September 29th
David Peachment
How to Meditate for Beginners
The topic of meditation is a long and extensive one. There are countless books, studies, and articles covering the topic. I have even written a couple of blog posts about it and mindfulness before. If you want to read about mindfulness, click HERE. Meditation and mindfulness have tons of benefits, ranging from destressing to improved concentration. Since I have also written about the benefits before, I won’t go into much detail about them. But if you are curious about meditation’s benefits and how they can help your life, click HERE.
In this blog post, I want to delve into a couple of techniques and strategies for meditating. They are pretty basic, but as such, they are super easy to do and can be done anywhere! But why should you meditate, to begin with?
Why Meditate?
As I have mentioned previously, I already wrote a blog post about the benefits of meditation. I’ll briefly cover them but keep it short since you can dive into more details on the other post. Some of these fantastic benefits include improving your mental clarity, releasing stress from the body, gearing your mind towards your and others’ wellbeing, and countless other positives. One of my favourites that I experience every time is a general peace of mind. I always feel so calm after meditating for even ten minutes! It’s a great way to break up the day and feels fantastic when my mind is racing. Whenever I get agitated by anything that happens, I often take just a few minutes out of my day to briefly meditate and return my mind to calmness. Studies have even shown that meditating regularly for several weeks can actually change the chemistry of your brain for the better! Even if you aren’t sure if meditation is for you, I encourage you to give it a try for a bit and see how you feel over time!
The Body Scan
But now you are probably wondering how can I meditate? Well, let me describe a tried-and-true method that can be done anywhere by anyone. It is by no means an advanced technique, but it is an excellent starter method. It’s called the Body Scan.
First, make yourself comfortable. Lie down or sit in a comfortable position. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply. Feel each breath going in and out of your body. Feel it flow from your lungs, through your throat, and out of your nose. Slowly close your eyes and continue breathing. After doing that for a minute, begin to become aware of the sensations in your body and how each and every aspect feels right now. While continuing to feel every breath, you are now going to do a body scan. Start at the bottom of your body, your toes. Bring awareness to the sensations they are feeling right now. The way the muscles are tensed or loose. The feeling of contact between your toes and your sock or floor. Is there any tension there? Breathe deeply again and focus on releasing that tension. Next, move up the body into the foot, and bring your awareness to the sensations of the foot. Continue on with your legs, stomach, chest, and so on until you have covered the entire body. Each time you focus on a section of your body, feel the sensations and work to eliminate any stress from it. Once you are finished, take a few minutes to take a few deep breaths and be aware of the body as a whole. What is your entire body feeling right now? What are the sensations it’s experiencing? When you are finished, slowly open your eyes and return to the world.
That is the Body Scan in a nutshell. Pretty straightforward and basic, just taking a few minutes to relax and focus on what the body is feeling. Let go of any tension and negative emotions.
Duration
At this point, you might be wondering, how long should I do this? How long should each session be, and how long should I keep doing it? The answer, of course, will vary from person to person. But a good rule of thumb is to start by five to ten minutes each session. This will give you enough time to get into a meditative state without straining yourself the first few times you try. And as far as how long to keep doing it for, I suggest every day for two or three weeks. This should give you enough time to start seeing some of the benefits, and it will provide you with an accurate idea for if you want to continue practicing it!
I hope this blog post has given you a decent idea about how to meditate for beginners and given you a little direction as well. Please give it a try for a little while and see how it can help you improve your life in general!
Until next time,
David Peachment
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