Everyone knows the word meditation. But what is it? In literature (modern and classical, religious and secular), you can find different approaches to understanding meditation.
Meditation for beginners :
Meditation for beginners refers to a wide range of practices that include techniques designed to promote relaxation, cultivate inner energy and vitality (qi, prana, etc.), develop compassion and love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.
And all these benefits are indeed a pleasant "side" effect of the practice of meditation. There are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice and many different types of meditation, many of which can be described on our resource.
What is the right way to meditate?
If you are wondering “how to meditate correctly”, but have not yet started practicing, then perhaps you are overwhelmed by doubts, why do this, how long does it take, do you need special skills, where to start, how to meditate at home?
In this article, we will try to collect and consider the most popular questions of beginners, as well as misconceptions that prevent you from starting to meditate.
What's the point?
For centuries, people have indulged in meditation in search of peace, happiness, transformation or control of their own consciousness.
If a person really feels satisfied with what he has and who he is, then more often he does not think about the need for self-knowledge.
But in most cases, people come to yoga, meditation, when they feel an inner hunger - a feeling that there is something light inside, something vast and divine, but a person does not have access to this. This inner hunger comes from a spiritual need.
The goal of meditation is to learn how to control the most valuable tool of every person - mind, attention. After all, the state of mind is a determining factor in feeling happiness and achieving success in all areas of life.
A person can have all the blessings and still feel unhappy, or, on the contrary, have very little, but feel in harmony with himself and the world around him.
Look around, observe yourself and loved ones, media persons in the field of sports, politics, show business - no amount of material wealth, physical skills and resources will help a person become happy and peaceful if the way of thinking is negative and unconstructive.
Meditation will not solve your problems at home, at work, in society. But it will give you much more - the potential to cope with any events (good and negative) that occur in your life, will give you strength and teach you to let go of unnecessary emotions, feelings, thoughts.
Meditation helps you master your own mind by working on one of its key aspects: attention. After all, everything that we draw our attention to exists for us.
Having mastered the ability to fix your attention only on what you need, you will be able to filter and not skip negative points, as well as everything that is not useful for you.
Well, meditation for beginners is a powerful tool for working with consciousness, which will ultimately enable you to create and receive what you want.
Relaxation or self-hypnosis?
In fact, relaxation is just one of the main effects of meditation. On the other hand, this is one of the conditions for successful meditation.
If you are focused on practice and not tense, this will help you achieve deep realizations, will allow you to work with consciousness. Therefore, when it comes to "guided meditation" (yoga nidra, scanning the body in order to relax it, etc.), this is not meditation in the proper sense of the word.
Of course, such practices are good, because relaxes and relieves stress. But meditation is a deeper practice, work with consciousness first of all.
Meditation is also not hypnosis (or self-hypnosis), during which verbal suggestion is made to see and feel certain things. For this, the creative possibilities of the brain are involved - imagination, visualization are used.
Meditation also usually does not use imagination or the cultivation of emotions (except for some types of practices, such as "Loving-Kindness" - loving-kindness meditation).
How do you learn to meditate?
In modern sources, you can find such a huge number of types of meditations and techniques, with a description of the process, effects and other things, that it is not at all necessary to look for a guru for this.
There are very serious techniques that have a great effect on the state of mind and even on the physical well-being, so it is better to practice them in special centers or under the supervision of an experienced practitioner.
But most types of meditation are also suitable for beginners, which you can start practicing on your own - at home, in nature, even at work. To do this, you only need a little time and a convenient place.
You do not need to follow any strict rituals or wear special clothing to meditate. Someone prefers to prepare a place and space for meditation (using chanting bowls, mantras and music, incense, images of deities and saints), because they see this as a need and help in preparing the mind for meditation - but all these actions are not essential for practice.
Of course, meditation was originally practiced to achieve spiritual enlightenment and was used in Eastern religious rites, which are characterized by certain attributes, adherence to strict rules. But, like most of the techniques that came from east to west, meditation today may essentially be devoid of anything religious. You can practice meditation as a simple exercise for your health and well-being.
By the way, believers of absolutely any religion can practice without any conflict with their faith. In addition, today there are many methods and types of meditation, many of which were developed not by religious apologists, but, for example, by scientists, philosophers (we have considered some of these types of meditation in separate articles).
"No time" to meditate?
We strongly recommend that you observe your everyday life: for one week, pay attention to all the time you spend in front of the screen (TV, phone, computer).
Record the time spent each day. Now set aside 20% of that time for meditation. Do you have time now? And, probably, this is at least 10 minutes a day?
At the modern pace of life, watching TV, reading the feed of social networks for the majority of the active population is a way to escape from everyday problems. But just try changing the way you relax a little. We are confident in the result.
You will definitely feel better after your meditation sessions - you will become more relaxed, more focused, more rested. And it's free! All this is worth a few minutes of your wasted time.
Many people find that after they begin to meditate, they have even more free time. And all because attention begins to focus only on what is really needed!
Suddenly and absolutely organically, you will find that you have spent a lot of time on actions, experiences, events that are not useful to you at all.
How to start meditating at home
Start small: practice 1-3 minutes a day. Gradually increase the time by a couple of minutes. As a result, you will be able to devote the right amount of time in accordance with the type of meditation you have chosen.
Create a habit of meditation for yourself. First thing every morning after waking up, take this couple of minutes of meditation. You can practice in the evenings as well. Put a reminder on your phone and don't be shy - even if you're tired, sleepy, lazy, and there are other excuses - just get started.
Create a habit of meditation for yourself. First thing every morning after waking up, take this couple of minutes of meditation. You can practice in the evenings as well. Put a reminder on your phone and don't be shy - even if you're tired, sleepy, lazy, and there are other excuses - just get started.
Do not evaluate yourself : how successfully you do it, whether you do it right / sit / think / do not think. The very fact of regular practice strengthens willpower, gradually develops your inner mastery, and, of course, positively affects your psychophysical well-being. In the section "meditations" on our resource you can learn about the wide possibilities and effects that people have discovered as a result of the practice of meditation, including scientifically proven ones, and also get an answer to the question of how to meditate correctly.
Do you notice that the mind is wandering? Do not be annoyed, but smile and just gently return to breathing. For those who are trying to learn how to meditate on their own, it is often difficult at first, because the mind is set to fight any thoughts that arise. But for practice there should be no struggle , no suppression! Fighting the thoughts will ultimately just strengthen them. The only thing to do in meditation is to deliberately divert attention from the inner dialogue, focusing on something else (depending on the goals and the chosen technique). At the same time, the mind will slowly but surely calm down. For example, when you are working with concentration, and suddenly loud music starts playing nearby, the more you try to “not hear” the music, the more you will pay attention to it and get annoyed. But if you put in the effort and focus on your work, after a few moments you will stop hearing the music. Therefore, do not deliberately try to empty and calm the mind. Just follow the directions for your chosen meditation technique.
Tune in to practice and don't expect incredible results this minute. Meditation is a process. And this process not only bears fruit and positive results, but is also valuable in itself. Enjoy the process ! Give up comparison and expectations, do not criticize yourself if you have not felt anything as a result of the practice so far. Then meditation will not be difficult and will become just a pleasant and healthy ritual for you. Research shows that meditation brings tremendous physical and mental benefits after just 8 weeks of daily practice. And this is not such a long time. Of course, hermit monks who meditate around the clock achieve greater results and deeper realizations in less time than a person who started practicing for 10 minutes a day a month ago. But this little step of yours will be one of the most important contributions to your life and to the future - at least, it is better health, more peace in the soul and harmony in life. Most people can start receiving this within a few weeks of starting the practice.
Just start practicing with any kind of meditation. First, you will need to take the time to learn how to learn how to meditate in a particular technique, you will begin to gain experience that will accumulate and broadcast to all other untested meditation techniques. Over time, you will develop your taste, begin to understand a variety of techniques and will deeper learn this wonderful world of possibilities of the human mind and consciousness, which is absolutely accessible to each of us.
