How to meditate for Beginners - A definitive Guide
Today we’re going to talk about exactly how to meditate. I’m going to go over everything from where to meditate? What you should do with your body? What you should do with your mind and even? Even how long you should do it for. So you can start reaping some of these benefits. All of the information I’m giving you today is taken from book that is recommended by just about every meditation forum on the internet. “Mindfulness in plain English - Bhante Gunaratana”.
WHERE SHOULD I MEDITATE?
Technically you can meditate anywhere. You’d like because it is an exercise for the mind. You can meditate sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor and even laying in bed. However there is an optimal way to meditate. It’s best to avoid meditating in bed because you tend to fall asleep meditating on the floor with your back straight up is actually considered to be the most formal and beneficial way to meditate.
And this is because it keeps you wide awake and allows you to sit for long periods of time.
WHAT DO I DO WITH MY BODY?
The first thing you want to keep in mind, when meditating is your feet a lot of well seasoned meditates will preach about how your feet needs to be on top of each other. However for the majority of people who are beginners is perfectly fine to have them crisis crossed on top of each other like a pretzel your arms are resting on your dies your hands.
Rest on top of each other and form a cup shape your dumb can touch it’s up to you. What’s important is that your arms feel relaxed. Your back is straight and your head is completely level. Your head is not tilted upwards or downwards. Just forward in terms of what to do with your eyes. You have an option of meditating with your eye open or with your eyes closed.
However for most beginners, I would recommend you to meditate with your eyes closed as it’s easier to focus. If you do choose to meditate with eyes open, do not focus your eyes on an object in front of you. Instead look into the distance
HOW LONG SHOULD I MEDITATE FOR?
Now before you start your meditation session. You’ll want to set an alarm this is because time tends to feel a lot slower. When you first start meditating, so setting an alarm helps prevent a constant need to wonder about how much time is left in the session.
For first-time mediators, I’d recommend you start with just 5 minutes on the clock. As you make meditation into a daily practice and get more used to sitting in the meditative position for long periods of time.
You can increase the time most people recommend meditate between 10 to 20 minutes.
WHAT TO DO DURING MEDITATION?
Here’s where it gets tricky. Now there are many different forms of meditation, some focus things around you, some involve reciting words in your mind.
The one you’ll be learning, today is one of the most commonly taught forms of meditation and it’s called mindfulness breathing meditation. It’s very easy to learn and it’s considered to be just as powerful and insightful as any other form of meditation.
The focus of breathing meditation is well, you guessed it on your breath. First you want to make sure that you’re breathing through your nose then all you have to do is focus all of your attention on your breath.
Observe the way the air feels as it flows through your nostrils. Observe the way your breath transitions from inhale to exhale observe that little pause between those two actions.
Observe every single aspect about the way it feels do not judge it, do not criticize it. Simple observe what you’ll quickly notice is that thoughts will start appearing in your mind. And will distract you from this simple simple task.
What should I cook for dinner? hmm… maybe I should order takeout instead weights, trying to lose weight. So, I shouldn’t or should I when you notice your mind wandering like this simply pull the focus back to the breath.
This is how you train your mindfulness muscle. Now most people, who meditate for the first time will find it extremely hard to focus on just the breath for even a couple of seconds. They’ll find themselves lost and dart quite often. This is totally normal. So don’t criticize yourself if it happens, which it probably will all you have to do is simply bring your attention back to your breathing.
A good trick that, I personally use to quickly bring my focus back is to focus all of my attention on the little bridge between inhale and exhale. That little pause where your body transitions during its act of breathing. While meditating try as hard as possible to avoid moving itches and urges.
The fidget will arise throughout your meditation session. This is normal ,this is to be expected simply bring your focus back to your breath and the feeling will eventually go away.
And that’s all there is to it it’s very simple exercise. What’s important to note is how often you work on it and how much time you put into it by making it a habit. You notice that you’ll be able to have your entire focus on your breath for longer and longer periods of time.
Think of this as your mindfulness muscle getting stronger and stronger. How often should I meditate in order to really start seeing the benefits of meditation. You should meditate on a daily basis. My routine is ten minutes a day. Every single day, when I wake up some people like to do it twice a day like Arnold Schwarzenegger,Who does it 20 minutes a day when he wakes up and 20 minutes right before he goes to bed. As long as you make it into a daily habit that is the most important factor.
WHEN WILL I START SEEING BENEFITS?
Well first of all you have to be doing it on a daily basis. The length of each session also plays a part on how fast you see the benefits. But ultimately it’s hard to say because it really does differ from person to person.
Certain people are less mindful in general due to the way they were brought up. So it’ll take them a little bit longer to start seeing the benefits and my personal experience it took me about a month of meditating every single day before I noticed any benefit myself. I found myself in a better mood overall and was less likely to get consumed by certain negative emotions.
As I continued the practice. I noticed more and more benefits along the line and that’s it guys meditation is very simple it’s just the act of making it into a daily habit that is hard. Guys if you have questions leae them in the comments below and I’ll try to answer as many of them as possible. I’m planning on doing more question and answer blogs in the future if you want to be featured or if you have something very urgent to ask me send me a mail to the psychopills74@gmail.com listed below and I’ll pick the best ones to make a blog about
