Published on January 30th, 2017 | by Catherine Tingey

Mental Hygiene

Upon waking each morning, we shower and brush our teeth. As a society, we place great value on physical hygiene, so much that we actually have products to cleanse and perfume every orifice of the body.

But what about mental hygiene? What do we do to cleanse our minds of the hundred of millions of thoughts that pile up, year after year?

Just as our bodies are dirtied with the detritus of work and play, our minds are perhaps even greater repositories of garbage. Garbage made up of the 20,000-40,000 thoughts that a human being has every day, a vast majority of which are based on fear and never come to pass.

If the inside of your mind is a white wall, and each thought represented by a post-it, how many post-its would be on the walls after 1 year? 10 years? Half a lifetime?

What if I told you that if you believe in daily showers, you should also consider cleaning your mind.

Meditation is the most direct path to a clear mind.

Meditation acts like an inner broom that sweeps away noise of the mind to reveal a sense of true, inner calm.

Warning: May cause long lasting happiness!

In yoga we have the concept of Saucha, which translates directly as purity. This Niyama in yoga encompasses both outer and inner purity, a virtue that is cultivated through clean food, water, breath and thought.

We can clean our minds through meditation.

Try this:

Sit in a comfortable seated position either on the floor or in a chair.

Allow your hands to rest comfortably in your lap or on your knees.

Let the thumb rest on top of the outside of each index finger.

Bring the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth and keep it there.

With the eyes closes, direct your gaze in between your eyes, or upwards inside your head.

Make sure your spine stays relatively straight, and relax.

Breathe.

If you like mantras in English, you say silently to yourself I AM STRONG, or I AM PEACE, or whatever you happen to be needing in that moment. When I’m chewing on something difficult in life, I like to chant, I AM A CRUSHER or I AM INVINCEABLE.

If you prefer mantras in Sanskrit, feel free to contact me and I will give you a personalized one.

Lastly, if you prefer visualizations, imagine being seated under a waterfall but instead of water, white light pours down on top of your head, cascading down your shoulders and spine, flowing off your arms and cleansing your entire body – head to toe. Feel this cleansing on a deep, cellular level. Allow any tension remaining in the body to sink into the ground beneath you.

If you are curious about learning how to meditate, consider hiring a Private Meditation teacher.

If you live outside of the Los Angeles area and would like to learn to meditate with me, I teach a live course, one-on-one, via Skype. No boring e-courses with pre-recorded voiceovers. This is you and me, communicating.

It consists of 3 classes, each lasting about 1 hour. You learn 5 different meditation techniques PLUS your own PERSONAL MANTRA plus an E-BOOK which covers all the material you learned in the course. Upon graduation from the course, you will have the tools to start your own meditation practice.

The cost for the course is $499 and includes over 14 days of unlimited email access to me while you are practicing the techniques on your own.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!

xoxo

Catherine

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Catherine Tingey

Entrepreneur, yogini, designer, award-winning filmmaker, personal trainer and former marathon runner. She left a career in finance to start her own business and along the way, became a yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga for 31 years and teaching privately for 11 years.

Tags: Meditation, Meditation Classes

About the Author

Catherine Tingey + Entrepreneur, yogini, designer, award-winning filmmaker, personal trainer and former marathon runner. She left a career in finance to start her own business and along the way, became a yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga for 31 years and teaching privately for 11 years.