“Meditation means dissolving the invisible walls that unawareness has built.” ~Sadhguru 

Meditation is experiencing a revival in popularity, but the word alone is enough to turn some people off from trying it, evoking images of people sitting in odd and uncomfortable positions, eyes closed.

We hear things like “empty your mind”, and “be present.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found emptying my mind a wee bit challenging, let alone sitting crossed-legged for long stretches of time.

But it’s easy to misunderstand what it actually means to meditate—its purpose.

Meditation’s goal is to increase one’s mindful awareness, to become increasingly aware of and engaged in the present moment (as opposed to regretting the past or worrying about the future). Developing a present-moment mindset will make you more effective as a person, personally and professionally.

There are lots of other ways to practice mindfulness, simply by paying more attention—applying more consciousness—to whatever it is you’re engaged in, whether it’s cutting up cucumbers for a salad, or culling the true intentions behind a conversation with your teenager.

Since I became a grandmother I’ve begun practicing a new form of meditation: getting down on the floor to play with an eighteen-month-old little boy when I visit him in the States.

A child doesn’t understand the concept of time. There is no yesterday or tomorrow. There is only right now. Everything is immediate, and urgent, and full speed ahead!

I’ve learned you cannot play with a child with a phone in your hand or worries in your mind.

My mind seems to empty of its own accord, and in direct proportion to my full engagement in the activity at hand: drawing with crayons, reading another Seuss book, kicking balls in the back yard, or playing catch-me-if-you-can all over the house.

I call these kind of interactions “moving” meditations: my mind may not be completely empty of thoughts, but my focus becomes razor sharp, my attention undivided, and that alone increases meaningful take-aways from the activity.

Doing this has also informed my coaching practice as well: my clients are just like my grandson at heart. We all are. Or, we used to be.

And we can always increase our awareness of the world around us—and the world inside us. We can practice mindfulness while we take a shower, or deliver a presentation, or eat dinner, or study, or pet a dog, or smell a flower, or take a walk, or…while doing anything.

I may never be able to relax easily or well into the sit-in-lotus-position and empty my mind version of meditating, but I’m becoming pretty proficient at this moving meditation thing.

And that’s a good thing, because I can do it anywhere.