is important you stay hydrated. You might also like to bring a notebook to record any feedback to yourself from your meditation, insights you have or particular meditations or techniques which resonated with you that you’d like to bring into your home practice. Bring a mat to lie on (or you can hire a studio mat) and then feel free to use plenty of the abundant and beautiful bolsters and blankets available at Shri to build your own little meditation space. Make it as personal and comfy as you can. It is really lovely, each week, to see students really spread themselves out and build their own cosy, comfy and relaxing little nests. Some even create couches worthy of a furniture designer! Experiment to see how you feel most comfortable and most natural. You might even want to bring a couple of things from home that are special and personal to you.
The most important thing is that you feel comfortable, relaxed and natural. When enter meditation from this place of informality and naturalness, we are able to be much more attuned to all the instincts we need for meditation and the natural pulse and flow of our inner rhythms.
And remember, it is okay to cough, sneeze, scratch and itch, fidget, change position, stretch and use the bathroom during meditation. Meditation is the most natural, most instinctive process in the world It is the last place in the world we want to be suppressing anything that comes up for us. Suppressing ruins the experience.
And as Dr Lorin Roche says in “Meditation Made Easy”
“You can come with any attitude you have: skepticism, curiosity or enjoyment. Be willing to be surprised and energized, and be willing to fall asleep because you are so relaxed…Just treat meditation as if you were doing something you enjoy.”
Join us for Thursday night Meditation and Deep Healing Classes with Alison at 7.30pm in Teneriffe.