How to Meditate

Learning how to meditate can put you back in touch with yourself and help to tap your individual strengths.

By attaining a deeper state of relaxation and awareness meditation can:

• improve your health,
• reduce your stress, and
• increase your awareness.

Here are some tips on how to meditate.

Find a quite place

Turn off your phone and the TV, and find a quite place.

I find that meditation, especially when first learning how to meditate, is best done in a quite place that is free from distractions. I’ve meditated on the bus to work and a flight interstate, under a tree in the park and even in my office.

While you can meditate anywhere, fewer distractions are beneficial until you become more experienced.

I reserve a corner in my room which is where I practice my meditation. I set up my cushion on the floor or a straight-backed chair.

Relax your muscles

Let your muscles relax.

Don't try to force relaxation, just adopt a passive attitude. If you feel relaxed, then great, if you don't feel relaxed then accept that, too.

Close your eyes

Closing your eyes allows you to focus fully on yourself without outside distractions.

Alternatively you can have your eyes half open and unfocused, or focused on a single point such as a candle flame.

Focus on your attention

Focusing on your breath

As you breathe deeply from the abdomen, breathing meditation focuses on the breath. If you find your thoughts wandering from your breath then gently bring your focus back to your breath.

Breathing practice is ideal for becoming more aware of your thoughts and feelings, but meditation can be tailored to suit your individual needs, temperament and natural inclinations.

Focusing on a mantra

Alternatively you can focus on the word "One" or some other mantra, and say this in your mind with each inhale or exhale. This is the basis of meditations such as transcendental meditation and Japa meditation

Passively observe your thoughts

The focus of mindfulness meditation is that you allow your mind to passively accept whatever thoughts come to your mind without judging them.

Expectations

We all want to enjoy happiness and peace of mind and to get the most out of your meditation experiences.

Try to approach your meditation practice with minimal expectations – results take time!

Meditate regularly

Learning a new skill requires regular practice. Meditation is best practiced on a daily basis.

Continue to do whichever type of meditation your choose, for about 20 minutes each day.

Meditation has been shown to induce the relaxation response and can have a number of physical and psychological meditation benefits

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