Meditation For Beginners With A Little Practice

Are you planning to start your meditation journey and reap its benefits? Meditation is easy to learn and incorporate into your lifestyle if you stick to certain fundamental guidelines. 

We have compiled for you in this post some strategies, tools, and tricks that will steer you clear of some general misconceptions and roadblocks that are often faced by beginners and build a solid base for practicing your meditation.

Let’s take a look at some of the tips on the ways to meditate effectively while you indulge in daily practice. 

To carry out meditation the proper way, understand these practicalities that will help you to practice all by yourself at home or under 

Prepare Thoroughly Before Starting 

Do you wish to meditate during the morning hours after a sound night sleep or in the evening for mental calmness after a hectic workday? Taking some minutes to gear up for the meditation can bring a deeper experience and a pleasant feeling.

Place Your Phone On The Airplane Mode

Perhaps the main meditation ritual in current times – switch your phone to airplane mode. No other practical way to disturb a meditation session than by keeping the phone on and receiving a call or textual messages in between. So, switch your phone off, or place it on airplane mode five minutes prior to meditating. Are you still hooked on a phone that is corded? Please unplug it.

Select A Quiet Surrounding

The way you chose a convenient time, now select a serene and quiet place where there are fewer chances of getting disturbed. Such an ambiance can transform your experience and make it more enjoyable as well as peaceful. 

Take Few Moments To Destress And Calm Your Mind

Heading straight into meditation after the conclusion of a hectic work meeting is not recommended. It can be difficult to remain still and relax your mind after spending these nerve-racking moments. Therefore, give yourself some minutes to gain calmness before starting your meditation session. This can be helpful to keep your thoughts from straying to the happenings at the workplace and the conversations occurring during the official meetings and let you concentrate with better focus. 

Begin With Some Deep Breaths To Relax The Body

Inhaling deeply before starting the meditation can induce a relaxation reaction, which is basically the antithesis of the fight or flight reaction of the nervous system. As the fight or flight reaction gets activated, the body prepares itself for danger, but when there is an activation of the relaxation response, it begins to feel comfortable and secure.

Later, when you begin focusingon the mind, your breathing should revert back to a normal beat. Taking notice of your breathing is essential all the way through meditation, as such kind of mindful breathing turns beneficial in decreasing stress levels within the body. 

Avoid Too Much Movement Or Fidgeting While Meditating

It is natural to experience impatience at the start and the desire to change postures all through meditation. 

It’s usual to become restless with an urge to alter positions during the meditation. If it’s highly distracting or painful, take your time to readjust. However, ensure that your position does not become a cause of distraction.

You can try out various kinds of meditation and a few of them also offer you the scope to experiment with postures different from sitting such as reclining or walking. 

Be Aware Of Your Breath

The main crux of meditation is to make you conscious about your breath, again and again. For instance, the moment you find a thought generating you can recognize the ongoing thought by uttering “Thought” or “Thinking and then reverting back to the experience of feeling your breath. 

You can also classify your breath as “in” while you inhale, and “out” while you exhale, to remain focused. Including some easy breathing exercises can turn your meditation session into something relatively easier. How can it? You may inquire. This is due to the fact that your breath is connected to the mind and feelings. The sooner your breath becomes slower and steadier, the faster your mind gets transported into a calm and meditative posture. 

Many people prefer the Alternate Nostril Breathing exercises also called the Nari Shodhan Pranayama, to restore the equilibrium between the right and the left brain hemisphere for pacifying the mind. 

Keep Your Breath Light And Uniform

Just feel your breath within the moment and as it passes, feel the next breath. Do not think about the way you are breathing – simply experience it through the senses. 

A useful tip for a more profound meditation is letting your breath become lighter and easier as this can help to position your mind in a tranquil place. 

Do Not Be Harsh On Yourself

Practice compassion towards yourself as some days can fare better than others. At its essence, meditation is about knowing how to practice compassion on yourself too, whatever may be your experience be at any present moment. 

Similar to exercising, certain days can be better than others. It can well depend on the restful sleep you had the previous night, or the stress level you underwent that week. Always bear in mind that after all it is a meditation session- and it can at times be imperfect.

Gradually Reintroduce Movement As You Finish Meditating

When you reach the finishing point of your meditative session, you can slowly start to move the fingers and the toes, and later your hands as well as the feet, and extend your legs or arms. Meditation is about introducing a pause in your busy schedule, so allow yourself some time before you embark on stressful work. By relaxing before you take up the next task, it gets easier to initiate the skills you are adopting through meditation to become a part of your daily existence. 

Accept Your Emotions

It is natural to experience happiness after meditation, but also normal to experience a slight dejection. Meditation builds up both good and bad emotions which help us to acknowledge the type of emotions –passing thoughts and racing feelings that recur and stop.  Take a moment to feel grateful to yourself for carrying out self-care and experience pride in the endeavor you put to meditate.  

Admit that it is not easy to focus when you have only begun. Do not be critical of yourself as every beginner has to go through the inner chatter. You can also find people saying that the frequent shift towards the present moment comprises the performance of meditation. To add more, do not count on the meditation practice to transform your whole existence overnight. After all, mindfulness requires time to show its mettle. Return back to meditation daily for some minutes, extending the sessions whenever possible. 

Return To Practice Meditation The Next Day

Even when you are interested, still come back the following day as the strength of meditation lies in it being followed as a routine, and practicing it as a daily practice. Research conducted in 2018 indicates that performing meditation for only 15 minutes can lower stress levels and promote well-being in a positive way. The study arrived at the conclusion that practicing meditation daily produced similar effects to being on a vacation. Still, even when meditation may not appear to you the same as vacation, as it has to be practiced every day, do remember that sticking to a routine is fundamental to experiencing its positive effects. 

Summing Up

Meditation is a wonderful way to promote positive mental and physical health, bolster your mood, and get connected with things around you. However, it can be hard to assess the way to begin in the first place. What is important is to adhere to a routine to enjoy its benefits. Follow these actionable tips to start on your meditation practice as it has multifarious benefits and not only makes you conscious of your thoughts but also helps to regulate them with time.