Learning To Meditate Is Easy

While many people are scared of the notion of 'meditation', but they are all well aware of - and welcoming - relaxation, I realized at some point that this is one of the best ways to teach something more about how to learn meditation using tools of the mind.

Think about it as relaxing using a particular technique.

Have you ever tried to relax before a major exam at school? Do you remember how you simply sat there, took a few deep breaths to calm down your nerves and slow down your heart beating, while focusing on your breathing and concentrating on doing the best you could during the exams?

I bet you can relate to this experience because at some point or another, we all had it.

What if I tell you that this, in fact, was an introduction to meditation? Sure, it was not a full-blown meditation session, but you were going in the right direction unconsciously.

We are all predisposed to meditation, we can all do it.While there are tons of meditation techniques and exercises out there, many which I show on this site, there are always a few general principles that you can apply to the technique of your choice.

(image copyright: purchased at istockphoto.com)

When you are learning to meditate you are effectively learning to relax. Regardless of what other benefits or goals you have for your meditation practice, relaxation is the primary one.

The more relaxed you are, the easier it will become to meditate. And the more you meditate, the easier it will become to relax. This is a healthy catch 22, one that is always to your advantage.

1. You need to have your own place for meditation, one that you will use all the time, routine like.
   
   
2. Don't try to meditate when you are feeling down, whether due to illness, extreme anger/stress/distress. First get to a rather neutral (or positive) state of mind and body, and then practice meditation.
   
   
3. Keep a regular time for your daily practices. If you find that your mind is free from the daily worries at a particular time more than during other hours, use this time for meditating.
4. Work with your mind instead of against it. When you start your session, let your mind finish the thought it is currently busy with.
   
   

   After a few momments, instruct your mind to stay quiet for the duration of your session, however when it starts to wander, don't admonish it. Rather gently bring it back to the task at hand, or being calm and quiet.

5. Keep a relaxed, yet erect posture. If you sit on a chair, have your back straight and your legs firmly on the floor. If you already use one of the lotus positions, then you are already doing the right thing.
   
   
6. Depending on the technique you have chosen to use, focus on the respective object during the entire session. This can be your breathing, a candle, a mantra, your awareness on your body, or anything that the meditation is telling you to focus on.
   
   
7. Do not get frustrated if you feel that you haven't achieved much during your current session. Afterall, the most important thing you need to achieve is relaxation and calm, so that you can let go of stress.
   
   

   If you are more relaxed after the session than before it, you have already achieved your current goal, your current building stone. The others will build on this with time.

Learning meditation can be fun, it can be entertaining, it can be relaxing, and it can be life altering. It can be anything you want it to be.

If the notion of learning about meditation still scares you and brings you to a place where you think that you can't learn it, then replace the word with relaxation and keep practicing your daily session. After a while you will realize that when the time for relaxation is coming, your mind will start looking forward to it and will help you instead of trying to fight you.

1. Try to keep thoughts on its benefits out of your mind. Trust that the process will work and you will get the benefits that you need from it - not necessarily those that you want to have.
    
2. Before you start, make a few stretches so that you loosen your muscles a bit. This will help with sitting in a comfortable position throughout the session.
    
3. Start meditating with slowing down your breath and make it deep. When you slow down your breath, you effectively relax your muscles, slow down your heart rate and make it easier on yourself to remove all that chit-chatter from your mind.
    
4. Speaking of chit-chatter, don't get annoyed, angry and frustrated because you are 'not there yet' and because you can't seem to be able to quiet your mind. This is normal part of meditation for beginners and it will ease up with time. But you have to keep at it regularly.
    
5. If you feel that one of the meditation techniques is not working well for you, don't be afraid to experiment. Afterall there are many different easy meditation techniques that you can try out and some will bring you better results than others.
    
6. Find a place that will be used for your regular sessions. If you want to do meditation at home, don't meditate one day in your bedroom, another day in the living room and then in your office. Whichever room you start with, stick with it and use that room from then on. Creating a habit of it will help you get in a meditative state much faster.
    
7. Also don't be afraid to use any meditation tools and accessories that will aid you at least in the beginning. A meditation candle, some baoding balls, the right meditation chair and even a crystal ball if you prefer, all these can enhance your experience.
    

8. While later on you might not need all these props, for some people these are more than just helping tools. They are part of their session altar, of their entire practice environment.
    

9. Try to meditate every day at around the same time. When you start to meditate, you might try out various times during the day or night. Once you have found the perfect time, stick with it. Creating a routine is quite important in making it a successful part of your life.
    
10. Avoid stressing out when meditating. I know when you are practicing meditation for beginners it is hard, because unfortunately stressing out seems to be a natural part of ourselves (a bad one at that). However, if you don't have any expectations before the practice, you will less likely stress out.

     
    Also when the session ends, don't get angry because you don't seem to make headway. At some point you will see that you have come far from the initial stages of meditation for beginners, but wanting to do it right from the start is like trying to watch the water boil: it will never happen.

Continue your practice. And finally, there will be a point when your interest in meditation will seem to lessen. You will start to lose interest in it. Contrary to what you might think as 'common sense', don't stop.

Try another technique, try listening to another guided meditation CD, but whatever you do, don't stop. You will get over this hurdle as well.

Many people find this particular challenge one of their major milestones and repeatedly say that they are grateful that they haven't stopped when it was so easy to do it.

Seamlessly they have reached to another level in their meditating, one that you will attain as well if you just keep at it faithfully and regularly.