Meditation For Beginners: 6 Helpful Tips

Meditation. If you’re like me and most people I talk to, it’s a daunting task at first and seems unreachable. Although people have been benefiting from meditation for thousands of years, it is still not a common practice in North America. Recently there have been many scientific studies done on meditation and it has been shown to drastically reduce things like stress and anxiety while helping to maintain focus and mindfulness. We live in a fast paced world and our mind is constantly being overworked. When was the last time you sat in stillness, without thinking or doing anything? Our thoughts are constantly racing and our mind is always trying to figure out a million things at once. This is why we need meditation more than ever and if you ever think that it’s impossible for you to meditate, it’s even more crucial that you do.

1. Get comfortable. Do whatever you need to relax you body fully. You don’t need to be sitting up straight with your legs crossed. Laying down to meditate will help you at first by allowing you to be completely comfortable and relaxed.

2. Close your eyes and focus on something. I recommend trying to focus on your breathing. Breathe deeply and notice the rise and fall of your chest. Calmly focus your attention on this act and this alone. My personal favorite (for the really hard to train mind, and how I began) is to count down from 100 focusing on each number as it enters your consciousness and then counting down again from 20 until you can sit in stillness.

3. Think your thoughts, and set them free. It’s important to know that you will still think thoughts. Don’t immediately try to shut them out, just let them flow through your consciousness and gracefully set them free. Your meditation practice has nothing to do with being perfect. Be aware that you are not your thoughts and your meditation practice will help you connect to your soul and the infinite inside you.

4. Put on headphones. The easiest way to shut out all outside distractions is to listen to binaural beats. Not only that, binaural beats are very beneficial for cognitive function. They are a sequence of two different auditory sounds being played into each of your ears that stimulates and produces physical changes in your brain. Below is a list of places to find some good one.
Holosync – A meditation program that offers the highest quality binaural beats as well as different leveled meditations, so you can grow in your practice.
Meditation Albums – Check out iTunes for a lot of low cost and content rich albums.
Youtube – Just punch in “binaural beats” and you will have a great list of soundtracks. The only disadvantage to this is the level of quality is usually quite low so you are losing the pure quality of the binaural beat.
Apps – Right on your phone, and they usually come with meditation tips as well. Two good ones: Headspace and Calm.

5. Keep working on it. Even if you can only sit down for 5 minutes a day, it’s better than nothing. You are still putting aside a time to rest your worried mind and bring the focus to the present. Make it a challenge for yourself to sit down for an extended period of time and keep to it. You will notice a positive change when you stop giving power to your thoughts and you lay them to rest. It’s time to live from the soul, worry less, and be more present.

6. Meditate in the morning. The best time of day to meditate is in the morning because it will set a positive and stress-free intention for your day. Meditation at night is fine, but the morning will give you the greatest benefit. It will also help you to not fall asleep during your meditation, which happens to all of us.

Comment with any tips that have helped you in your meditation practice! I would love to hear from you!