Meditation Practice: Preparation for Beginners
No one wants to feel: anxious, sad, angry or fearful. Yet, that is exactly what we have all experienced. So why not learn how to do something about it? Why not learn how to meditate?
Meditation involves focusing the mind in order to increase awareness of the present moment. It promotes relaxation, reduces stress , and enhances personal growth.
Meditation: Removing mental obstacles
Many people find learning to meditate to be difficult. These difficulties arise from wrong ideas about what meditation is about. Mediation is a relaxed state of heightened awareness. It is not a zoned out state bordering on sleepiness; nor is a state of cogitation. Mediators do experience thoughts passing through the mind like fluffy clouds passing through the sky, but they do not follow nor attempt to forcefully drive any arising thoughts from their mind; they pay them no mind.
Learn Buddhist breathing practice first
My best tip is to read and learn Buddhist Meditation: Mindful Breathing Practice first. Then prepare your self for mediation by reading the mediation tips below and using a simple muscle relaxation technique described to prepare you for beginning to establish a mediation practice.
Tips for beginner meditators
- Don’t attempt to meditate on an empty stomach.
- Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for 20 minutes to meditate in.
- Remove your shoes, loosen any tight clothing and make sure you have a light blanket or sweater around your shoulders.
- Choose a comfortable position sitting up with your back straight either in a chair or on a cushion.
- Focus on observing your breath as you learned in Buddhist Meditation: Mindful Breathing Practice. Remain in tune with feeling air pass in and out of your nostrils as you inhale and exhale.
- Either close or half close your eyes to prevent them from tracking any visual distractions.
Relaxation technique – Tense and release the muscles from your toes to your head until they become relaxed and peaceful. Notice where there is tension and smooth and calm those muscles in your imagination.
- Tense and release the muscles in your feet and lower legs and allow them to sink into the chair or cushion.
- Tense and release the muscles in your thighs until they feel heavy, then allow them to sink into the cushion or chair.
- Tense and release the muscles in your buttocks, lower back and abdomen until they become calm and fully relaxed.
- Tense and release the muscles in your shoulders, arms and hands until they become calm and still.
- Tense and release your the muscles of your chest and allow them to become relaxed and calm.
- Tense and release the muscles in your neck until they become loose and relaxed.
- Tense and release the muscles in your face from forehead to jaw, smoothing and calm them in your imagination, until they feel calm and completely relaxed.
Use your imagination to help you fully and completely relax. Start by imagining a beautiful blue sky with a few fluffy clouds lazily passing through. Allow every arising thought to lazily pass through your mind like those clouds, barely noticed.
Retain your focus on your breath, following it in and out of your nostrils without changing it.
Never worry about whether you are meditating the right way or wrong way as every meditation experience is different. If you feel any anxiety return to following your breath, without altering it in any way.
When you have completed your session with your eyes still closed or partially closed take a few moments to get in touch with your body parts from toes to head and send them each a smile.
Namaste
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15 Comments on “Meditation Practice: Preparation for Beginners”
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Meditation is extremely important and should be a part of everybody’s life. Unfortunately in today’s hectic world, with tight time schedules it becomes difficult for people to set aside time for even exercise, leave alone mediation. Exercise always gets priority and mediation takes the back seat. Perhaps we should see meditation as the exercise for the mind. As an yoga practitioner you must know what I mean.
.-= Nita´s last blog ..Sachin Tendulkar’s hands tell us whether he is who he says he is =-.
@Nita
Yes, I do know what you mean. I have a long established practice of both exercise and meditation. These two practices are part of caring for myself that are so well established that missing a single day is almost unthinkable. For those who have yet to experience the benefits of learning how to take care of themselves, and have yet to make the commitment to do so, there are many reasons and even more excuses for failing to undertake either exercise or meditation.
IMO our lives are not necessarily more “busy” than those of bygone days. In days past in Canada most had physical work to do every day. They had to split and carry wood for warmth and cooking and water for drinking and cleaning. They had to do laundry by hand. They spent hours cooking and preserving their own food and cleaning their homes every day.
As I live a very simple lifestyle these split wood carry water, prepare and preserve foods chores are on my daily agenda in the here and now. What I lack time for is social networking as, needs be, it is at the bottom of my priority list.
This is a great guide for beginners. If I remember correctly, I think I mentioned to you before that I meditate on regular basis.
Meditation has become an important part of my life despite my hectic schedule. I believe in keeping in touch with my higher self . Each one of us has a different way of meditating but the key is in the breathing technique and the focus of the mind.
I usually meditate in the morning when all is still peaceful and after my meditation I have a mug of green tea. After this ritual, I feel I am ready to tackle any obstacles that can come my way.
.-= Funkkeejooce´s last blog ..Fiesta Week =-.
I’m so glad you stopped by and took the time to comment and share your practice. Thanks for doing that. In the morning I do a walking meditation. As I have fibromylagia, I awake feeling very stiff and sore so I find that sitting meditation is not the best choice for me. In the afternoon I do choose to sit to meditate. Like you I drink green tea. I drink copious quantities of decaffeinated green tea. I only allow myself one cup of coffee every morning after I return from my walking meditation. You are so right about different kinds of meditation – they all come back to observing the breath without altering it in any way. Once a person learns that they have the key. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Namaste
I have meditated most of my life, but I didn’t always know that was what I was doing. I discovered the process accidentally in my early teens as a means of dealing with intolerable pain. It was extraordinarily powerful. Since those days, meditation has developed into something that is embedded in many of my daily activities. I write every morning, and I utilize a meditative state to disengage my mind. When I exercise, it is also present, whether during yoga, walking, or hiking. As I read your post and you described the steps, I felt myself entering the meditative dimension.
I don’t know that we are any busier these days than in years gone by, but I do feel that the way we live now, with its relentless complexities and multiplicity of demands, promotes skimming over the surface of our lives in an effort to keep up. I suppose we can have the same superficial experience chopping wood or baking bread, but somehow I have always found greater peace in the simple things. Cindy
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..Creativity and Aging =-.
@Cindy
I don’t know why this is but as I read you comment tears streamed down my face. I feel so connected to you and yet, we have never met. I also suffered intense pain as a child and it wasn’t until I learned candle meditation that I recognized that I had been meditating since childhood. I expect there are many people like us in this world who discovered meditation in the same way we did. Like you I find peace in simplicity and I chose to be mindful and grateful for all the small things in life, like the song of the tree frog.
Namaste
Nice list. It took many aborted attempts over the years for me to finally have a consistent, every-morning practice. And, actually, what I found particularly useful starting out was realizing that my main problem was simply sitting still for any amount of time, and dealing with that, and only that, at first. So, for the first few weeks, I forgot about all I’d read about mindfulness and just sat there–getting lost in thought, indulging in fantasies, or whatever, for five minutes. Then, gradually, I moved up to twenty minutes, and, once I’d started getting comfortable with that, started working on following the breath.
.-= YogaforCynics´s last blog ..The Highly Prestigious and Karmically Significant Floating Glowing Being of Pure Love Award =-.
@Jay
Your experience is very much like those of some others I know. Just remaining physically still was an enormous undertaking for them and while they slowly mastered it they experienced what you have described ie. “monkey mind”. The busy mind that continuously projects scenarios and fantasies and will not be still. I witnessed the beauty of their Buddha smiles in the moment they became for the very first time observers, who were finally able to focus and begin to follow their breath. Thanks for reminding me of what I had forgotten, the struggle to remain physically still.
Meditation alters your brain wave frequencies, and over time creates new neural pathways in the brain. Most people spend their waking hours in the beta frequencies. Deep meditation can bring you into the alpha, and upper theta frequencies. These frequency levels are associated with a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional benefits.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Make It Happen Now Countdown UPDATE =-.
@Jonathan,
Yes, you are quite right. When we learn how to meditate and establish a practice eventually our brainwave frequencies are altered and do create new neural pathways. We spend most of our daytime hours in the beta state. Our brain is constantly experiencing four brainwave states throughout the day and night:
Beta : normal awakened state of mind
Alpha : day dreaming state or drifting prior to sleep
Theta : dreaming sleep
Delta : dreamless, deep sleep
The physiological, psychological, and spiritual benefits of meditation are well known and have been documented over and over again in numerous medical and clinical studies. Yet, there is great resistance within those, who have been raised in the kind of religious milieu I was raised in.
Contrary to the deceptive Christian evangelical fundamentalist nonsense that I was brainwashed with as a child, to the effect of emptying my mind was dangerous and doing so would allow “the devil” to move into it, I discovered that meditation has no negative side effects whatsoever.
At first I used positive affirmations to substitute for the negative self-talk I had been inculcated with (ie. you are a helpless sinner in need of a savior) , and I still use them today as reminders of my true nature when I feel “imbalanced,” but over time, I have learned to detach from self-talk.
I spent 10 days in silent retreat – vipassana, or cessation-contemplation practice on three separate occasions. I learned that meditation was not about emptying my mind or blocking any of the thoughts arising there, and eventually the negative thoughts ceased arising. By not engaging in inner dialog at all I began to benefit from the practice and was able to effect real changes in my behavior and begin to live consciously.
Thank you for providing me with an opportunity to share my experience of the benefits of meditation.
Hi Time. Thanks for sharing this. I usually don’t meditate. I think it’s partly because I find taking a nap a better alternative most of the time. Though, I am very well aware of the benefits that comes from meditating. I’ll definitely give this a try. Great article.
Hi Karlil,
I smiled when I read your comment because my husband is a napper. He can take a 20 minute nap while I meditate and awake refreshed. He’s never learned the many different kinds of meditation practice. He naps, does walking meditations (mindfulness), he sometimes sits and follows his breath, and he’s happy with that. Thanks for the visit and the comment too.
My problem is that I used some meditation practices to help me sleep when I was younger. Trying to do those things now has the same effect…unless I’m sitting up in a chair. I haven’t done it in a while now. I need to get to it again. Particularly now that the weather here’s so nice.
.-= Lana´s last blog ..Lake Ramsay & New Painting =-.
@Lana
The two obstacles to meditating are monkey mind and sloth mind. One leads one into being distracted by the seemingly never ending stream of visuals and information that just keep going on and on and presenting fantasy after scenario after fantasy. The other is quietly sliding into a somnambulent state nigh onto sleep. To be honest I have never experienced the sloth state. Yep, monkey mind is my obstacle.
It’s a myth that you need to be able to get into lotus position in order to meditate effectively. In fact you can meditate while sitting in a chair. It’s even possible to meditate while lying down, although the results are not usually very good for this particular posture if you tend to nod off.
Here are the basics with regard to posture:
1. Your spine should be upright. You should neither be slumped nor have an exaggerated hollow in your lower spine.
2. Your spine should be relaxed.
3. Your shoulders should be relaxed, and slightly rolled back and down.
4. Your hands should be supported, either resting on a cushion or on your lap, so that your arms are relaxed.
5. Your head should be balanced evenly, with your chin slightly tucked in. The back of your neck should be relaxed, long, and open.
6. Your face should be relaxed, with your brow smooth, your eyes relaxed, your jaw relaxed, and your tongue relaxed and just touching the back of your teeth.
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