A Simple Guide On How To Practice Meditation
Meditation is a powerful tool for enhancing mental and physical health, reducing stress, and improving overall well-being. If you’re wondering how to practice meditation, but it seems difficult or overwhelming, you’re not alone! Many beginners are eager to learn the steps to meditation and kick start a simple practice. This guide will help you learn how to meditate step by step, and show you how to make it a simple and attainable daily habit. Here are 12 steps to help you embark on your journey into this ancient practice that brings us numerous physical, neurological, and psychological benefits.
1. Do Some Quick Research
To begin, I recommend figuring out what benefits you’d like to gain, or objectives you’d like to achieve, from taking up meditation. What’s peaked your interest or inspired you to look into how to practice meditation? In order to motivate yourself, I recommend reading 12 Scientific Research Studies On The Benefits Of Meditation. This will give you an objective, and help propel you to work towards the benefit you’re hoping to gain.
2. Commit
None of the following steps are relevant if you’re not prepared to commit to this new activity. If you were planning to learn a new language or instrument, practicing occasionally wouldn’t be enough. Recognise that nothing good in life comes easy, so are you prepared to put in the time and commit to it? In your work or personal life, you’re no doubt conscientious, committed and diligent, and you need to apply the same attributes to the mental training of meditation. Compared to other activities meditation is extremely easy in that it doesn’t cost you any money, you don’t need any special equipment, or have to go anywhere. All you need is to commit a bit of time to being still and focused!
3. Decide on a Place and Time
Pick a quiet and comfortable place where you can meditate regularly, and ideally without interruptions. This could be the corner of a room in an otherwise cramped apartment, a cozy chair, somewhere outside, or even in your car if you struggle to get peace and quiet anywhere else! Where you meditate will possibly determine what time of day you meditate, or vice versa. So decide on a specific place and time to meditate each day. Whether it’s morning, afternoon, or evening, consistency is key, as is being realistic. You may like the idea of setting the alarm clock earlier to meditate in the morning, but in reality you know that you’re more than likely to press Snooze! Setting aside just 5 to 10 minutes initially can make it easier as you learn how to practice meditation, but ideally aim for 15 – 30 minutes to gain the benefits that meditation can bring you. However if you can’t always stick to the same place or time as usual, don’t let this be an excuse! You’re better off meditating for less time, or somewhere different, then not at all.
4. Set the Scene to Create the Habit
Whether considering how to do meditation at home, or somewhere else, the important thing is to create a personal ritual. Whatever the location, try to distinguish it from what usually happens there, and create a ritual reserved only for meditation time. You can light a particular candle, incense, or use an essential oil, to engage your sense of smell, that you don’t use any other time. Or perhaps you have a particular cushion to sit on, or a shawl that you can put on, that’s only used for meditation time. If you’re at work, outside, or in your car for instance, then it’s important to do something specific before you start meditating, that’s going to differentiate that place from the usual association or attachment you have to it. For example you can play a particular song, do some breathing exercises, say a prayer, spray a particular smell, put on a shawl, say a mantra or affirmation, drink a cup of tea etc.
Habits are formed from the act that precedes them, so what’s important is to create a specific ritual to set the scene. This will condition your body and mind to recognise that it’s ‘meditation time’, so that as this ritual is repeated, settling into meditation becomes easier, as the habit becomes the norm.
5. Get Comfortable
You can lie down in Corpse pose for meditation, however you’re running the risk of falling asleep, and it’s not as beneficial for your posture. Therefore sitting either crossed legged on a mat, or sitting on a chair, are more ideal. For both it’s important that the spine is straight, shoulders rolled back, neck and face are relaxed, and if on a chair, that your feet are flat on the floor. Other than that, adjust yourself using cushions under your bum or behind your back, or books under your feet if on a chair, to make sure that you’re comfortable. If you feel any discomfort, you won’t be able to focus on your anchor, and the tension in the body will disturb your ability to meditate.
6. Choose Your Anchor
What is the best way to meditate? The simple answer is whatever technique you resonate with at the moment, and you get the least distracted in. There is no ‘proper way to meditate’ and one technique that doesn’t work for your now, may work for you at some point in the future. If you’re a beginner or have tried certain meditations in the past that didn’t resonate with you, then I highly recommend the Insight Timer meditation app. It has a huge library of guided beginner meditation techniques for you to try out. There is also a timer option with different Tibetan bowl and bell sounds that you can set to chime at the start, end, and during your meditation sessions, if you’d prefer to not be guided. You can also look into local or online meditation teachers, groups, classes, workshops, retreats etc to discover a style of meditation, or teacher that you resonate with.
The important thing is to find an anchor, or a focal point for your meditation, that you can keep returning to when you get distracted ie. a candle flame, your breath, a mantra, your senses etc. Or the voice of someone guiding you through a breath, chakra, metta, visualisation, Yoga Nidra, negative emotions etc meditation. There is no one best way to meditate. One anchor, or style of meditation, that works for you at the moment, may not work so well in the future, so remain open to trying different styles of meditation. There are no beginner meditation techniques as such, it’s simply a matter of finding a method, or a voice that you like listening to, and going from there.
7. Do Not Disturb
It’s worth telling your family, colleagues, roommate etc that you’re going to meditate for X amount of time, and to not disturb you. It’s also very important to either put your phone on do not disturb / airplane mode, or even better have it in another room, as well as any pets that will often be drawn to the peaceful energy of a meditation session (unless they will calmly join in!)
8. Close Your Eyes (Or Not)
Most people find that closing their eyes during meditation helps them focus on their anchor instead of being visually distracted. Closing the eyes can help create a sense of inner calm and allow you to concentrate on the practice of meditation without visual interruptions. However some people find that their mind wanders off in thoughts or images more easily when their eyes are closed, and therefore find having the eyes slightly opened with their gaze lowered, more conductive for better meditation. If this is the case then your anchor point can be something that you can look at like a candle flame, or you can practice a breath, heart or mantra focused meditation for instance while having the eyes slightly opened looking at the floor or your legs. Again, there is no right or wrong here. Meditation is an individual and flexible practice so play around with different options to see what you’re most comfortable with, and most importantly, what helps you stay focused and less distracted.
9. Calm Your Breath
Begin by taking conscious deep, slow breaths. Deep breathing engages your parasympathetic nervous system which calms and relaxes both body and mind, and helps you concentrate. Inhale slowly through your nose, feeling your abdomen and chest expand like a balloon, and then slowly exhale through the nose as the abdomen contracts back towards the spine, deflating the balloon. Focus on slowing and deepening your breath. After a minute, if deep breathing isn’t the focus of your meditation, allow your breath to switch to a natural unconscious rhythm and take your awareness to your meditation anchor.
10. Befriend Distractions
We are living in a highly stimulating environment where we’re rarely in silence or in stillness. Our senses are over stimulated more than ever before due to technology, traffic, and advertising, so we’re getting more distracted than ever. However the important thing to know is that getting distracted by thoughts, sounds, sensations etc is completely normal, and even Buddhist monks become momentarily interrupted by distractions when meditating! The practice of meditation is not the ability to ‘clear your mind of thoughts’ or ’empty the mind’. Meditating is simply recognising each time you’ve gotten distracted and returning you focus back to your anchor. This might happen 20 times in 1 minute, especially when you start meditating and are learning to concentrate, and that’s perfectly normal!
Just think about how many times you lose your focus when writing an email, watching TV, or reading a book. And that’s when there’s a tangible stimulus or an action being performed! So understandably, it can be even easier to become distracted when you’re in stillness and calm. The way meditation becomes easier and stronger, and you start having longer periods of time focusing on your anchor with a peaceful mind, is from the simple act of recognising when you’ve gotten distracted and bringing your awareness back to your anchor. This is why a quiet place with less sensory distractions is more conductive for meditation. However even after meditating for years you’ll have days where you get distracted a lot more than others. Getting distracted is normal, so I recommend smiling each time you do, to remind yourself that it’s the distractions that help you meditate better. There’s no point getting frustrated or annoyed, just let thoughts pass on by, and see other distractions as a challenge in patience, focus, and discipline.
11. Be Patient
Meditation is a skill that takes time to develop. Be patient and kind to yourself during this process. Understand that it’s normal to have days when your mind feels particularly busy. With practice, you’ll find it easier to maintain focus. Most of the research studies done on meditation, showed that it takes 15 minutes of meditating a day, for eight weeks, to gain the neurological or cognitive benefits discovered. That’s not to say that most participants don’t feel the effects of less stress, better sleep, greater sense of calm or productivity, in a shorter period of time.
But slowing our mind and body down has become harder, because technology is keeping us busier. We’re living in a time of quick results, and increasingly higher expectations on productivity and multi-tasking. We’re also in a stimulus rich environment surrounded by screens, noise, and advertising, not to mention the fact that we’re rarely completely still. It takes time for the body and mind to learn to be calm, quiet and still. Trust in the science, be patient, and stick with it!
12. Smile
Lastly, don’t take meditation too seriously. Remember to smile, be patient and accept that it won’t always be easy. Just enjoy the fact that you’re doing something that’s good for your overall health for a few minutes a day. It’s also important to re-frame your narrative about meditation. If you think of it as difficult or boring, then it will be. Make it light-hearted and take off the pressure. A little smile helps the body and mind relax, making meditation lighter and more cheerful.
How To Practice Meditation Conclusion
Learning how to practice meditation can be a transformative experience. By following these 12 easy steps, you can create a sustainable meditation practice that enhances your well-being and productivity, and brings more mindfulness into your daily life. Even long-term meditating gurus have days when staying focused on an anchor is harder. So commit, smile, and remember that you too are going to gain all the incredible benefits that science has proven that meditation can bring. Happy meditating!
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