This is episode 1,618. Welcome to the Daily Meditation podcast. I'm Mary Meckley and I honor you for giving yourself permission to slow down and connect to the best part of who you are in today's episode.

You are going to discover a meditation technique for self-care.

And this is part of our self-care gratitude meditation series this week.

And you will also discover an herb that can benefit you in a similar way as do meditation

techniques.

As you settle yourself down to meditate today,

keep in mind that the best way to truly meditate

is to elevate your meditation ritual

with a focus that is more about connecting you to your best qualities rather than as a way

to simply give yourself maybe a quick fix for a little more peace and calm. And there's nothing wrong with

doing that. But if the goal is this kind of control over your emotions or how you respond

to stress triggers, you're not as likely to experience that true beauty and

connection of meditation as when you approach your meditation ritual, as a way to be your best and to live out your best qualities.

So think of the techniques that you do when you meditate, such as repeating an affirmation or focusing on your

breath or doing a mudra or focusing on a chakra or doing a visualization or one of the many

techniques out there. When you do these techniques, they do calm your mind and body.

But what's more, when they calm your mind and your body, it allows you to focus less on fears or worries or stress, the very reason you may want to meditate.

And these techniques allow you to express and show up as who you really are, your finest qualities.

So the goal of meditating is to be the best person you can possibly be.

And I mention this because sometimes when I go to meditation retreats

or different conferences involving meditation

or even talk to some other meditators, they'll mention their meditation

...