meditation-how-to-start

Meditation how to start

Meditation is often seen as a religious act or reserved for a closed circle of yoga practitioners, often perceived as originals.

However, it is a practice open to everyone and can help many people in their personal development but also in their quest for happiness and their management of daily stress.

But then how can you learn to meditate when you know nothing about it? Here are a few tips for those who wish to begin Zen meditation.

 

What is meditation?

The first and simplest definition of meditation is a "reflection that deepens a subject, matures a project".

Indeed, meditation is far from the received ideas and is not reserved to Buddhism and to monks who are reclusive in their monastery, far from any civilization. Meditation is not linked to any Buddhist belief, nor to any religion or spirituality. It is a tool used by Buddhists but it can be used by everyone without major life changes.

Even though there are many techniques of meditation and yoga, it is above all a way to reconnect with one's unconscious mind and become fully aware of oneself.

To meditate is to become a witness of one's thoughts, emotions and physical sensations in order to better accept them and integrate them into one's being.

You will not learn to meditate from books. Like a sport, it is important to know the theory, but it is through the practice of yoga and meditation that progress will be made.

 

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Why practice meditation?

Meditation has many benefits for body and mind. The advantage is that it can be practiced by everyone, no need to be trained to learn how to meditate.

Learning how to meditate reduces oxygen consumption, which leads to an improvement in sports.

Meditation is particularly recommended for people suffering from anxiety in order to learn how to relax and achieve a reduction in stress. Meditation helps to avoid depression or burn out.

Finally, meditation helps to avoid insomnia in a stressed individual.

Concentration is also increased through meditation. Breathing exercises gradually increase one's ability to stay focused.

The more we practice meditation, the more we reduce our physical pain and stimulate our immune system naturally: headaches, scarring, cardiovascular risk, chronic pain, fight against winter epidemics?

Meditation also facilitates weight loss through controlled stress management. Letting go and positive thinking help to increase self-esteem and gradually regain self-confidence.

 

How do I get started in meditation?

Now that you have forgotten your preconceptions and are convinced of the benefits of meditation, let's get down to practice!

How to meditate concretely?

The first meditation session can be complicated to achieve. Indeed, meditation cannot be learned overnight. It is necessary to commit oneself to it, especially if one has difficulty slowing down in one's daily life.

Patience is the mother of all virtues, it is said. Apply this concept to meditation and don't be defeated if you don't succeed in "not thinking" the first few times.

There are many methods of deep meditation and with practice, it is possible to meditate anywhere, at any time of day and even without closing your eyes!

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But when you're just starting out, it's best to follow a few simple rules to make learning easier:

• Finding the right time: trying to meditate at different times of the day can help you find the right time for you. It can be in the morning to get a good start to the day or in the evening to release tension, or even at lunchtime to recharge your batteries without taking a nap.

• Choose a quiet place: I told you, with practice, you can ignore noise and the environment but at first, it is better to choose a place without noise and visual nuisance where you can sit comfortably on your yoga mat. Silence is the rule. A familiar environment, such as your own home, can help you relax at first. To help you, you can light a candle, incense or install comfortable cushions. A soothing, wordless background music can also help some people to calm down.

• Define a meditation time: and stick to it! The ideal is to start with 10 minutes of daily meditation. If you are struggling, stick to those 10 minutes, and if you feel good, stick to them as well. The goal is consistency.

• Adopt a comfortable position: lying down in the savasana position (corpse position) or in the lotus sitting position, the important thing is to keep the spine straight. With your eyes closed or fixed on a point in front of you, stay still and relax.

• Focus on your breathing: Breathing deeply and becoming aware of your breathing is the first step to meditation. It is the first of the relaxation techniques and the easiest to perform. Breathing allows you to relax and release tension,

• Purify your state of mind: at the beginning, you will surely find it difficult not to think about your anxieties, your desires, your to-do lists... It is not serious, your mind needs a period of time to succeed in letting its thoughts flow without any judgment on your part and to reach a level of simple contemplation,

• Don't control your thoughts: let go! At each session, you will note your progress and you will learn to tame your feelings without trying to control them all the time.

Taking a step back from each meditation makes it possible to realize the improvements to be provided to refocus solely on oneself. But keep a certain benevolence towards yourself. Once again, it is normal not to succeed at first.

Linger over the immediate effects of this first approach: are you more serene, more Zen? Have you reached a sufficient level of calm to your liking? Have you succeeded in thinking of nothing else but your meditation?

Practicing daily will allow you to get to know yourself better and to live with yourself better by adopting a more positive and benevolent attitude (like when you want to start yoga).

 

Begin meditation with music

Music can help you begin meditation. Of course, I'm not talking about your favorite music like rock or rap!

If you're the kind of person who likes to work with music, you must know what I'm talking about. The presence of lyrics distracts you more than it helps you concentrate. On the other hand, you must like instrumental playlists such as jazz or electro lounge that help you concentrate when you have to do repetitive tasks.

If you've ever been to a massage (or even if you've just gone to a beauty salon to get waxed), you need to remember the type of music that usually plays. Soft, soothing music to help you relax.

It's the same with meditation. Instrumental music or soothing noises can help you focus on your goal: meditation.

It is up to you to choose the song of the birds, the sound of the waves, the thunder or the rain. It's all about finding something soothing to put in the background to help you focus on the present moment, on yourself and your thoughts. It's easy to find these types of noises on Youtube.

 

Meditation-how-start

 

How to practice mindfulness meditation?

The first thing to remember if you want to begin mindfulness meditation is that it is not a performance.

The main goal first is to learn how to relax and secondly to analyze your way of meditating in order to know which subjects "take over" us in our daily life and to get to know ourselves better (as in the practice of yoga).

 

The benevolence of the practitioner

Be kind to yourself. There is no such thing as good or bad meditation. It is about being better and being aware of our emotions.

At first, lingering on one's breath can help a person to meditate. But this should not be the goal of his or her meditation. If you realize that you are using the breath as the object of your attention, it is because you are trying to avoid certain subjects that may appear to you during your meditations.

If your mind wanders a lot, it is very busy. If, on the other hand, a subject keeps coming up, it may be worthy of increased attention in mindfulness.

Rest assured, even after years of practice, the mind continues to wander from one subject to another. It depends on the moments of life you are experiencing. The important thing is to cultivate this meditative state through daily practice.

Regular practitioners will gradually come to choose their meditation subject in order to do their introspection.

 

A review of each part of your body

Meditation is also about scanning your body to make sure that everything is okay and focusing on the physical sensations in every part of your body.

The best is to check from top to bottom (or from bottom to top) so that you don't forget anything: face, throat, chest, arms, stomach, legs, feet...

It is simply an observation. Do not try to change your feeling at the moment or analyze it. Just observe. An overall mood should emerge as a result of this review.

 

Be attentive to your environment

It is often said that one must focus only on oneself during meditation. But isn't mindfulness an awareness of one's environment as well? Linger on your environment and let your senses see what is happening at every moment of your meditation, here and now.

What do your ears hear? What smells surround you? What does your skin and the different parts of your body feel?

Observing is enough. Don't force yourself to hear something if you are in a silent environment. Just let the sounds, smells and sensations come to you and notice them.

 

Friends

To help you practice meditation, it is also possible to practice it with another person. Even if the practice itself is quite individual, starting meditation with another person can help to motivate you, to discover other techniques and to deepen your desire to continue.

 

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