Are you curious about meditation, want to try it yourself, but not sure where to start?
There are many types and schools of meditation and finding a place for yourself may seem confusing and even overwhelming. It is best to keep things simple and your expectations realistic.
The easiest way to start meditation is for you to visit our meditation mp3’s and cd’s page. All you have to do is listen, relax and go along.
Easy beginner meditation:
If you feel that you want to try meditating on your own, your first step will be to just do it.
Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted and get as comfortable as possible, either sitting or laying down. I recommend laying down and focusing on deep relaxation, which is the easiest way to begin and brings the quickest results.
Use your breathing and/or parts of your body. Focus on your belly and become aware of it rising and falling with each breath. Don’t force your breathing just focus on it. If your mind wonders (which it definitely will) just calmly bring it back to the task and don’t beat yourself up in any way.
Do this for 5 or 10 minutes. If you find it relaxing then keep doing it. if you become bored or restless start focussing on relaxing the muscles in your body.
Start at your head and neck, then shoulders, arms and hands, chest and upper back, lower back and stomach, bottom and hips, legs then feet and toes. Imagine the muscles relaxing and a warm feeling in these parts of your body.
Continue with this routine for 5 to 10 minutes. This will relax your body and mind, which is the foundation of meditation.
This gives you a taste of meditation and you should feel calm and refreshed afterwards. If you feel tired perhaps you are chronically tired so go with it and rest or have an early night. You may find you sleep better.
Visit our How to do meditation page to learn more about it.
Stages of meditation:
- When your start beginner meditation you’ll find that it is difficult to concentrate on one single thing and that your attention continually wanders. As you continue to practice you will be able to keep your focus for increasingly longer times.
- You are able to focus as much or even more on one thing as paying attention to distractions. You are still struggling to keep your attention on just one thing, but are having more control and awareness of the process.
- Distractions are still there but no longer pull your attention away. You are now constantly aware of the meditative process and your role in it.
- Moving beyond this leads to sharpened focus, deepened mindfulness and no longer been bothered by any form of distraction. This is a state of peace and the mind is in a natural state of quiet and tranquility, where concentration becomes natural and effortless.
Take note that each stage can take months or even years to master and that each person has their own pace of doing things. If you want to accelerate your progress, visit our neurofeedback meditation page to learn more.
Meditation made easy: Tips
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Holding the “correct” position is greatly overrated – just get comfortable, laying down is the best.
Use breathing as a starting point since it is an easy way to focus you on your body and relaxing.
Realize that meditation is actively concentrating. use your breathing and your body for this.
When random thoughts interrupts you, gently let them go and re-focus.
Don’t be hard on yourself about how it should be – take it at your own pace with gratitude.
Use a timer – so that you don’t have to worry about how much time has passed.
Set your routine to meditate once a day for at least 15 minutes.
Don’t give up – keep on, the rewards may be close.
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