Thursday 12 November 2020

Mindful Waters - Improving Meditation at Home

Meditation and mindfulness practices have a wide range of benefits from reducing back pain and insomnia to making us more compassionate. It has also been shown to reduce anxiety and help people become more resilient to stress.

Defined as the practice of thinking deeply in silence to make the mind calm, regular meditation provides a low-cost, achievable way to improve overall health and wellbeing. According to Eugenie Pepper, Psychotherapist and founder of Key Mindfulness, setting aside as little as five minutes a day to clear your mind has a number of proven benefits over time. Consistency is key, so it’s important to set aside time and space to practice.

Creating a sanctuary in the home can help ward off distractions, while providing a calming surrounding to help clear the mind. Try to consider the senses when making a meditation space. According to Eugenie, water features are a great option, especially in summer, as the sound and sight of water movement can be a great focus for the mind, while the evaporative cooling they provide can help freshen hot days.
When deciding on a place to meditate, it’s important to understand what you hope to achieve in the practice. Slow, ambling water can be very calming, while fast, crashing water may feel more invigorating.

Northcote Pottery offers a range of water features for different styles of homes, which create their own unique water displays and sounds. The tall faucet and two basin design of the Irondale (RRP $149.00) is a perfect fit for any country garden and creates a more complex multi-fall sound. While the Balinese, tropical inspired Moana (RRP $299.00) sees water arc up from the fish’s upturned mouth to splash onto the bronze basin below.

For more subtle sounds, the Australiana styled Windslow (RRP $249.00) reflects a simpler time and its unfussy faucet and metal basin create the familiar sound of water running into a bath. For an East Asian take, the organic hue of the Samsara (RRP $399.00) combined with the soft sound of water flowing over its stone pedestal will create a relaxing resort feel.
According to Eugenie, clearing your mind is a skill you build up over time and it’s quite common to have thoughts pop into your head. When this happens, simply let them float off and bring your attention back to your focus, be that your breath, the sound of water or the sensations in your body. To get the most out of a meditation space, it helps to look at other ways to build the mood, whether you’re sitting, standing or lying down, make sure you’re comfortable in your position and with the surface you are on. This could be as simple as lying down in bed or on a patch of grass. Additionally, try and bring a calming scent into the space.

Inspired by Balinese interior design, the Ashanti (RRP $299.00) is a perfect water feature for contained areas as its vertical profile takes up relatively little floorspace, while the flat, dry top is ideal for placing candles and incense to bring in scents to suit your mood. The unique flow of the water over the front of the doors and into the bottom draw of the feature tightly contains the water, avoiding extinguishing any candles around its base.

Easy-to-use without the need for plumbing, each design includes a basin that is filled up to an easily identifiable level, avoiding the large volumes needed for ponds and pools. Once full, simply plug it in to instantly transform any space and tap into your inner calm.

According to Eugenie, our minds don’t define the imaginary and the real, so using our learned associations with elements like water movement, flickering flames and soft textiles help us imagine ourselves in more tranquil settings. For example, the sound and cooling feel of running water could transport us to a babbling brook under dappled shade.

Setting up a sanctuary that works with you, will help bring you back to your practice every day and build the habit until meditating becomes part of your life, like brushing your teeth. From there you will be able to explore mindfulness and feel the benefits of a healthier life.

Northcote Pottery products are designed for easy installation and operation and include with a pump and power cord. They are available in Bunnings stores Australia wide and further information is available at: northcotepottery.com.

Till next time... create a space in your home for mindfulness and meditation.
xox
Rani

About Northcote Pottery
Established in 1897, Northcote has been the market leader in the Australasian garden industry for more than a century. Northcote Pottery is the leading brand of pottery and garden décor products in Australia and New Zealand.

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