Are you concerned how you will feel on wedding day? Maybe you are looking for ways to be more present and centered on your wedding day? This article will provide you with tips on how to decompress and find that quiet place to prepare for the next chapter of your life.
Wedding Day Yoga
Do you already have a yoga routine that you do every morning? Your wedding day is not the day to neglect it. If anything, it’s the one day that you should make sure to include it in your routine. Perhaps you don’t do yoga regularly, that’s perfectly okay. You can start at any time and maybe starting on the day where the rest of your life is changing isn’t such a bad idea. An energetic Vinyasa flow will help calm your mind and loosen up your body to help you get in the zone. If you aren’t feeling super energetic, try a relaxing yin session. Here’s a link to some good wedding day yoga practices.
Meditate on Love
Take a few minutes on the morning of your wedding day to find a quiet place to practice meditation. Find a quiet room to sit cross legged on the ground. Fold your hands, slowly breathe through your nose and notice the thoughts arising in your mind. Bring the thought of your loved one – your husband or wife to be – into your awareness. Hold them there and then bring in the thought of love. How does your love towards this person feel? Where are you feeling this sensation? What sorts of other thoughts or feelings are you experiencing as you hold this person in the presence of love?
As you experience these thoughts let them come and go through your mind. Do not grab on to one thought or the other, but rather watch it come up, notice it and how it makes you feel and then let it go. When you notice your mind grabbing on to a thought, bring your attention back to your breath.
Stay Mindful and Present During the Ceremony
It’s totally understandable if you start feeling overwhelmed at some point during the wedding ceremony. If you feel your thoughts are becoming distracting, or you start feeling very nervous, simply keep bringing your attention back to your breath. Following your breath is the best way to ease any kind of tension.
Continue Your Meditations in Your Marriage
After the ceremony and the official wedding papers are signed, keep coming back to this meditation. Your wedding is hopefully just the beginning of a long, happy, and fulfilled marriage. You should keep coming back to this practice, and continue to grow in your understanding of what it means to love. Throughout your married life, you can expand the meditation to include elements such as how has marriage helped you grow in love? What do you find challenging? Once again just watch these thoughts come and go. Allow change and growth to occur in the space of love.
-Bernard Paul