Meditating is not easy. It’s not as simple as sitting on a pillow with your legs crossed and chanting “omm”. It is a mental discipline that requires a great deal of concentration.
Meditation comes with a myriad of well-publicized benefits such as decreased levels of stress and anxiety, improved clarity of mind and creativity and reduced depression risks.
If you are a beginner and you find it extremely difficult to sit for a few minutes or hours with a clear mind, read the most common approaches below to help you get started.
Mindfulness Meditation
This form of meditation is great for newbies because it is simple and completely feasible. The main goal of mindfulness meditation is to achieve a calm and stable mind.
Calmness is actually a natural aspect of the mind and through meditation, we are just developing and strengthening it. With regular practice, you would be able to maintain a calm state of mind without struggling.
When doing mindfulness meditation, it’s important to find a space where you can have this feeling of sacredness. Don’t pick a space where there are too many distractions or you won’t be able to maximize your session.
Your gaze should be downward, focusing a couple of inches in front of your nose. The eyes should be open but not staring. The key to this form of meditation is to ignore what is going on around you.
Concentration Meditation
As the name implies, concentration meditation entails staying focused on a single point. You can focus on any specific thing such as breath patterns, single word or mantra, sound or an image.
This method is a little challenging for a beginner so you might be better off meditating for only a few minutes. Eventually, you’d be able to concentrate for a longer duration.
In concentration meditation, you focus your awareness on your object of attention. Each time your mind wanders to something else, you have to redirect your attention to the object. By practicing this regularly, your ability to concentrate will significantly improve.
Spiritual Meditation
If you like to pray then you will surely find spiritual meditation easy. This technique is based on communicating with your spiritual guide. To start, sit comfortably in a quiet place, close your eyes and focus on the way you breathe without changing it.
This method moves you from a state of meditation to contemplation. Open yourself up in every way you know how and visualize something that can bring you closer to your guide.
Spiritual meditation requires you to surrender to your Creator and let Him take over. Some people find it beneficial to listen to a recording or meditation tape such as “Peace Will Come” and “A Communication From God” when meditating.
