The Basics Of Meditation In 4 Steps
4 top tips for your meditations
Meditation is one of the techniques often used for stress management. These 4 top tips for meditations could be the starting point on your journey to cultivating inner peace and wisdom. In todays society many people suffer from stress and face problems which often leave them unable to focus, this often leads to more problems. Meditation techniques help you achieve a calm state of mind without having to resort to drugs or relaxation tools. Every step to meditation is done in the mind.
Remember that the befits of meditation build with practice. It is almost impossible to attain a calm state of mind in just a matter of minutes, especially if it’s your first time. It is essential that you keep on practicing meditation until you have conditioned your mind to instantaneously achieve that calm state just by thinking about it. Here are 4 top tips for your meditations to help you as a beginner start to use meditation as part of your Stress Management strategy.
1. Preparation
Find A Quiet Corner To Start Your Meditation. Distraction is a hindrance to those who are starting a meditation practice. When you close your eyes, your sense of hearing will be twice as good, so almost any noise in your surroundings will make it hard for you to concentrate.
For beginners, it is important to start out in a quiet place in your home with no noise distractions. Close your windows and lock your door if need be, you can ask everyone in your home to minimise their noise so that you won’t be disturbed. You may want to light a candle or burn some incense, a blanket can also be useful so you don’t become cold.
2. Get Comfortable
Find a comfortable position. It is advisable for beginners to avoid lying down when practicing meditation. The aim here is not to sleep, and it is likely that you will fall asleep if your mind reaches a relaxed state. To stop this from happening, you can start your meditation in a crossed leg lotus position or sit on a chair with both feet on the ground if you find this more comfortable. Make sure that your back is straight and your hands are relaxed on the armrest or on your lap.
3. Breath Focus
Begin Your Meditation With Proper Breathing. A good way to start meditation is to do the proper breathing exercise. Begin by taking three deep conscious breaths, a deep inhale through the nose and out through the mouth, then let your breathing become normal. This way, you can come up with a rhythm that you can easily focus on. Also, the amount of oxygen in your body will help to keep you relaxed. Keep practicing your breathing until you can do it easily without having to think about it.
4. Basic Meditation Technique
Focus On Your Mind. While you are concentrating on your breathing, you will achieve a state wherein your mind will probably start wandering and you will be distracted by random thoughts. These are usually events of the day, future plans, problems and worries, fears and so on. It will be hard to ignore these thoughts and you are not supposed to ignore them.
The gist here is to acknowledge these thoughts when they enter your mind and then release them. This might sound hard but here is a simple example to understand the concept. You know that you have furniture at home- you can see it clearly with your eyes, but you are not really concentrating on it. Focusing on the furniture will usually make you think of its colour, its material, how it looks in that part of your home, and more.
You need to be able to look at these random thoughts in a detached state, seeing them clearly in your head but not focusing your attention on it. There will come a time that these random thoughts will stop and you will notice that you are already in a blank space in your mind. This is the state you want to achieve during meditation. This is the place where you can think about your problems and focus on it till you can find a solution for it.
You Are Now Meditating
That’s it, you are now meditating!
At first you may find 10 minutes is long enough to practice and as meditation starts to become more natural to you, you may find you want to sit in mediation for longer periods of time. It may be useful to set a timer and there are many meditation apps available.
Afterwards you may want to bring your hands together in prayer at your heart centre to acknowledge your practice and dedication to yourself for showing up and being present.
Meditation takes time to learn, so stick with it. I hope that these 4 top tips for meditations will allow you to establish a meditation practice that will enable you to grow and develop.
