Beginner’s Guide to Meditation
Have you ever thought about meditating, but didn’t know where to start? First, you should know there are many different types of meditation. Some are guided and go through several different steps. Other types focus on your breathing and your present surroundings. What’s great about it is that you can start on your own with a 2 minute meditation, and if it's something you end up enjoying, you can look into trying different types, while eventually extending your amount of meditation time.
Here’s a quick guide to meditation for beginners:
Find a comfortable place to sit for a few minutes: this could be on your balcony in the fresh air, on some comfy pillows on your bedroom floor, or in the sanctuary of your dark and quiet closet.
Sit down and close your eyes, relax your body, and focus on your breath: What do you notice when you inhale/exhale? Can you feel your breath move through your entire body? Or are you breathing mostly out of your nose or belly?
Follow your breath for 2 minutes: Deep inhalations followed by long exhalations
When you open your eyes, think about what happened. Were you able to focus on just your breath for 2 minutes or did you have wandering thoughts? If your mind wandered, what did you think about? How does your body feel?
Remember to be gentle with yourself. If your mind was preoccupied and you couldn't focus on your breath, that’s okay! When this happens, try to refocus and return to your intention. Feeling your body and understanding the way your mind works might take some time. Think of it as a challenge.
The narrative in your mind may surprise you.The emotions that come to the surface may surprise you. So often, we go on with our lives on autopilot and don’t realize what we are feeling and how we are reacting to daily stressors. Meditation brings attention to our processes and has so many other benefits.
There are also several types of meditation, actually hundreds of different ways to meditate. Headspace.com describes 16 common types of meditation (listed below). Consider trying different kinds and implementing ideas you like in your daily practice.
Here are various meditation styles:
Focused Attention
Body Scan
Noting
Visualization
Loving Kindness
Skillful compassion
Resting awareness
Reflection
The following few forms of ancient meditation:
Zen meditation
Mantra meditation
Transcendental meditation
Yoga mediation
Vipassana meditation
Chakra meditation
Qigong meditation
Sound bath meditation
(You can find detailed explanations on the article links in the following section)
When beginning meditation, something to consider is guided vs. unguided meditation. Guided meditation can be helpful for beginners because a teacher guides you through the process and gives you prompts to pay attention to certain things. Unguided meditation is done alone in silence. Some people go through a few meditation styles listed above to bring attention to certain ideas while they meditate.
Here are a few popular apps and guides that can help get you started or even dive deeper into your meditation.
Articles for further reference and resource
Gelles, David. “How To Meditate.” NYtimes.com https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-meditate
How to Meditate. Jan. 31, 2019. Mindful.com
https://www.mindful.org/how-to-meditate/Types of Meditation. Headspace.com
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/techniques
If you’re looking for more inspiration,
here are a few good books to check out!
Practicing Mindfulness: 75 Essential Meditations to Reduce Stress, Improve Mental Health, and Find Peace in The Everyday
by Matthew Sockolov
Find everyday calmness and clarity with simple mindfulness meditations and exercises — Mindfulness meditations are a great way to cultivate awareness and acceptance of the here and now―Practicing Mindfulness makes it easy and accessible with 75 evidence-based exercises designed to bring calmness and compassion into your day-to-day.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
by James Nestor
No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.
“A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love
Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
by Jay Shetty
In this inspiring, empowering book, Shetty draws on his time as a monk to show us how we can clear the roadblocks to our potential and power. Combining ancient wisdom and his own rich experiences in the ashram, Think Like a Monk reveals how to overcome negative thoughts and habits, and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us. He transforms abstract lessons into advice and exercises we can all apply to reduce stress, improve relationships, and give the gifts we find in ourselves to the world. Shetty proves that everyone can—and should—think like a monk.
Mediation is a great way to find calm during the chaos of our daily lives. It can give you a deeper understanding of how your own mind works and allows for introspection. It’s been interesting for me to identify the patterns that my mind goes through when I let it wander. Take note of everything and refocus on your breathing. It’s amazing what focusing on your breath for just a couple minutes can do. Now that we’re mostly stuck at home and dealing with the craziness of the holiday season, it’s the perfect time to start.
Give it a few tries — You won’t regret it!
Always remember Hugh Jackman is a huge fan of meditation, so if it’s good enough for Wolverine/Jean Valjean/The Greatest Showman, it's good enough for me. He said, “Meditation is all about the pursuit of nothingness. It's like the ultimate rest. It's better than the best sleep you've ever had. It's a quieting of the mind. It sharpens everything, especially your appreciation of your surroundings. It keeps life fresh."
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