If you’ve never meditated yet, this article is for you
Table of Contents
∘ Determine why you want to meditate
∘ Recognize the critical inner voice
∘ Set a time in your routine and try to meditate at the same time every day
∘ Use ready-made audio recordings
∘ Research the styles, try them out, and go with the ones that appeal to you the most
∘ Approach the practice without expectations, without judgment
∘ Sitting
∘ Location
∘ Duration
∘ Conclusion
If you’ve never meditated before and want to start, or if you’ve tried it on and off but don’t know how to build a daily practice, this article is for you. A simple, straightforward guide to starting meditating and step-by-step instructions!
Determine why you want to meditate
As with everything else, I take up a practice only if I find it really useful and believe in it. Habits are formed through repetition. Repetition requires patience and effort, which in turn comes with solid motivation and intention.
I can start by asking yourself the following question:
Why do I want to meditate?
Take time to think about it. I can even write about it. Just write without judging myself, without judging what I write, without criticizing my intention. For health, for a good mood, for more compassion, for calmness, for better relationships, for a more aware life, for reconnecting with your body and mind…
My reasons are limitless. I can have one reason or more than one reason. Read what I wrote a few times. Try to internalize my intentions.
Recognize the critical inner voice
Even before you start practicing, the critical inner voice will start talking. It will comment on many things, from your meditation sitting to the time you can spare. Don’t listen to it. You are not performing in meditation. There is no right or wrongdoing. It’s a time for yourself and your mind. Following the instructions and being relaxed is enough for you to practice meditation. Other than that, everything else that the critical voice says is just unrealistic.
Set a time in your routine and try to meditate at the same time every day
In meditation or any daily practice, it is important to establish a routine. When we add something at the same time of day or before or after another routine that we do every day, a habit starts to form in our mind. When the time comes for the practice, we start doing it spontaneously.
So, if you want to bring meditation into your life with regular daily practice, you shouldn’t see it as a practice you do when you need it. It’s important to take the same amount of time on good days and bad days. We go to work when it’s raining and when it’s sunny, right? In the same way, try to practice meditation when the time comes, regardless of external or internal conditions.
Again, some days you may feel lazy and unenthusiastic. Here it’s very important to remember why you’re doing the meditation. Think of it this way, when we brush our teeth every day, we are not looking for motivation. We just do it. Try to just do the meditation. We don’t always have to look for a driving inner force, a motivation.
Use ready-made audio recordings
Even if you know the techniques of meditation, sometimes it can be difficult to clear your mind and focus on the practice. This is very normal and can happen to anyone.
So try to make use of ready-made audio recordings and YouTube videos. You can also use mobile apps for this.
For example, the Insight Timer app. It has thousands of free meditations. . This app will also help you to keep your meditation statistics. You can also just use the counter and statistics sections.
Again, by downloading the Mindia Meditation and Mindfulness App, you can access the audio recordings of more than 150 meditation and mindfulness practices that I have voiced on your IOS or Android phone.
Research the styles, try them out, and go with the ones that appeal to you the most
When you enter the world of meditation, you will see that there are many styles. Mindfulness, Buddhism, Zen, Insight, Vipassana, Metta, Vedic, and the list goes on.
If you have the interest and time, I suggest you do some research and give it a try. By experimenting, you can find the styles that appeal to you and match your intention and motivation.
However, if you say I am confused about this, I would like some suggestions to start with, you can start with Mindfulness and Buddhist meditations.
Buddhist meditations usually do not contain religious elements, even though the name may not sound like it. They are good resources for calming the mind and working on issues such as compassion and kindness.
Approach the practice without expectations, without judgment
When you start practicing, the critical inner voice will not stop. It will create expectations, it will tell you that you need to achieve them, it will lead you to compare yourself with others, and it will make you wonder if you can do it.
It’s very important to treat yourself with compassion in this process. Even hermits living in meditation retreats have their minds wandering, even though they are exposed to the critical inner voice during meditation.
The mind’s job is to think. We are not trying to suppress it, to silence it. So try to approach yourself, and your practice, without expectations, without judgment, and with compassion and kindness.
Choose the setting, the space, and the duration of the meditation
Sitting
If you don’t have a health impediment, you can meditate sitting upright in a chair or armchair. Your feet are on the floor, with a little space between them. Your hands can be down on your knees or palms up. Your eyes can be closed or open.
Leaning back completely invites napping. Unless you have a health condition, try not to lean back. If you need to, you can put a pillow between your lower back and the back of the chair to relieve your lower back, without leaning back completely.
Your sitting posture should be comfortable. During meditation, you need to find a balance where your mind doesn’t get caught up in the uncomfortableness of your sitting, but you don’t get too relaxed and fall asleep.
Ultimately, though, you have to listen to your body. Some days your body may want to lie down instead of sitting. In this case, you can also meditate lying down.
Only if you’re not doing it specifically to sleep, you may want to keep your eyes open in case you fall asleep.
Location
We’ve talked about the importance of setting aside time for meditation in your daily routine, and if you’re at home and have the means, you can create a corner of your home that you dedicate to meditation.
You can even create an altar (think of an altar as a small table, coffee table, or shelf on which you place objects, and photos that you love and that have meaning for you). This space will be a place where you stay with yourself and remind you of your practice.
If you cannot create such a space, this does not prevent you from practicing. You can meditate anywhere in the house. Creating a space where you can be completely quiet and undisturbed sounds great, and it would be great if you could.
But this may not always be possible. Again, if there’s noise where you’re meditating and you can’t stop it, consider it part of the practice. See it as just one of the distractions and try to tune in.
It’s also quite possible if your meditation routine is outside your home, for example, if you meditate on your morning commute to work or school, on the bus, or on the subway.
If you don’t want to attract other people’s attention because of your sitting posture, you can sit back and meditate with your eyes open. Remember, as important as sitting is, it’s not more important than practicing every day.
Duration
If you are just starting out, I recommend starting with 5 minutes a day and increasing this time by 5 minutes every week. But here again, it is important to listen to yourself. For example, you practiced for 15 minutes one week, but the next week when you increased it to 20 minutes, you realized that you were not ready for it. Then go back to 15 minutes. You can continue for as long as you want.
If you can spare 10 minutes, there’s nothing wrong with meditating for 10 minutes all the time. That will also be very good practice. So the duration of the meditation should be the time you can spare, and it should be a duration that you feel ready for, and that you can do easily.
Conclusion
Now you can start building your meditation practice. Maybe this is the best day to take this step.
What do you think?
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