I’ve been meditating regularly for the past few years, with tremendous improvements in my ability to focus and whenever someone asks me how they should start out in meditating, I tell them to just sit still.
Try to meditate every day – it is just like walking, running, strength training, yoga, learning a new language – whatever the skill – it will take practice. If you can dedicate time to the practice, you will find meditating to be relaxing and at times magical.
It does take time for you to see results. Usually in a couple of weeks, you’ll notice that you’re not ‘sweating the small stuff’ and after a few months you’ll create a lifestyle and habitual changes that will lead to long term results in aligning your life journey with your soul’s intention. Whether that be focusing more on being present with your family, being more aware of your health decisions or reprioritising what is important to you. These may seem small; however they create big impacts in your direction in life and the biggest thing is it changes the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ we do things.
Now I’m not saying that you’re going to end up running away to some mountains and start being a monk, you will still be the same person but your soul and your outlook on life will have had an ‘upgrade’.
Firstly: Take it slowly. Your mind needs time to adapt to meditation and if you go ‘too hard’ at the start you may place meditation into the ‘too hard’ basket or simply not be able to keep a regular routine. While I’m not a meditation teacher, I have found that incrementally increasing the amount of time you meditate was a great way to ease myself into it. And you will know within yourself if you want to take it up a notch or if you want to keep doing what you’re doing. I started off doing 15 minutes daily and did that for many months and have only recently increased it to 45 minutes. On days that I didn’t meditate for at least 15 minutes, I would make sure I would meditate even for 1 minute! That small notion made sure I kept creating a good habit.
Secondly: Train your brain to let go of searching for familiar thought patterns such as over thinking, analysing and wondering if you’re doing it right. You want to train your brain to let go of expectations, to simply be still and if you do have those thoughts to come back to your breath or perhaps directing your energy to a certain part of your body. Keep bringing your attention back to your meditation, no matter how many times you mind wanders – it is this practice that will increase your power of focus which is essential in this ‘Age of Distractions’.
Thirdly: Reduce ‘outer-world’ distractions. Meditation is time to go within and sense the energy within your body. To start off with you want to sit somewhere quietly with no one around, sit comfortably and reduce sensory interactions. Close your eyes, if you have sounds that you may find distracting then perhaps use your headphones to play meditative music or use guided mediations. I know that means you’re still hearing things, however at least it’s relaxing and filled with intention rather than distraction. If your room has smells that you don’t like, then remove them or use some essential oils. As you progress your practice you may be able to sit there even with a few distractions, however to start off with – eliminate distractions completely.
If you liked this blog, please share it. I’d appreciate it : D