Escaping the city with Volvo

Everyone who knows me knows I am a big city girl. It is what I know being raised on a city island but every now and again it is nice to escape and isolate myself away from the fast-pace buzz. I have just come back from a trip to New York, and since that was basically London on steroids, I was quite happy to be invited by Volvo to take some time with them in escaping the city in their Canary wharf pop up.

The session was an introduction to meditation, which I have always wanted to try out as I have heard many things about the benefits it brings to your mind and soul. But naturally, I was curious to understand how a meditation session fit in with a car brand like Volvo. If you read my post on Sweden and the allemansrätten law then you would have had an introduction to the Scandinavian philosophy of enjoying mother nature in its rawest form.  The Swedish car manufacturer embraces this with their brand messaging and launch of the new Volvo XC60. This is supposed to be an adventurer’s car and your perfect partner for your perfect escape plan, and I must say – it looks pretty sleek too!

So what did I learn during the introduction course. Firstly, in a proper course you are each given your own Mantra. A mantra is a single sound or vibration that acts as a vessel of the mind and is used to take you into a deeper state of meditation, removing your mind from the distractions of the every day world..  I did not know that you had your own Mantra given to you instead of the assumed “om” sound you see on TV. This Mantra is given based on the sound the universe was making at their time of birth and any other characteristic, you need a teacher to do this for you. They are usually meaningless sounds to keep you from distraction.

The easiest way to get into meditation, without having to pay a sum of money for an actual course, is to spend 20 minutes a day in the morning and evening just sitting on your own, closing your eyes and freeing your mind of any thoughts. It sounds simple enough but it is unbelievably hard not to think about the work you have to do that day, the stressful commute you are about to have on the central line or that friend that really pissed you off. But it does bring a calm that allows you to restore your mind and have more empathy to the world around you. Something I probably need is more empathy for the people around you, especially in the mornings when I am stood squished between a sea of people on the tube.

It is something that I keep telling myself to try, and some days I get up 15 minutes earlier just to sit on my bed and get away from the world. It is probably the closest form to meditation that I have come too – anyone out there have any other tips on meditating?