What is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind to achieve calm and clarity. It's a way to build mindfulness and awareness by training the mind to concentrate, often by focusing on the breath. In mindfulness meditation, we focus on the breath as it comes in and out, noticing when our mind wanders and gently bringing it back. This strengthens attention and mindfulness. By paying attention to our breath, we learn to stay present, anchored in the moment without judgment. Though mindfulness seems simple, it takes patience. Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg recalls being surprised by how quickly her mind wandered—after just one breath.
Why Learn to Meditate?
Understanding Your Pain :
Meditation helps you become more aware of your physical and emotional pain, allowing you to address it with greater clarity and compassion.
Lower Your Stress :
Regular meditation practice can significantly reduce stress levels, helping you feel calmer and more relaxed in daily life.
Connect Better :
By enhancing mindfulness and empathy, meditation improves your relationships and communication with others, fostering deeper connections.
Improve Focus :
Meditation trains your mind to concentrate better, enhancing your ability to stay focused and productive.
Reduce Brain Chatter :
Quiet the constant noise and mental clutter with meditation, leading to a clearer, more peaceful mind.
Enhance Emotional Health:
Meditation can help improve your mood and outlook on life by fostering a more positive and balanced mindset.
Increase Self-Awareness:
Through meditation, you gain deeper insight into your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, which can lead to greater self-understanding and personal growth.
Promote Better Sleep:
Meditation can relax the mind and body, making it easier to fall asleep and improve the quality of your sleep.
Boost Immunity:
Regular meditation practice can strengthen your immune system, helping your body resist illness and recover more quickly.
Support Mental Resilience:
Meditation helps build mental resilience, allowing you to better cope with challenges and setbacks in life.
How to Meditate
Read these steps, make sure you’re somewhere where you can relax into this process, set a timer, and give it a shot:
1) Take a seat. Find place to sit that feels calm and quiet to you.
2) Set a time limit. If you’re just beginning, it can help to choose a short time, such as five or 10 minutes.
3) Notice your body. You can sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, you can sit loosely cross-legged, you can kneel—all are fine. Just make sure you are stable and in a position you can stay in for a while.
4) Feel your breath. Follow the sensation of your breath as it goes in and as it goes out.
5) Notice when your mind has wandered. Inevitably, your attention will leave the breath and wander to other places. When you get around to noticing that your mind has wandered—in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes—simply return your attention to the breath.
6) Be kind to your wandering mind. Don’t judge yourself or obsess over the content of the thoughts you find yourself lost in. Just come back.
7) Close with kindness. When you’re ready, gently lift your gaze (if your eyes are closed, open them). Take a moment and notice any sounds in the environment. Notice how your body feels right now. Notice your thoughts and emotions.
That’s it! That’s the practice. You focus your attention, your mind wanders, you bring it back, and you try to do it as kindly as possible (as many times as you need to).
Basic Meditations
The goal of mindfulness is not to clear your mind of all thoughts, but simply to notice when your attention drifts and bring it back to your breath. Start by getting comfortable and focusing on your natural breathing. Pay attention to where you feel your breath the most—your belly, your nose? Focus on your inhale and exhale for two minutes, letting your breath guide you. As you do this, your mind will likely wander, thinking about tasks, worries, or random thoughts. That’s normal. When it happens, gently bring your focus back to your breath. If your mind wandered, you’ve experienced how often we live on autopilot, caught up in our thoughts. Mindfulness helps us notice this and choose what to focus on instead of getting lost in distractions. Practicing mindfulness lets us develop a healthier relationship with ourselves and others by being more present.
Beyond the Beginning
When you’re learning how to meditate, it’s natural for questions to
pop up often.