Meditation Tips for Beginners

Many new meditators have trouble maintaining a regular practice. This is completely normal to feel discomfort and frustration with the beginning phases of mediation. You’re learning a new skill, so the mind will often resist this by coming up with an excuse such as boredom, doubt, and restlessness. The following meditation tips will help you work through common challenges that many beginners encounter!

Tips BEFORE your meditation:

1)    Start early

2)    Same time, same place

3)    Get creative about location

4)    Don’t sit crossed legged if you don’t want to

5)    Find the best position for you

Tips DURING meditation:

1)    Breathe naturally

2)    Get comfortable with discomfort

3)    Take mindfulness with you

Tips AFTER meditation:

1)    Take a moment and check in with yourself

2)    Remind yourself the benefits of meditation

3)    Get a friend to start meditating with you

Don’t judge! It may be easy to judge each of your meditation experiences as good, bad, or wondering if you are ‘improving.’ It’s important to remember that meditation is a non-linear journey. Meditation just needs to be experienced, to judge it, misses the point of it. The actual purpose with meditation is to understand the nature of the mind. It is not about emptying the mind but looking into it!

References

Headspace.com