How to Meditate the Proper Way in Seven Steps (The Basics)
- 2. How To Meditate The Proper Way In Seven Steps (The Basics) What happens if you can recall personal events and memories of your life so effortless- ly? That’s the story of Jill Price, the first person to have ever been diagnosed with the condition hyperthymesia. For Jill, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. While her per- fect memory is admired by many, she doesn’t just remember the past, she vividly feels it. So whenever a memory pops into her mind, emotions and attachments come running back to her as well. Do you have what it takes to control your own mind? We’re more like Jill Price than you think. The norm nowadays is to be always on the hustle. It’s harder to take a breather or to stop for a moment to just relax. Whenever a thought comes into our mind, we let it take control of our lives. This is mostly true for negative memories and stressful events that we have trouble letting go of even in our minds. Thus, we can say that many of us our prisoners of our own thoughts. And the fact is, it should be the other way around, it should be us that control our minds. But how can one become the boss of his or her own mind? A simple remedy is to engage in meditative practices. If you have been reading our pre- vious blog posts, meditation not only improves cognitive functioning but also emotional states. We become the boss of our own minds by becoming aware of our own thoughts. Meditation entails one to stay focused on the present, so as to avoid regretting the past or even worrying about the future. When you’re in the present, your mind takes a much- needed break from the emotional burdens of the so-called uncertainties. An interaction
- 3. between your still body, your relaxed mind and your calm breathing forms the triangle of meditation. Easing your way into correct meditation If there’s one thing you need to know right now, it’s very easy to begin meditation. With the right resources and the will power, you can practice meditation on your own. But you also need to know another thing, it is harder to stick to a routine of meditation. If you don’t stick to your goal, then all your primary efforts to start meditation would go to waste. While we can provide for the proper way of doing meditation through the guide below, the consistency would still be up to you. And without consistency, meditation won’t be as effective as you’d like it to be. 1. Position Do find a position that is comfortable for you. For beginners, a good starting position to try is the chair position, in which you sit away from the back chair support and rest your feet on the ground. There are many more sitting positions that you can try. The Burmese position is another easy meditation pose. With the aid of a cushion on your buttocks, sit cross-legged with the knees touching the ground. Other alternatives are the half lotus position, the full lotus position and the seiza position, which we have discussed in this previous blog post.
- 4. Don’t let your spine curve too much. With any position, what’s important is that you keep your spine aligned and straight. There should be a natural hollow in the spine as this is its normal form. Your head and neck should be facing forwards. Everything else should be relaxed. Another tip, do not engage in the lying position especially if you’re a begin- ner. The chances of dozing off whilst meditating can be higher in this position. Remem- ber that the main idea is for you to be relaxed and calm, which you can only accomplish if your physical body is also comfortable. 2. Hands Do try a variety of mudras and find which one works best for you or your goal. Mudras are hand gestures that channel energy into our bodies or minds. Different mudras ac- count for different purposes. The most common hand gesture is the gyan mudra, which helps improve focus and memory. To do this, simply touch the tip of your index finger
- 5. with the tip of your thumb finger and place your hands within your laps. The cosmic mu- dra is another variation you can try, which can bring deeper concentration. If you want to be more compassionate, the varada mudra is a good hand gesture to try. Don’t worry once you get pleasant sensations in your hands. This is just an indication that your practice is becoming deeper. Remember that the hands are an important part of the meditative practice. It can help channel energies so you can achieve whatever your goal is. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, each specific finger represents a certain part of the body. The thumb can channel energy to the stomach, the index finger can channel energy to the liver and so on. The importance of the hands and fingers in trans- ferring energy goes beyond just meditation. 3. Eyes Do keep your eyes open if you fall asleep easily. The idea behind keeping the eyes open is to keep one from falling asleep. If you don’t get distracted easily by external stimuli but have problems keeping yourself from dozing off, then it’s wiser to just keep your eyes open during meditation. You can also find an object to focus on with your eyes open so your concentration can be kept intact. Further, if you are adamant about incorporating meditation into your daily habits, practicing with your eyes open can ease you into that. Don’t keep your eyes open if you are easily distracted. For those with racing minds and stressful thoughts, it’s better to keep your eyes closed during meditation practice. If you find yourself easily distracted by other sights, then you might not benefit as much from keeping your eyes open. By closing your eyes, you can shut off external stimuli that can obstruct your journey to enlightenment. Both practices are acceptable in meditation and has been well-studied, proving their effectiveness in inducing relaxation to our minds and brains.
- 6. 4. Breathing Do focus on your breathing once you have perfected your posture. As a beginner, it is a good idea to concentrate on your breaths to keep your focus intact. You can do so by breathing naturally and counting each breath. So take an inhale through the nose, then take an exhale through the nose as well. This counts as your first breath, continue doing so until you reach ten breaths. Then begin counting again, as you become more adept in meditation, you can drop the counting later on. Don’t be unnatural with your breathing. Just breathe normally as how you would outside of meditation. In some forms of meditation, like zazen, they require one to exhale more slowly. But even then, it doesn’t mean that you should be too artificial with how you breathe. After all, the goal of meditation is to bring you back to your natural self. So as much as possible, breathe as how you would during a normal situation.
- 7. 5. Intentions Do set realistic intentions for yourself. You are a beginner and it’s only natural to have struggles at the start of your practice. If you want to engage in meditation to relieve some of the stresses you’re experiencing, then that’s a good start. If you want to en- gage in meditation to achieve enlightenment in the following days, then that’s probably an unrealistic intention to begin with. It doesn’t just impact your practice, it can also lead to disappointments if you are not able to fulfill that unrealistic intention.
- 8. Don’t think of a goal, as this leads to futuristic thinking. Meditation is linked with the present and only the present. An example of a goal is, “I want to use meditation so that in the future I can manage my work load more easily.” This contradicts with the principle of meditation. Focus on the intention instead, which is more internally driven and tracked on the principles of reality and the now. Meditation shouldn’t be used as a means to an end. But rather it should be looked upon as an important aid for the devel- opment of an end. 6. Focus Do focus on a specific object or image. For beginners, it’s usually ideal to use focused meditation to ease your way into meditative practice. For example, you can focus your gaze and your mind on a blank wall. You can even imagine the whistling of the wind through the forests. Once you have chosen your focus subject, keep going back to it if you find your mind wandering at times. It’s natural for humans to have thoughts in their minds but how they let these thoughts go is very crucial for the meditation to be effec- tive. Don’t let passing thoughts stay for more than a few seconds. A stressed mother might have recurring thoughts of her chores, grocery shopping and disciplining the kids. That’s okay but she needs to make sure that these thoughts do not stay more than a few sec- onds. Imagine the waves of the sea, they are might and strong but crash within few seconds into the shore then they’re gone. This is how your thoughts should be while meditating. 7. Duration Do start your meditative practice slowly. You can begin by short sessions of five to ten minutes. Do this at least three to four times a week in a regular schedule. This way, you won’t struggle as much, as meditation does need effort, practice and time. You can choose a time of the day wherein you can regularly incorporate meditating in. Set an
- 9. alarm so that you can meditate without worrying about the time or your other personal duties. Don’t be too bothered with short duration meditation. It’s okay to start slowly and not overwhelm yourself. Some people find it easy to meditate for an hour or two while oth- ers can’t sit still for more than a few minutes. As long as your meditation quality is good, meaning it has helped clear your mind and emotions, then don’t worry despite its short duration. In fact, even short-term meditation has been found to be effective for lowering anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue.
- 10. Rule your mind or your mind will rule you As the Buddha has once said, we need to rule our own mind or it mind will rule us in- stead. Meditation is the best way of doing so as it allows us to be aware of our thoughts and eventually, understand our own self. Once we become fully aware of who we are, we can take better control of our emotions and thought processes. We can lead the path to our own enlightenment and destiny thereafter. All vectors used in this blog post are from Vecteezy (www.vecteezy.com), credits belong to the creators and uploaders