You know how frustrating recipe blogs are? Tons and tons of text before you finally get to the recipe at the end? Let’s make this easy. At the end of this piece are two free resources. You can also access them both up here as well:

Illumination Guided Meditation written by Hanna von Hafenbrädl and read by me, Christine Bradstreet

Learn to Love Meditation Free 5-Day Meditation Challenge

I’ve dabbled in meditation off and on for many years. The first time was when I was about 12 years old and my mother invited me to try it with her. Once. We did it once, but I liked it, and I asked to do it again. Like most busy suburban mothers, meditation probably felt like a luxury of time, and we never did it again.

Even though I was introduced to it early, I never had a mentor or guide to walk me through the early stages. Sure, meditation is as simple as tapping into the quiet divine that exists within us all, but that’s like saying eating is simple if you’ve been raised on Kool Aid and McDonalds. (No disrespect to those tasty options.) The point is, if you’re never exposed to healthy options, you forget how to make them.

Like you, I tried meditation off and on.

I’d get frustrated that I couldn’t quiet my mind. (By the way, it’s a false belief that you should be able to quiet your mind. That’s the nature of the human mind.) I’d also listen to the little voice that told me I didn’t have time to meditate.

That was my meditation experience until one pivotal day. I committed to a friend that I would complete a short spiritual practice, that included a couple minutes of meditation, each morning for 5 straight days.

No matter if you’ve failed spectacularly at adopting a meditation practice in the past, I know you can commit to 5 minutes per day for 5 days. And I’m pretty certain you’ll stretch those 5 minutes into 20 minutes or more by the end of the 5 days.

Why is 5 days important?

Whaddya know, the real impact of a meditation practice comes from doing it regularly rather than trying to do a long session once a week or on an irregular schedule. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, you benefit from regular meditation.

I meditated for 5 days, and I never stopped. I was hooked.

Jump to the present day, and it’s common for me to enter a deep meditative state in the time it takes to take a breath or two. I can do it just about anywhere. And while I don’t try to force it, I often have a profound mystical experience.

Whatever form your meditation takes, whether it’s silent, mantra, transcendental, guided, or yoga nidra, you’ll quickly find yourself having deeper and more mystical experiences the more regularly you meditate.

Connecting with the Divine within you.

The Divine is within you. It resides in what I call the Sacred Space of Your Heart (more about that in another post, so sign up for notifications!). Meditation is about connecting in that space with the Divine. The Divine is eager for you to connect. The Divine has so much love for you. It also basks in the love you express toward it.

As you learn to settle into your inner quiet place, it will get easier for you to feel that connection and to have mystical experiences. At first, the connection may be only brief, but you’ll be so wowed by the experience that you won’t be able to wait to connect again.

I’m most likely to have a mystical experience with silent meditation, but all forms of meditation are valuable. For beginners, guided meditation is often easier because the guiding voice gives the wandering mind something to latch on to. Click here for the simple 10 minute guided Illumination Meditation

Give your wandering mind something to chew on.

There’s a saying that an elephant’s trunk will swing and disturb its surroundings as it walks along a path. Give the elephant a branch to hold in its trunk and the disturbance stops. The wandering trunk now has a focus. That’s guided meditation. It gives your wandering mind something to chew on.

When I spend time in the Sacred Space of My Heart with my Divine Source, I feel love and I radiate it back. My cluttered thoughts become clear. Answers appear. Pain vanishes. Time stands still. My state is calm and peaceful.

I don’t time myself. Somehow I know when it’s time to return to the material world.

There’s nothing special about me or how I meditate.

There’s nothing special about me or how I meditate. I simply have a willingness to set aside my ego and approach it with a childlike wonder. That’s all it takes. That’s how I know mystical experiences are there for you too.

Will you make the same commitment to me that I made to my friend? To adopt a spiritual practice that includes meditation for 5 straight days?

Here are two resources that can help you get started.

My friends Hanna and Jack of Happy Jack Yoga have a free resource:
Learn to Love Meditation - Free 5-Day Meditation Challenge. You can do 5 days on your own, but if you think some structure will help you, sign up for the free challenge.

Listen to the Illumination Meditation written by Hanna von Hafenbrädl and read by me here.

However you choose to begin, don’t work hard. Work easy instead. That’s how spiritual processes work. The ego will try to conquer and “win”, but your magic will be found in the surrender and the ease.