Giophone

Some of the main reasons people start looking into meditation is because they have been advised to from a self help article, by friends and colleagues or you want to be the collected wise person, not the emotional angry person. Suggestions like this will improve/fix your life, make you more productive or just just free your mind from an overwhelming burden of noise, are all true.

Meditation............

• Enhances the immune system.
• Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
• Helps with weight loss
• Builds self-confidence.
• Resolves phobias & fears
• Supports curing addictions
• Helps control your thoughts
• Clears your mind
• Increases creativity
• Makes it easier to remove bad habits
• Increases Productivity
• Develops will power
• Helps cure insomnia
• Helps you discover your purpose in life
• Improves sexual performance
• Increases the synchronicity in your life
• Puts you in charge of your life

and so much more....

What is the right way/method?

Therein lies the most important question, well, this was the biggest question I had. What is the right way? It was a hard question to answer because there are so many kinds, and so many more intricate opinions within each. Here are a few types, but right now you really dont need to know details of any specific methodology.

• Mindfulness.
• Zazen.
• Trancendental (TM)
• Kundalini
• Qi Gong
• Guided
• Micro Meditation (Desk meditation)

So, now we tell you which is best, and ask for a small PayPal donation to get access to the course? No, the answer is both none of them and all of them, especially at this stage. Right now, you dont know which is best for you and you wont until you begin your practise, after a time you will just find yourself falling into a certain way. Right now, you need to understand the basic fundamentals and why, then work with that.

You only need to understand the simple key to understanding beginner meditation, that key is "Focus".

Meditation = Focus.

If you already knew that, Fantastic. If you didnt youve just taken the most important first step.

Meditation is both a practise and an exercise, just like physical exercise, but dont let that dissuade you. Its non impact and anything but exertive.

Just like physical education, to get better at something, you must repeat the exercise, over and over. Imagine someone who cannot run deciding to run a marathon, they do it by gradually increasing the distance and pace of their runs, but at first they probably cant even run for a full 5 minutes.

Someone who has come from nothing and can run for an hour will not only find benefits when performing the task of running, but you will find that you will have increased fitness throughout the whole of your life.

And so by the same logic, you now understand how repeatedly practising focus you will naturally improve your focus throughout your whole life.

OK................... BUT HOW DO I MEDITATE!?

I know I know, we havent gotten to the point yet, but the context above is very important, so that you understand why you are bothering and that the foundation of your practises should be to focus.

So to answer, how do you meditate? you practise Focusing.

Some people focus on a flower, counting their breaths, a candle, a mantra or a voice guiding them, but the key as we said earlier is to focus on a single thing. You can pick one of these or make something up yourself. But It should be something that conveys no emotion to you and is repeatable. If you are thinking out a holiday or journey, this is great and you probably feel relaxed but you are using too much cognitive effort to reach a true meditative state. I know that the things we suggested are boring and you find it hard, that means youre doing it right. At first, you will use more effort stopping your mind from swaying to other thoughts, so dont try to go on a journey, as it opens up massive opportunities for your mind to wander. This is the exact thing you are trying to avoid. If going on a journey is right for you, choose a guided meditation journey and focus intently on your guides words. Youtube is great for free guided meditations.

I like to focus on my breath, and recommend you do the same as a starting point. Its simple, its always there (hopefully), theres no setup like having a candle with me, and it allows me to better control my breath as part of my meditations. With deeper, more relaxed breathing you better regulate your blood pressure. The benefits just keep coming!

The point of meditation is to achieve a state where you do not think and when you get to this state it is so blissful youll want to stay here forever. Its not like dreaming, because even in dreams your mind is active with pictures, you are aiming for clarity and it will come.

Consistently thinking on one non emotional thing will improve your focus and with with it your concentration. since you cant think of two things at once (dont believe me, try it now), focusing on one thing means all the other thoughts clouding your brain dissipate. By having less to think about, you have less to worry about, this reduces stress, reducing stress improves your all round health. Are you starting to see how the simple of practising focus will fix your life?

What if I cant be bothered?

Yep, I hear you, Ive been there felt that. Its a strange one to explain, how do you say, I cant be bothered to do nothing for X amount of time? Yeah, its hard, since youre actually doing less than nothing, when youre sitting around wasting time you are at the very least stimulating your mind. But sitting there thinking about a specific thing which you have no emotional connection with or interest in is really, really boring, therefore hard. So, first of all, know youre not alone.


Here are a couple of tricks to get you started

Trick 1 - Enjoy it
Now the best way to changing any part of your life, especially doing something you dont want to do is to first change your thoughts to it.Well talk about this point a lot in our posts, but the basic premise is you have to enjoy it. Right now, you dont want to do it so you dont. But if you did want to do it. you would do it, right? Thats not a trick question, you would.

To do this, repeat to yourself often, I enjoy my meditation do it in the morning, in the evening, before your meditation, after. just do it often. You probably dont believe what you are saying, or think it sounds silly, but say it or something like it and say it often, if possible look in the mirror and say it to yourself, out loud if you can. Eventually it will sink in to your subconscious and you will believe it. and if you believe you enjoy your meditation, youll want to do it. Right?

Need motivation to meditate now?

If you really cant get motivated to meditate, tell yourself you enjoy it 10 times. still dont want to, say it another 10 times and so on. You probably wont believe it, but youll get enough push to do it today. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Trick 2 - Make it more fun
This really helped me at first, I made it into a game, not with experience points or anything just a simple challenge to give the exercise some immediate benefit. As stated above, go with focusing on your breathing as you begin as its just the simplest way. If you want to make your own challenge, dont do anything complex that will take your mind away from your point of focus.

I chose to count my breaths, starting from one id repeat, one one one.... as I breathe in and out, then two two two.... etc. focusing on my breath with the number. If my mind drifted off to anything other than my breath, id start from one again. This is great because its simple, it keeps my mind busy enough with a slight challenge and lets me see my progress over sessions. And just to put this in perspective, for me the first time I couldnt get past 3 breaths without my mind wandering off, and most of the time couldnt get through the in-breath on count 2!

Other suggestions have been counting to 10 then touching a marker or counting how long it takes to fill your lungs.

Should I listen to Music?

No.

Yeah, simple question this. Dont listen to anything you know, anything that will cause you to overly emote or make you think at all. Nothing with words or verses, not even classical. Because music stimulates your mind and encourages creative thinking. Thats counter-productive to your immediate intent. Silence is ideal, as you need to bring your mind to one focal point, silence would support this. But again, boring.

Get some ambient sounds, just do a quick google search for ambient beach or ambient forest ambient storm. and youll find numerous videos on Youtube you can stick on for background sounds. www.moodturn.com works well also

How should I sit?

This does matter, you want to be comfortable but not to the point you could drift-off to sleep, so dont lie down. Most people suggest sitting upright with your legs crossed or on your knees. I had issues with this as I got lower back pain and it was very uncomfortable. I just used a wall for support. But you want to be sitting on a flat surface, comfortably. Be upright so that your lungs can fill completely. Dont slouch, but dont be in pain either. It will be a little stiff at first but think-on and breathe into any tight areas and they will soon soothe. Some people say keep your eyes open some say closed, some say to softly gaze so you dont fall asleep, do whatever cuts out distractions. I go with eyes closed.

How long?

15 minutes, daily. Try to do much longer and you wont come back tomorrow, 10 minutes or less and you wont get near the point of being in a mediative state.

When?

Daily, Yes its ok to miss an occasional day, "occasionally" I mean like birthdays etc, but I didnt have time because Ive been at work all day then had to pick up the kids and cook tea shouldnt be a common excuse, you should be able to find 15 minutes 350+ days of the year.

After your first week of meditation, you will have already gained those daily 15 minutes back by being better at your normal routine.

In regard to time of day, well this one again depends on you, but try to keep it consistent. There are benefits to different times of day;

Morning - Great time, really sets the tone for the day not good if you struggle to rise early,
Mid Day - Good for people who have lots of meetings in a day, really squares you up for the afternoon work ahead.
Afternoon - Stressed at work? Perfect time, this will break the bond between work and home no more bringing stress home to the family.
Evening/Night - Good if you struggle sleeping, cant shut your mind down at night? now you can.

Is it working?

So you meditated yesterday but got angry at something today, meditation simply doesnt work for you..... If thats what youre thinking, sorry to say, youre wrong.

Like most exercise you are doing this mainly for the long term benefits, most of which you wont see even after theyve surfaced. But your friends and relatives will and you will probably get numerous compliments as to just how awesome you are. When you start seeing those changes you always wanted, or absentmindedness is a distant memory, you know youve truly succeeded.

Please understand that you wont feel this way at first,  but if you are sitting for 15 minutes and trying to focus on one thing, you are meditating and youre much better at it than you were yesterday when you didnt.

You will be more enlightened during your first practise, the slightest thing you learn about yourself is a benefit. When I first started, I kept complaining to myself that it isnt working, I cant focus past 3 breaths, this doesnt work. But I kept going at it occasionally until my first Ah-Ha moment. Instead of complaining how little I could concentrate, I instead saw this as a realisation. I cant focus passed 3 breaths! Thats pretty bad, and it really proved to me that meditation is something I clearly need in my life. See immediate inner enlightenment.

In the mean time a few of ways you can see benefit, Are you achieving a true meditative state?When you continue to focus on a single thing and give little or no attention to any other thoughts that come to your mind, your mind will become still, not really blank but still like water, dont try to get here, it will come and when it does you will know. it may seem weird but let it happen.

Another good way to describe this, is to imagine yourself as a mountain, unmovable and existing as nothing more than your basic form. Thoughts and other distraction are nothing more than clouds passing you by, their affect on you is so slight they hardly seem to affect you at all.

Try counting your breaths as suggested above, can your focus get to 10, 20, 50 100, a full 15 minutes without loosing count?

How are your breaths, how long does a full breath take, try extending them. 4 breaths a minute is a good aim, now try doing this consistently for 15 minutes. I know someone who can breathe in for a full count of 60 seconds and out for a full count of 60.

This will come naturally, and is very, very gradually improved, dont try holding your breath for 60 seconds, youll pass out.

How do I get Started?

And now I ask you for your credit card. No, still kidding. Weve set a series of targets for you to follow.

Stage 1: Meditate for 15 minutes once, do it today, do it now.
Stage 2: Meditate for 7 Days consecutively.
Stage 3: Meditate for 28 days consecutively.

Remember to say you enjoy your meditation every time.

By the time you get to 28 days, you will most likely have formed a habit, so its very easy to continue your practises, and if youve ben telling yourself you enjoy this practise, you will also believe it by now, enough to make you want to keep practising.

Want to keep going? Of course you do.

Can you get to a full 15 minutes without distractions, go for 20 minutes, 25, 30, an hour! Twice a day.

Now try some of the different techniques, a quick Google search will give you the details of each and youre probably leaning towards one of these by now anyway.

Key Points