You’ve read about all the amazing benefits that meditation could help you achieve, or had a friend talk you into giving it a try…what next???
How do I do it? What do I meditate on? When should I meditate? Where should I meditate? Argh!!! All too often thoughts like this become all too much, so people will never start.
So stop, take a nice deep breath, hold it for a second, and slowly exhale. Congratulations! You have just done a great micro meditation!
Meditation can be as simple as taking some time to do a simple breathing exercise. Taking the focus away from everything that is going on in the world around you and just focusing on yourself and your breath. Go ahead and give it a try now before you read any further. Close your eyes, relax your shoulders and take a few slow deep breaths.
How does that feel? Feel a bit of tension fade away?
So as you can see, breathing is a great thing to meditate on. It’s a great starting point for any meditator.
If you want to have more ideas on what to meditate on or how to go about it, I highly recommend starting with guided meditations. I’ve tried reading up on meditations and then put them into practice, basically trying to guide myself through. And it’s tough, real tough! There just seems to be more potential for your mind to wander off as you start to wonder “am I doing this right?” Having someone guide you through the process and be able to focus on someone else’s voice helps no end.
There are plenty of free guided meditations on the web as well as many paid programs that will help step you through the process (we do have our own program to help beginners but now is not the time for a sales pitch). Give a few different ones a try and see what works for you.
So you’ve got a guided meditation there in your hot little hand and you’re ready to go. Now when and where should you do it?
When starting out it is definitely best to have as few distractions as possible. For that reason you should find a nice quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for however long you plan to meditate. And leave your phone somewhere else, or at least put it on silent without vibrate on, it is quite possibly the most distracting thing ever!
You can meditate any time so don’t worry too much about the ‘when’ question. In the early stages, try a few different times. First thing in the morning, at lunchtime, or just before bed are fairly common times. But just find a time that suits you when you are not feeling too tired so you are able to concentrate on the guided meditation.
Many meditations will begin with telling you to either sit or lie down. Either is good. Over the first few days of practice, try both and see what works best for you.
Just make sure you will be comfortable for the duration of the meditation, that’s what is most important. If you choose to sit, find a nice comfortable chair, put your feet flat on the ground, back straight, shoulders relaxed. If laying down, have a pillow or cushion support your head and neck. Let your shoulders relax, arms down by your side and let your feet fall out to the floor.
Once all set, just start the guided meditation and away you go. Concentrate on the meditator’s voice and try to stay focused on the present. If you mind wanders off, that’s okay, acknowledge that it has, and slowly bring it back to the present and re-focus on the meditator’s voice.
Want to know my what, when, where, how?
Well my current meditation practice involves 3 meditations per day. Each varies in length and style depending on what I am trying to achieve or work on that day. My meditating mostly revolves my daily work schedule.
The first meditation is generally around 10-15 minutes and I do it when I sit down at my desk to start work each day. It’s a great way to clear my head of any unnecessary thoughts so I can focus on the present moment and what I want to achieve work wise in the morning.
My second meditation is again as I sit down to work, but is after lunch this time. A nice short one of 5-10 minutes is usually on the cards. Anything longer than this and I may be a chance of falling asleep after a feed in the belly from lunch.
And my third meditation generally rounds off my work day. As I shut down the computer I take a break to do another meditation. I find this is a great was to separate your work for the day to whatever comes next for the night ahead. Be it time with family, sporting commitments or just general downtime.
In saying the above, I am human and don’t always meditate 3 times a day. If I miss a meditation, I don’t beat myself up about it. I just acknowledge that I didn’t and move on. I f I miss a day here or there my mind ends up making me well aware of the fact by starting to clutter up, generally ending with the feeling like I just want to scream…
Also note that this is an evolution of my practice of meditation. When I first started, my aim was to meditate once a day. And at times I struggled with that. But as I persevered and started to feel some of the benefits I was getting out of it, I just started working out how to do a bit more each day which has resulted in the end product I have outlined above.
So that’s enough of me. This is about you. Give meditation a try. Experiment and find what works for you. Then keep at it.
Feel free to let us know how you are going in the comments below!
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