Are you new to meditation? Want to use meditation in your daily life to free yourself from stress, negative thinking and self criticism?
Um, yes please!
But how exactly do we start with this self-care practice?
Well, if you want to be taught the basics and how to get started with meditation, look no further than the wonderful Holiday Phillips.
Holiday is a fresh new voice in the meditation world, calling the style she teaches Soulfulness - mindfulness with the soul. Fusing the practise of mindfulness - that teaches us to live in the present moment with the more soulful practises of compassion, affirmation and gratitude - that teach us to love ourselves and the life we are in.
A former chronic stress head with a very loud inner critic, Holiday finally decided that enough was enough and tried her first mindfulness class. This changed everything and led to three years intensively studying everything she could about meditation and travelling around the world to experience different styles. She eventually decided to share all of these amazing learnings, becoming a meditation teacher.
She blends the traditional practise of mindfulness with the more heart led practises of self compassion and gratitude. Through meditation she wants to help as many people as possible, connect to the deep place of freedom that exists when you learn to accept yourself just as you are.
30 Days Guided Meditation Videos
To get you started and as a stepping stone to your own successful meditation practice, learn all the technique and secrets from a meditation guru and take 5-8 mins each day to listen to Holiday.
Each day for the next 30 days, she will guide you through one meditation a day - from getting into a relaxed state, meditating for a specific purpose, giving you time for silent reflection and closing the practice.
Expect clear relaxing instructions, a different focus for each day from body scanning, deep breathing to self compassion, and ultimately you’ll be setting yourself up to know exactly how to start meditating on your own successfully. No matter why you want to start meditating, join in on the journey to a more soulful life.
“I want to let people know that just because you don’t know where your third chakra is or dress head to toe in hemp it doesn’t mean that this stuff isn't for you.
Everyone has the potential to live a happy and peaceful life - all you need is the belief that you can and a little help to get there.
If you're here - I hope I can be that help.” - Holiday.
The first 10 Days’ guided meditations are posted below.
Day 1 - Simple Counting & Breathing
Day 1 of 30 Days of Meditation Challenge
Day 2 - Mindfulness of Sounds
Today we focus on using the sounds around us as the focus of our meditation. A great one for anyone living in a noisy city. #Werk with what we have right?!
Day 3 - Body Scan
This is so helpful for learning to manage negative thinking or anxiety as it teaches us how to choose what we focus our mind on. Training our mind in meditation, empowers us in everyday life to actively choose to clear our mind of negative thoughts and focus on positive ones instead.
Day 4 - Mindfulness of Thoughts
We tend to believe that our thoughts are facts. When we have a thought like "i'm not good enough" we believe it. But in fact it's just a thought and we can let it go.
By letting thoughts come and go in meditation - just like passing sounds or passing body sensations - we can learn to let negative thoughts in real life pass.
Day 5 - Mindfulness of Thoughts Reload
Ok, so yesterday's mindfulness of thoughts meditation is such an important one, that I couldn't resist giving it a reload. Helping us learn that thoughts are not facts and just like passing sounds of body sensations, we can allow them to pass.
Day 6 - Deep Breathing
When we feel stressed our body goes into overdrive. Breathing deeply decreases our blood pressure, calms the nervous system and slows our heart rate. It physically sends signals to our brain that we want to calm down. When we are stressed - we are often only 1 deep breath away from feeling ok again.
Day 7 - Body Relaxation
A relaxed body can often mean a relaxed mind - so this is all about releasing body tension and bringing calm to the mind. Moving to self-compassion meditations tomorrow - these are gold for turning down the self critical voice we all have - so I can't wait for you to do them!
Day 8 - Heart Breathing
This is all about directing our attention towards our heart, to prime us for cultivating feelings of kindness towards ourselves.
Day 9 - Self Compassion Break
When something bad happens, we often make ourselves feel far worse because of the way we judge and criticise ourselves. In the self compassion break we meditate by replacing our self-critical voice with a more compassionate one. One to learn in meditation and then use in life!
Day 10 - Mantra Meditation
When we are feeling bad - often we just need to hear some kind, supportive words. We tend to wait to hear these from someone else - but it's far quicker and actually more powerful to give them to ourselves. Mantra based meditations give us these kind words in the moment and teach us how to speak kindly to ourselves in life.
If you liked this series, check out Holdiay’s weekly guided mediations coming soon on her social channels:
If you have any questions about meditation or mindfulness, then drop her a line on:
07888678927 or e-contact her through her site.
