Meditation Guide

Introduction to Meditation

Meditation is a practice that allows you to focus your attention, to relax, and over time to develop a deep connection to your own body and mind. Although historically meditation was linked to different religious practices, today anyone of any faith can practice meditation. Depending on the type of meditation practiced, meditating can help you develop your responsiveness to your internal dialogue, deepen your awareness of your emotions, experience sensations from a new perspective, or find peace and acceptance.

Types of Meditation

There are many types of meditation that allow you to focus your attention on the current moment, connect with your breath, relax, and find inner tranquility. The most well know type of meditation is sitting meditation which focus on the breath or an external object (candle flame, mandala, or similar image) or sound (chanting, gong, or other sounds). Yet, meditation can also use movement (meditative yoga, qi gong, tai chi, and walking meditation) or progressive relaxation techniques (e.g. body scan meditation). Some people prefer mindfulness meditation (focusing on non-judgmental acceptance of thoughts) while others use visualization to maintain a meditative state. Another common meditative practice is the loving-kindness meditation that incorporates compassion and acceptance toward oneself, others, all living things, and the Earth.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has many health benefits including:

  • Reducing stress,
  • Decreasing anxiety and depression,
  • Increasing self-awareness,
  • Improving memory, creativity, and attention,
  • Increasing patience and tolerance,
  • Decreasing chronic pain,
  • Improving immunity to diseases,
  • Reducing heart rate and blood pressure, and
  • Improving sleep.

How to Meditate

Although meditation can be done in any location, at any time of day, and for any duration, it is important for those new to meditation to find a place that is safe where you can relax and not be disturbed. It is also recommended to find a consistent time and place to meditate to build and maintain a daily or weekly practice. The true benefits of meditation come from consistent practice.


Once you have a comfortable, safe space with at least five to ten minutes of time to devote to meditating, follow these steps:


1. Sit in a comfortable position either on the floor or in a chair with your spine straight, your hands on your knees or thighs, and your shoulders relaxed. You can also lay down if this is more comfortable, just know that for some this is too relaxed a posture and can result in napping over meditating.


2. Next take a deep breath in through the nose and slowly release this breath through the mouth. Continue taking deep breaths as you fill your body with air and positive thoughts and then exhale slowly to relax your body and release any stress, anxiety, or negative thoughts.


3. If it is comfortable, you can close your eyes. Alternatively, you can soften your gaze by focusing on an empty space in front of you.


4. As your body relaxes with your deep breaths, you can move into meditation by either focusing on your breathing or on a mantra or an affirmation.

  • Breathing is the easiest of these three as it only requires concentrating on your own natural breathing pattern.
  • Some people find that a mantra (repeated sound or word) to be helpful in focusing during meditation. The most common mantras are “om” and “aum”. More extensive mantras include “om shanti shanti shanti” and “lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu”. For most short mantras, the sound is made during the exhale.
  • Affirmations are another method to focus your attention during meditation. Most affirmations are short positive statements that begin with “I am” and are repeated silently while you meditate. Often the “I am” is repeated during the inhale while the remaining words are silently stated during the exhale. Common affirmation include:


  • I am confident.
  • I am strong.
  • I am enough.
  • I am living in abundance.
  • I am motivated and successful.
  • I am grateful.
  • I am getting healthier every day.
  • I am breathing in positivity; I am breathing out stress and negativity.


5. During meditation, it is important to understand that you will NOT stop thinking. As humans, we are constantly thinking. We have between 12 to 50 thousand thoughts each day. Thinking is normal and natural, and it is unrealistic to “empty your mind” and stop thinking. Instead, the goal of meditation is to separate your thoughts from your reactions, to move your mind away from concentrating on how to interpret and respond to your thoughts and move toward accepting, acknowledging, and letting go of your thoughts. The best description I found for this is by Holly Rogers in her book “The Mindful Twenty-Something”. She describes our normal daily thoughts as a river that we are swimming (or sometimes drowning) in. Meditation allows us to pull ourselves out of the river of thoughts and instead sit on the bank and watch our thoughts flow by. By creating this distance between our mind and our thoughts, we can better evaluate which thoughts are accurate and which need to be let go. Thus, it is important not to become frustrated when thoughts occur during meditation. Instead, return to your breathing/mantra/affirmation and focus on being present in the moment.



6. Meditation can be any length of time, but it is recommended to meditate for five to ten minutes when first learning to meditate. Some individuals find setting a timer to be helpful, but others find it distracting (constantly peeking at the timer instead of meditating). If you decide to use a timer, ensure that the tone is gentle and allows for a non-jarring return to daily life.


7. When you are ready to finish meditating, it is important to slowly return to your surroundings. Many people enjoy slowly moving their fingers and toes, gently stretching, and slowly increasing their awareness of sounds before opening/refocusing their eyes. If you spend a long time in a sitting meditation, your feet or legs may become tingly, heavy, or painful when returning to a standing position. Thus, it is important to slowly rise and allow your body time to adjust to daily life after meditating.

Guided Meditation

It can sometimes be difficult to learn to meditate on your own. I have videos for three guided meditations below to help beginners with meditating. Each guided meditation will be a siting meditation that uses a different method to focus: the breath, a mantra, and an affirmation. Enjoy!

Helping people explore and connect with nature using mindfulness and meditation practices.


All images are either photographs taken by the owner, Michele Larson, or open source from Pixabay or Wikipedia.

Quick Links

Newsletter

Subscribe now to recieve our emails and newsletter.

We never share your email address.


Created with © systeme.io

By Clicking Submit, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.