When some people think of meditation, they often think of weird Indian gurus chanting mantras and waving their hands in tune to gongs. This, however, is an old stereotype of meditation. In a similar way, many people think that meditation is about emptying their mind or making it go blank, but this is also a big misconception of the practice. Therefore, this article about How To Meditate For Beginners will give you a new insight about meditation as well as a few tips.
Everybody, including children, can meditate and it doesn’t have to be linked to any kind of religion or belief. In fact, the practice of meditation could be described as taking some time off each day to remember that we are alive and to be conscious about it. In our hectic world, we tend to forget it as we easily get caught up in the busyness of life. Materialistic values consume us and tend to poison our thinking. This is why meditation is important as it can help us to have a more balanced mind, to be more in harmony with ourselves, or in other words to be more “aligned” with who we truly are inside.
If you’re a beginner, you may ask yourself: how to meditate effectively? Here are few tips for meditation.
1/ Focus on your breathing
In the short video below, a Buddhist monk explains that you can meditate everywhere and anytime:
In the video, the monk explained that you have to make friend with your “monkey mind”. The very first step is always to focus on your breathing. Just feel, follow and be aware of how it flows in and out, through your nose/mouth, throat and lungs.
That’s the first step to become more conscious and this is the main purpose of meditation. This practice will open doors to lots of things.
To improve your meditation and to go deeper in the practice, here are a few more tips below.
2/ Use guided meditation & brainwave music
To do an effective meditation session, I’d recommend finding a quiet place away from other people. Turn your phone off and make sure that you will not be disturbed. Sit in a comfortable place, on the ground or on a chair. You must keep your back straight.
If you’re a beginner or simply if you’d like to have an audio help, I’d recommend using guided meditation with some nice meditation music. If the music includes binaural beats or isochronic tones, this is a big plus. Binaural beats and isochrones tones use the technology of brainwave entrainment which will put your brain into a calm state in a rapid and easy way. Binaural beats and isochronic tones have a powerful effect on the stress level, memory function of your brain, and have many other advantages (help for artistic creativity …). It can literally transform your emotional state. If you’re interested in listening to this type of music, just click on the following link to download free meditation music.
Now, you’re ready to go, just close your eyes and start breathing in and out.
If you’re a total newbie in meditation, just following these two steps will tremendously help you.
The more you’ll progress in your meditation practice, the more you’ll want to experience new things. Intuitively, you’ll be lead to explore your mind and by yourself you’ll understand that you have the capacity to “mold” it and that this can totally change your life.
3/ Explore your mind and the different aspects of yourself
Meditation is also about learning who you truly are inside and about becoming a better version of you. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Gandhi suggested if you would like the world to be a better place, you have to start by improving yourself. It’ll not only benefit you but it’ll spread around you as a domino effect considering the fact that we’re all connected.
When you meditate, you will eventually enter in an altered state of consciousness (mostly Alpha or Theta waves). When you explore your mind in such a state, you will see things from a different perspective, with more objectivity compared to when you’re in your normal waking state. So it is a great way to “reprogram your mind” into something more positive etc. Also, remember if you’re using meditation music with brainwave entrainment, you’ll experience deep meditative states rapidly.
So, during your meditation practice, you can start by looking at yourself from various angles (outside and inside), ask yourself questions and see if answers are coming.
a. What are my positives?
Even if it seems hard to think of anything positive in the moment, just go back to the basics: “Do I have food?” “Do I have shelter?” “Do I have water?” If so, then you can be thankful. By following this process, you’ll welcome the feeling of gratitude in your life which will prevent you from feeling unhappy. We often tend to have this distorted thought of not having enough while we already have the most important things in our lives. The more you’ll practice, the more you’ll understand that everything is a question of perspective on a subject. You’ll then find out that happiness depends mostly on how we perceive things… Glass half full or half empty?
When you understand that you have everything you really need, you may go further and ask yourself these questions: “What do I have that I can give to others?” “What can I offer to others around me?” Every person has unique gifts and talents, so why not share them?
Step by step, you will welcome the feeling of loving-kindness and compassion.
b. What are my negatives?
We shouldn’t fear or deny our “dark side” but rather embrace it in order to transmute it into “light”. Meditation is a powerful tool that will help you to achieve this. This is a great way to reprogram yourself and get rid of fears, addictions… “What in my life is hindering my personal growth and the lives of those around me?” “Is it a secret addiction that I am ignoring? Is it an unkind thought or action?” “What am I doing right now that is hurting me and others?” “Why am I not exercising, eating and sleeping properly?” If I don’t know, I should inquire of independent observers who know me well, and they will give me a list of things I can meditate on.
Many people are afraid of finding out who they really are on the inside, but doing so is the first step toward improvement. And, if you’re in a deep altered state of consciousness like the Theta brain state, you can literally auto-hypnotize yourself and mold your mind the way you want. With more and more practice, you can even learn how to heal yourself not only mentally but physically too.
c. What are my new opportunities?
After you have pointed out what your positives and negatives were, you’ll eventually explore the new paths you can walk on. “What are some opportunities right now that I could pursue?” “A new job, a relationship, a change of belief system?” “What are the things in front of me that could be different that I can act now to improve?” “How could my life become healthier, happier?” “Am I surrounded by the right persons in my life?” “Are there any toxic ones?” “Do I need to take a break more frequently?”
These are the few questions you may ask yourself when exploring new opportunities. The more you do this, the more you’ll understand that all the things you got up to now in your life are the result of your own choices (conscious or unconscious) and that you can totally decide what you really wish to get in your future. The law of attraction is a true law that exists in the Universe. Even if you have attracted things mostly in an unconscious way in your life, you will now learn to attract other things in a conscious way. You’ll literally move from a “passive” way of living to an “active” one.
So, those were a few aspects you can explore during your meditation sessions.
If you practice in a regular way, you’ll directly see the benefits of meditation. Studies have shown that 20 minutes of meditation per day will give you great results in only a few weeks.
To track your results, you may grab a journal and place it next to you to note what you discover in your sessions.
Gandhi once noted the direct connection between thoughts and actions: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes”. If my thoughts are prejudiced, then so will my life. And this will hurt me and others. What you see outside is the exact reflection of who you are inside. Now, you understand the power of meditation…
If you would like to learn a more advanced method, check out the Gaia Meditation method.
To get free meditation music with binaural beats and isochronic tones, just click here.
Please let us know what your experience with meditation is. Just leave a comment below. Thanks!
Stephane
