Meditation For Beginners

Meditation is simple, but not necessarily easy.

People practice meditation.

They practice it because it is something to be mastered, It is not something that you get right first time or even every time.

Sometimes you will get to your meditative state more easily than others. And there are so many levels that you will find it is a skill you will take a lifetime or more to truly master!

Steps to Meditation

If you are new to meditating and you are goal oriented person, you may find the feeling of letting go quite hard. I know I did initially.

For me I found a tendancy to try to hurry through. Get yourself in the right mindset and see if you can just relax and follow through the steps. This can take practice, but I will share with you later some ways I have used to help me through this phase.

There are so many different ways to meditate, but many of the ways share these common steps to get you started.

Step One: Set Yourself Up In a Quiet Environment

Set yourself up where you will not risk being disrupted by distractions. 

• Turn off the television
• Turn off or unplug your phone
• Reduce loud or annoying noises. 
• Let others know not to disturb you during your meditation time

Some people like to find a place outside their home to practice meditation.  Some public buildings have places specifically set up for the purpose of meditation. Parks can be another good place to find a peaceful spot. 

When you have found your location, you need to be able to sit in a comfortable postion. Some people like to close their eyes.

Now you are ready to begin step two.

Step Two:  Control Your Breathing

Breathing is one of the most important aspects of meditation. 

Breathe in slowly and rhythmically. Let air fill your lungs. 

Feel the life energy of the universe draw into your body as you breathe in. 

As you exhale, understand that each exhalation is an opportunity to feel the joys of inhaling more life. 

This is the point where, if you are a goal oriented person, you may struggle with this part. And sometimes instead of slowing down your breathing you actually breathe quicker.

Set the activity you are doing as the goal, if it helps

The deep slow rhythmic breathing will fill you with a sense of life and joy.

Step Three:  Meditation

This is where you reach a meditative state. Initially you are trying to detach yourself from your mind and observing your own thoughts. 

Try not to judge or change your thoughts - just see them for what they are.

Looking at your thoughts you gain insight into who you really are. 

Your conscious elevates out of the subconscious so you can see what is really going on behind it all. 

If you are someone who always likes to be in control of what you are thinking this can be really hard to do.

Step Four: Inner Peace

You should start to feel some form of inner peace. This takes on a different feeling in each person.
 
When I first started trying to meditate, I got very frustrated because initially I found the breathing hard and then I found the letting go of my thoughts hard!

It would have been really easy to give up and in fact I did give up on many occassions. I read many books and tried to practice by myself. I found it hard to do this by myself and because I could not do it easily, I lost the habit.

However, I have found that brain entrainment programs work well for me. I have a few that help me focus and reach a meditative state more easily.

I keep it pretty simple and basic, but my favorite one that I use almost every day is by Jim McElwee of the Unexplainable Store.

Unexplainable store is a weird name, I know! If you can get past that and you are prepared to take a step in faith to use something that focuses your brainwaves then I think you will find this really helpful.

Jim has many different versions of his mp3 recordings that focus your meditation into different areas, I started with the basic meditation recordings to help me get into meditation.

Once I had used them a few times, it gave me confidence to try on my own. I found it helped me to know what the feeling of being in the meditative state is like.

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