Do you struggle with focusing day to day? Find yourself reaching for your phone to check social media when you’re at the table or having a chat with friends? Find your mind wandering off mid conversation? Do you know how beneficial meditation can be to sorting all of that out?

Meditation is one of the best ways to teach yourself focus and control. Teaching yourself to relax when you need to or motivate yourself when it’s time for you to do something specific.

Even as a regular practitioner of meditation however there can be those days where it’s tougher than others. Tougher to focus on your breathing and where you are right now. That’s when I try my candle meditation. Simple, yet highly effective for me.

Get a candle, preferably one of the bigger, quite fat ones. Light it on a stand and settle in front of it. Preferably with your legs crossed and sitting on a cushion in front of it. Turn off any lights, close any blinds or curtains and just watch the candle.

Then just breathe. Deep breaths in and deep breaths out, through your nose, eyes just slightly open. Whenever you find your mind wandering just focus back on that candle, on how it flickers on how it moves, the colours in it. You will find after a while that even though you are blinking the flame on the candle starts to blur. Let it.

Keep that going for as long as you can. The first time it may only be 5 minutes, the second it may be longer. Don’t time, don’t think about it. Just watch that candle. Breathe with that candle. Focus on that candle. Don’t let anything else distract you from that candle.

Try it out and see how you get on. It’s a great way to stop yourself getting too distracted by anything around you.

Ciao for now x