How to Meditate

Let’s start with a quote from Stephan Schwartz, an American consciousness researcher and author:

“There just isn’t anything else that I know of that an individual can do independent of money, social position, race, and education [...] that will improve their life - than developing a daily practice of meditation.”

Meditation is a practice of focusing on one object, thought or activity to train attention and awareness and to achieve a clear, calm and stable mind.

It is practiced in basically every religion, but can be used without any religious connections.

Why would anyone want to do that? Actually, there are many reasons.

Learning About Yourself

Switching your focus from outside to the inside provides so many interesting lessons about yourself - who you are, how do you feel and why and much more.

Separating Action from Reaction

People react almost instantly to outer signals. Meditation teaches you to separate actions from your reaction.

Improving Habits

Figure out and remove bad habits and learn new ones.

More Peaceful Life

Meditation teaches you not to rush, not to worry. It reduces stress. Meditation can be applied to any aspect of life.

Inner Exploration

Meditation is a very powerful tool for spiritual growth, inner exploration and bringing the subconscious mind closer. It is used for ESP, inducing lucid dreams and OBEs and more.

Meditation can be practiced in a lot of different ways and there isn’t a single best way. Different approaches work for different people.

Meditation is not dependant on any religion or dogma. It can work well on it’s own.

Here are some of the best practices that are shared across all practitioners.

Lifetime Exercise

Meditation is a lifetime exercise. There’s always something new to learn and improve upon.

Nothing Special Will Happen

During the meditation, nothing special will happen. In fact, a good meditation is when there’s nothing at all - no thoughts, no feelings, no emotions.

Don’t Expect Anything

Don’t go into meditation expecting a certain result immediately. It takes a while to learn a new skill.

No Special Posture

No special posture is needed. It’s perfectly fine to just sit normally in a comfortable chair.

Eyes Closed

It’s much easier to clear your mind with your eyes closed.

Discipline

Discipline is part of the meditation. Regular daily schedule, sit still, don’t react to anything.

Notice, Don’t Judge

During meditation, there will be different perceptions, feelings, emotions, thoughts. Just notice them. Don’t judge or try to change.

Even though there isn’t a one way to meditate, here is a recommendation of basic steps for meditation.

Pick the Place

This will be your meditation place. It shouldn’t be your bed, if possible. It can be a chair, a couch or a floor. You need to be comfortable sitting for a longer period of time.

Pick the Time

It can be in the morning or in the evening - it doesn’t matter! All that matters is to have a specific time dedicated to meditation.

Remove Distraction

During meditation, make sure there are no distractions - no kids, no pets, put phone on silent mode.

Pick a Duration

If you’re new to meditation, start with 5 minutes. As you get better, you will realize you don’t need to set the timer, as it is only distracting you. Meditation with no end time is more efficient.

Be Comfortable

If you meditate while lying down, there’s a risk of falling asleep. You need to be comfortable, but not too comfortable. It’s common to just sit normally with a straight back with hands on the lap.

Pick a Focus

Pick an object, a thought or an activity that will be your single focus. Most common focus points are: breath, heart beat, mantra or imaginary candle.

Start Meditating

Close your eyes.

Relax Your Body

Before anything else, try to relax your body. No matter how relaxed you think you are, you can always relax more. Relax every muscle and nerve throughout the body, from toes to head.

Relax Your Mind

Fix the focus point in your mind and don’t think about anything else. Thoughts will start bubbling up. When it happens, just acknowledge them and gently come back to your focus point.

Come Back Slowly

When you’re done, gently wiggle your fingers and toes and then slowly open your eyes.

Here are some of the common obstacles while meditating.

Itches

“This will be the last itch that I will scratch”. This is never the case. Part of meditation is the discipline. Acknowledge the itch and move on. Go back to you focus point and it will disappear.

Mind Starts to Race

“My mind starts to race when I meditate”. Your mind races all the time, you just slowed down enough to notice it. Acknowledge the thoughts and go back to your focus point.

Expecting Immediate Result

“It’s been 10 minutes and God didn’t stop by to chat. What am I doing wrong?”. Meditation is a lifetime practice. Don’t expect results immediately.

Am I 10 minutes in?

Don’t try to think about how long you’re meditating. Either set up a timer and forget about it or just don’t set any duration for your meditation practice.

Frustration, Anger, Urge…

These and many other emotions are quite common. Just acknowledge them and move back to the focus point. It will get easier the more you practice.