Meditation for Beginners
Meditation Techniques For Beginners
Meditating can be one of the most intimidating practices because it requires you to sit with yourself and whatever may arise. It’s also one of the harder practices to keep consistently — especially for Westerners who are always on the go, moving as quickly as they can. Throughout my years of teaching yoga, I have also developed a strong practice in meditating and different techniques you can use to help develop a strong practice. Meditating doesn’t always just include sitting for an hour, there are other outlets like moving meditations (ie walking, running, etc), cooking, gardening, and more. Anytime you are mindfully focusing on your breath is a great start this journey! So where ever you are at with your current practice — whether you’re thinking of starting, have started and struggling, or want to just switch up what you’re doing, then this article is for you!
What’s The Point?
Without much idea, most people would think someone meditating is seeking enlightenment and the purest form of themselves. Completely renouncing everything and seeking understanding. While some of that may be true — the point of meditating is to become an observer and less of a doer. What is a doer you ask? Well, a doer is someone to uses language diversion to dictate their own happiness. We all do it, too. We like and dislike things, we love and hate things, we create the language barriers around our own ability to find peace because we think we can seek this state by surrounding ourselves with things we like. I am here to tell you to STOP! No more of doing. Next time you see traffic, don’t tell yourself how annoying it is, just observe it. Look at the cars and just observe and witness. I promise that is a huge step to finding peace — if you stop creating standards of happiness levels. So overall, the point of this beautiful practice is to pull you into a deep place and learn to witness these parts of you as they come, free of judgment and free of labeling.
How Can I Start?
I always suggest guided meditations, but my Guru suggests that you lay down for fifteen minutes, three times a day in a comfortable reclined position with your hands resting on your diaphragm. As you inhale through the nose, breathe in quietly and slowly. Hold for a moment, then exhale slowly and quietly, once again holding your breath in that empty void, then inhaling again. Do this for at least fifteen minutes and I promise you will find peace very quickly. It took me about three days of this breathing exercise to find peace in my day to day life. I found myself not doing anymore and simply existing. This is a great start to your practice, but if you want something else, find a guided meditation on YouTube or an application on your phone. There are so many out there!
If you are feeling called, I offer private sessions via skype and in person initiating people into the ancient technique of Kriya Meditation, which has only been passed down from Guru to Disciple for centuries!
If you are feeling adventurous, I offer retreats which we cover the basics of meditation and get you set up for your own personal sadhana here at theinsideworld.org/retreats