Learning to Meditate: All You Need to Know

Meditation is a never ending journey and requires courage, dedication and commitment.

 THE FOUR BASICS PRINCIPLES OF MEDITATION

• Being still – in order for you to remain focused
• Comfortable – because pain or discomfort is a distraction
• Be relaxed – because body tension causes mental tension
• Stay alert – in order to maintain centrally focused

 What is meditation?

Meditation is a discipline of the mind, it allows you to focused in the moment.

Meditation occurs regularly throughout the day, however, you are probably completely unaware of this; for instance, when starring into space, when sitting on a bus or in traffic, when focusing on a butterfly, flower or object, these are all forms of mini meditations.

Basically, meditation is being in the moment and not consciously thinking of anything, yet still being aware of your surroundings.

Meditation does not necessarily have to be practised in a certain place. It can be practiced anywhere you so choose; however, it is advisable that you designate a time and place as this does help with focus and preparing yourself mentally and physically for your experience.

The Benefits

The benefits of meditation are enormous and can help with stress relief, anger issues, self-development, spiritual evolvement, not to mention aiding inner calmness, peace and compassion.

Meditation can promote health and healing, self-confidence and self-esteem issues; alongside, helping people with limited beliefs, fears and phobias.

Most importantly it allows you to be you and from a spiritual view point can help you make sense of your life, by helping you to understand your intuition, connect with your spirit guides or angels and aid you in getting in touch with your higher self.

Learning to meditate

Learning to meditate is a gradual process and it is extremely important that you take each exercise slowly and do not try to rush; you need to understand each step fully before moving onto the next. ( as you are only cheating yourself).

Once you understand the basics of meditation you will seem to begin to enjoy your mediation and find it gets easier.

However, the success of your meditation does depend on you, some sessions will be better than others; all you need to remember is not to expect too much especially in the beginning.

Even experienced meditators have disappointing days; all you need to be is patient and gentle on yourself.

Misconceptions

Many people think that meditation is about emptying the mind, this is actually impossible and you are not meant too.

In-fact, meditation is actually very much about our thoughts, it is about being aware of our thoughts but in a detached manner.

It is simply about letting your thoughts come and letting them go, all you have to do is observe your thought.

Thoughts

You see when you first begin to meditate; you will find that your thoughts may arise from nowhere and get stronger and stronger, that they go from one thought to another until your mind is completely absorbed in thoughts.

This is normal and very common and the best way to deal with it is by giving your mind something to do.

For instance; stay focused on your breathing or an object, as this re-trains your mind to stay focused. (focused on what you want your mind to do).

Now some people find that their thoughts just keep coming and they can’t stop them, making them annoyed and frustrated until they end the meditation.

This is called in meditation terms an obstacle and the first thing to do with an obstacle is to realize it is an obstacle and then dismiss it and focus back on your breathe.

Basically, each time you get caught up in a stream of thoughts, all you have to do is bring yourself very slowly back to your breathe and focus on your natural breathing rhythm.

By doing so you are overcoming your obstacle and are staying detached from your thought and are in control.

This thought patterning is a normal part of meditation and most if not all people when starting out in meditation practice encounter this thought process.

The actually name for this thought patterning is termed ‘mad monkey’ in Zen meditation. But the more you acknowledge the mad monkey (your thoughts) and re-focus on your breath, the more you stay focused and re-train your mind in a positive way and stay detached from your thoughts.

Basically, you are in control of your thoughts and they are not controlling you; no matter how difficult you find your thought to be if you persevere, acknowledge and stay focused on your breathe or object, you are doing it, you are meditating and succeeding.

Body Posture

Body posture is also another important aspect of meditation; however, it is a myth that you must sit crossed legged with palms facing up better known as the lotus position.

This position is very difficult to maintain for any period of time and when you are first learning the art of meditation it is not a wise choice to make. This position requires body suppleness and is generally for the very experienced meditator.

The best position for yourself is one that you are most comfortable with and can maintain for up to 15 minutes.

This could be sitting in a chair, lying on the settee, sitting with feet up etc, whatever position you choose, just make sure you can maintain it for 15 minutes or more.

You also need to remember that if during your mediation if you feel any discomfort, that it is OK to slightly adjust your position, if you don’t then you will find that it will take your mind of your focus, until eventually you end the session.

However, if you get an itch, try to wait about 15 seconds before itching, as this helps you to learn how to ignore and stay focused on your task.

Grounding and Protecting

The next key aspect of meditation is learning how to ground and protect before any meditation session.

Grounding and protecting, is what allows you to stay balanced between the earth plane and the spiritual realm, higher self, angelic realm etc.

People who do not ground and protect are often known to others as being away with the fairies, head in the clouds etc.

So by grounding and protecting before a meditation practice, enables you to avoid feelings of being high, drunk or dizzy after your session.

Have a go at this grounding and protecting exercise below, before you meditate and then have a go doing a meditation without the grounding and protection, perhaps you will notice a difference in yourself afterwards?

Grounding and Protecting script

Begin by making yourself comfortable and then when you are ready allow your eyes to close.

Take a deep breath and slowly exhale.

Now begin to imagine roots, just like those of a tree, a strong tree, any tree, strong roots, imagine these roots growing out the soles of your feet,  just imagine them, imagine them growing, feel them grow, feel them sprout out of the souls of your feet and grow, keep imagining them growing and growing all the way down to the floor, through the floor and into the earth, mother earth, feel your roots enter mother earth and grow deeper down, just like a tree’s, all the way down, right down all the way to the core of mother earth, feel your roots entwine with mother earth, anchoring you firmly, holding you safe and secure.

Now imagine roots growing out the top of your head, feel them sprout out of your crown and grow, grow and grow, all the way up to the universe above, up and up, growing higher and higher, until eventually they become entwined with your deity, anchoring you firmly and holding you safe and secure.

Now imagine you are looking down at your earth roots, look and see the beautiful bright white light waiting to travel up your roots from mother earth, just imagine this light, know that this light is a powerful healing light and it wants to travel up, up into your body, to your heart. Let it travel up, feel it travel upwards, through the soles of your feet and all the way up your body, until it finally reaches your heart.

This light is so powerful it can heal anything, feel it swirl and twirl inside your heart, as you continue to imagine another powerful healing light waiting to travel down from the universe, all the way down, feel it enter your crown roots and begin it’s journey down to your heart, feel it enter your crown, this powerful healing light, and travel ever downwards to your heart, all the way down, till it reaches your heart and begins to entwine with your earth light.

Feel it swirling and twirling, releasing you from all negativity and pain enjoy this moment.

And as you do just imagine a coloured bubble or a cloak of protection, imagine either engulfing your entire body. They can be any colour you choose, maybe you will choose a blue velvet cloak or a golden bubble the choice is yours. This is your protection, feel how it engulfs you, maybe your cloak has a hood that covers your head, feel the texture of your cloak, or perhaps, your coloured bubble will make you feel safe and secure, you can see out but no one can see in.

You are so safe now and protected that no one or nothing can harm you, no one can touch you, so safe, so secure, so very protected.

Now coming back to the basics of meditation another vital aspect of meditation is how you breathe.

Breathing

Breathing and posture are two of the most vital aspects of meditation and both must be right to be able to meditate successfully.

Most people don’t breath properly and have a habit of only using the top half of their lungs, so this is how to breathe properly during a meditation.

Firstly, make sure you are in your comfortable position any position that you can maintain for 15 minutes or more sitting, lying or feet up etc

Then take a deep breath in through your nose, notice how your tummy rises and falls, as you breath deeply and correctly. Now take another deep breathe and notice how your chest expands as your entire lungs fill with fresh air, hold for 3 seconds then slowly exhale, feel your lungs completely empty until you have no more breathe to exhale, continue this breathing until your body begins to relax and unwind.

This is the correct way to breathe throughout your meditation, the more you practice this breathing the more experienced you become and the more natural it becomes.

One last request, never cross any part of your body during a meditation session; as this blocks the chi (life energy) from flowing around your body and also effects your natural breathing pattern.

Journal

Keeping a journal or diary is another important aspect of meditation, as everything you experience has a meaning; however, it usually takes a few days, weeks or even month’s before you really understand what your experiences are actually trying to tell you.

You see, our experience are what we are, and when we meditate we don’t just imagine things, what is actually occurring is we are experiencing a given or hidden message from our subconscious.

These message may not mean anything at the time, but in time it helps us resolve an issue or understand ourselves better; however, before we can do this we need to learn and understand the symbolism or what we see, hear, or feel.

Basically, we need to decode our experience and make sense of the hidden message. The more you practice meditation the easier this becomes, as each piece makes more sense and our life puzzle becomes more clearer, until eventually you can decode your experience on waking from your meditation.

Now it is important to remember to write down your experience as soon as you open your eyes, write down everything, speak to no one until you have written down everything you can remember, miss nothing, it all means something.

Included how you felt, what happened, colours, smells, anything interesting, anything worrying, did you see anything, did you feel anything, did you hear anything, record everything that happened, even if you felt like you where floating around in the dark, it all means something.

Here are two exercise to get you started both will teach you the basic way to meditate and encourage you to meditate for longer periods of time, once you have mastered these techniques you will be able to go onto more in-depth visualisations and deeper meditations.

Counting the breath meditation

Begin by making yourself comfortable, then when you are ready take a deep breath and slowly close your eyes as you exhale.

Remember how to breath; fill your lungs deeply with fresh air, hold for 3 seconds, then completely empty them as you exhale.

Also remember to do your grounding and protecting exercise at this point, in order to hold you safe and secure.

Now continue to take deep breathes in through your nose, fill your lungs, hold for the count of three and then slowly exhale through your mouth.

Each deep breath helping you to unwind and let go until your body begins to relax, completely relax and unwind, notice how your natural breathing pattern takes over and how your rib cage rises and falls all by itself each time you exhale.

Relax and let go, feel yourself relaxing, unwinding, letting go of all tensions, tightness and worry.

Slow rhythmic breathing occurring all by itself.

Now as you relax and focus on your breathe; remember to try and remain as still as possible, but not motionless, as this is impossible, if you need to itch or have any discomfort, gently adjust your position, in order to maintain a comfortable position.

Now keep focused on your breath and remember to breath normally and naturally, do not attempt to control your breath in any way, just simply allow your breath to happen.

Now as you continue to focus, begin on each breathe in to count from 1 to 21, if thoughts arise let them come and let them go, just return to 1 and begin to count again.

At this point you will realize that you will probably only get to 3 or 4 before you are forced to exhale, this will increase the more you practice, so do not worry, the idea behind this meditation exercise, is to get you to breath correctly.

Continue breathing and counting for 10 minutes longer if you so wish, but do not try to push yourself too hard as you will just get frustrated and not want to practice meditation, believing it to be too hard and you can’t do it!

The following meditation consists of scanning your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes; during this exercise you may well find that your breathing becomes irregular or seems faster or slower, some people find themselves trying to control their breath, this is quite normal.

All you need to do to overcome this obstacle is remember to just listen to your breath, follow your breathe, if thoughts arise, let them come and then let them go, by going back to your breathe, there is no right or wrong way to breath, just continue to follow your breathe, let it guide you.

Now it really doesn’t matter if you are struggling to concentrate; as this is perfectly normal to start, do not punish yourself, no meditation is wrong, some meditations are easier than others the important aspect is you keep trying, don’t fall at the first hurdle, patience and perseverance will win in the end.

Healing body scan meditation

Begin by making yourself comfortable (in your chosen position) and then take a deep breathe in and slowly exhale, allowing your eyes to close at the same time.

Continue with your grounding and protecting exercise and then when you are ready begin to focus on your breathe.

Remember to take deep breathes in through your nose and out through your mouth, long deep breaths in through your nose, holding it for 3 before slowly exhaling through your mouth.

Notice how on each breathe, your breathing is slowing down, listen to your breathing, feel your natural breathing pattern, notice how your rib cage rises and falls all by itself as your body slows down and you begin to unwind, relaxing more and more with each breath you take.

Continue with this breathing for 5 minutes.

Then when you are ready begin to imagine a blue healing light, imagine this light, see it within your own minds eye.

Now imagine you are breathing in this blue healing light, imagine it enter your nostrils, feel it travel through your nostrils into your throat then down into your lungs, feel this blue healing light filling your entire body as you breathe in this magnificent blue healing light.

Feel how the blue healing light flows inside your body, smoothly and gently, around and around, flowing smoothly and gently, ridding you off all negative emotions, feelings, thoughts pain and discomfort, as it flows smoothly and gently around your inner body.

Now focus on your feet, be aware of any sensations or pain and then imagine your healing blue light is releasing that part of your body from pain or discomfort, let it float away, disperse, feel it, leaving your feet then notice how relaxed that part of your body has become, pain free and relaxed.

Now as you stay focused on your feet notice how the healing blue light is beginning to spread up from your feet and into your calves, feel it enter your knee’s swirling, healing and releasing you from pain or discomfort, tension or tightness, as it continues to flow up to your thighs, releasing you of all pain and discomfort, tension or tightness as it spreads ever upwards, healing and releasing as it spreads.

Notice how the healing blue light as begun to spread into your pelvis and buttocks, healing and releasing all unwanted tension or pain, feel how it spreads ever upwards into your tummy and how it swirls inside your tummy, relaxing and releasing unwanted knots or discomfort, what a wonderful feeling.

Allow that feeling to spread throughout your entire body, let it enter your chest area, feel how it heals your heart of all negative emotions and how it release you of tension and tightness within your chest.

Whilst, continuing to spread through out your back area, feel the healing blue light enter your lower back, spread up to your middle back before reaching your lower shoulders, notice how relaxed your back is becoming, as it swirls and heals all area’s of your back, releasing and relaxing all those muscles, every muscle within your back, healing and restoring you to wholeness.

As you relax more and more, healing you, restoring you, notice now how it has begun to enter your shoulders, feel the healing blue light enter your shoulders, then let them drop, just let them relax, don’t slump, just let them relax, relaxing and releasing all that unwanted tension and tightness.

Before spreading downwards into your arms, feel how the healing blue light, spreads down your arms, down  into your hands, before dispersing all that unwanted pain and discomfort through your finger tips.

Feel it leave your body, before focusing back on your neck area, be aware how the healing blue light enters your neck and begins it’s journey upwards, relaxing all your neck muscles, ever upwards, right up, all the way up into your jaw, let your jaw drop gently, feel your cheeks relax, and your eye line soften, notice how your forehead becomes relaxed, feel how smooth and soft your face is becoming, as the healing blue light flows around your face, feel it, let yourself relax, just let go.

Completely let go and relax, whilst, continuing to focus on your breathe, focus on how your breathing is flowing so naturally and rhythmically, in and out, listen to your breathe, listen to your heart beat, focus deeper on your breathe.

Continue for 5 minutes

Before coming back to the present and slowly opening your eyes.

Don’t forget to write down your experience in your journal all of your thoughts, your visions, your feelings.