When I first heard about the benefits of meditation around 12 years ago, I was so psyched to get started. It sounded so exciting. I read loads of books, which said that when you meditate all this spiritual “stuff” would start happening and that my energy would be “shifting” and coming into alignment. But I’m not going to lie; for me this whole meditation thing was challenging.

 Sitting there with my eyes closed and trying to feel connected just felt completely alien to me. Every time I closed my eyes and put my thumb and forefinger together in the meditation pose, my mind began to go crazy. I would think about everything and anything – but none of it was spiritual. It took me 11 years to be able to get comfortable in my skin, relax in my own body and find stillness, even if there was loads of movement and noise around me.

 I remember when I was first trying to meditate that if my mum moved in the house, a car blew its horn outside or the postman delivered the mail I would instantly be distracted, put off and agitated. I soon learned that this style of meditation definitely wasn’t working for me and I called on my angels for help. When I asked for an answer I heard the simplistic words “Let everything else be.” It was a revelation. Here I was, thinking everything had to be all Zen garden and quiet. I was so busy on “doing” meditation I forgot the most important thing to just BE.

 Meditation for me isn’t all about going to the 5th dimension to meet some Ascended Master (although it’s probably possible). It’s more about feeling safe in my skin and allowing my angels to contact me through the inner voice. The key to meditation is staying present and being in the NOW. That’s where your angels are! The Angels are here already – they’re waiting for YOU to turn up. Every time your mind wanders or you think about something away from where you are, you lose your sense of the present—where they are, waiting to whisper their loving guidance into your soul.

 A Course in Miracles describes a miracle as “a shift in perception.” It’s when we choose to think and respond to a situation differently. For example: If I hear a noise outside myself, like a cell phone ringing, instead of getting really pissed about it I would just say, “there’s a cell phone ringing but that’s cool because I’m still here in my body” in my head, and I would keep breathing – that’s when my meditations began to become miraculous.

So here are my top 5 tips to help you stay focused when meditating:

1.  Invite the Angels – As soon as you begin your meditation practice, focus on your light and say “Thank you Angels for joining in with my meditation practice today. It’s so good to have you here!”
2.  Stay Grounded – Any time you feel your mind begin to wander, focus on your feet and the sensations that they are having. Are they pressed against the icy cold floor or can you feel carpet underneath them? Are you wearing shoes or socks? Or even are they in a lotus/cross-legged position. As you focus on your feet and where they are, you bring yourself back to the body and, of course, the present moment.
3.  Remember Mudra – When you meditate, allow your palms to face upwards, as if you were getting ready to “receive,” but anytime you feel your mind wander, you can allow yourself to make a fist with both hands. All you do is bring your fingers in and put your thumb over them. What you are doing is another conscious action to bring yourself back to the body. The 5 fingers represent the 5 spiritual elements and you bring them back together every time you make a fist.
4. Affirm – Your ego-self, that voice that questions everything and anything it possibly can, sometimes might join in your meditation. It might be rude, tell you that you’re not gifted or something else that’s completely untrue. Anytime you hear it, just say something like “It is completely safe for me to enjoy this experience. I am safe here in love!”
5. Let it be – If you hear noises, cars driving by, the kids coming in from school or whatever else, just let it be. Any time you hear a noise outside yourself, focus on the breath and imagine you are breathing to the noise. As you breathe towards the noise, you reach out with your inner light and share whatever peace you are experiencing with it. You can even just think into yourself “this noise around me is completely natural and I’m still safe so I’ll just let it be” and continue.