Meditating can be difficult. So how can something that should calm your nerves and relieve stress actually leave you confused? What can help you meditate? By doing the exercises through proper sitting technique and keeping your mind in check, you can stop worrying about whether you are meditating properly and start meditating deeply.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Finding a Quiet Place
Step 1. Choose a quiet place in your home
Choose a room with tight doors, away from play areas or vehicle noise.
Step 2. Find a sofa or chair with an upright backrest
The ideal seat for meditation should not be so comfortable that it will put you to sleep, but should be comfortable enough for you to sit for 20 to 30 minutes.
Step 3. Turn on the soft natural light
Dim light can help you relax your mind, so try lighting a candle or a small lamp and avoiding fluorescent lights.
Step 4. Set a meditation time that allows you to be detached from other activities
Try meditating in the morning or at night after your kids are asleep and the phone doesn't ring much.
Method 2 of 4: Meditation
Step 1. Sit on your couch or chair
Find a comfortable position so that you can sit still without moving for 20 minutes or more.
- Stretch your back before starting the meditation, if you have been sitting all day. Rotating the waist to the right and left in a sitting position or doing cat/cow yoga poses can also reduce muscle tension so that it will be easier for you to focus on meditating.
- Relax your shoulders. Lift your arms up until they are in line with your ears while inhaling, and lower them back down. Straighten your back. Place your hands on your lap. Zazen meditation suggests placing your left hand inside your right hand, palm up, and placing your left thumb on top of the thumb of your right hand, as if you were holding an egg. Your hands should form a circle, which signifies eternity as well as the unconscious in which the non-dominant side of yourself can take over your body.
Step 2. Close your eyes or focus on a blank wall
Some people who meditate find it difficult to meditate with their eyes open, while others find it difficult to meditate with their eyes closed because they feel sleepy.
Make an active effort to focus your mind on "nothingness." Don't look at the wall, but through the wall. Blink your eyes when you need to blink
Step 3. Focus on your breath
Most meditations are no more difficult than sitting still and breathing, once you've started. Within the limits of this simplicity, it turns out that meditation is a very complicated thing. Start counting backwards from 10. You can focus on your count to help calm your mind. If you have more time, and this exercise helps, then try counting backwards from 50 or 100.
- Inhale deeply for a count of 8 seconds, hold your breath for 2 to 4 seconds, and exhale for a count of 8 seconds as well. Repeat this breathing pattern for 2 minutes.
- Feel the breath going in and out of your body. Imagine oxygen filling your body and flowing into your blood. Feel the oxygen throughout your body, and keep your mind focused on your breath.
Method 3 of 4: Keeping Your Mind Focused
Step 1. Take control of your thoughts
One of the most difficult things about meditation is that when you are just starting out there is something to do. You just sit, breathe, then what else? Eventually, as you practice meditation, you will feel that thoughts are going in and out of your head. You may be thinking about your children, what you are going to prepare for dinner or a problem at the office today. Don't let these thoughts come in and overwhelm you, think of them as fish swimming in a pond. Watch it move in and out of your mind.
Doing this will take you away from your own ego, so you will move away from the thinking "I". Let your thoughts flow in your head, stay focused on your breath, watch your thoughts and let them flow outward
Step 2. Don't fight
Consciousness may feel more like energy than thought, and is very difficult to describe or feel. This is why meditation is called practice, and why zazen means "just sitting." What do meditators and zen monks do? Just sitting.
Feel as you are drawn into thoughts about your surroundings and life, but don't try to pull your mind away from any version of "consciousness" you may have. As you meditate, this will happen often, and may be enough to make you feel uncomfortable
Step 3. Be aware of the camera moving away
In the old Monty Python scene, two people get lost in the desert. They started crawling when a large eagle approached. Extremely thirsty, one of the two looked at the camera and said "Wait a minute!" At this point, the camera pulls away and shows the entire film crew and their prepared lunch. The two of them ate and soon after, the entire film crew walked through the desert again, thirsty, until one of them said "Wait a minute!" and this process is repeated from the beginning.
Our minds can work like this. When you look at your thoughts, you may think, "Wait a minute, but who's paying attention to these thoughts?" This can cause your mind to struggle against it, which occurs a lot in "just sitting." Focus on your breath. This thought too, just watch, and let it pass
Step 4. Accept yourself
By detaching yourself from the mind by seeing it, by allowing your mind to run, by allowing your body to work, and your breath flowing, you are expending the natural state of your body running without controlling it. You break away from your ego and learn to accept your nature and love yourself.
Method 4 of 4: Ending Meditation
Step 1. Pull your consciousness back into your physical body
Bring back awareness of the part of your body that touched the chair.
Step 2. Spend 2 minutes appreciating time, quiet and peace
Positive thought processes can improve your mood throughout the day.
Step 3. Make a daily meditation schedule, and stick to it
This process will get easier the more you do it.
