10 Best Timer For Interval Training

Best Timer For Interval Training in 2023

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Meditation for Beginners: How to Enjoy Your Own Company

Whatever your interest in meditation, how to begin can be a very intimidating hurdle for first-timers. Here is your guide to getting started and some techniques to help keep it going.

Some people go into great detail about wearing proper attire, sitting on the proper cushions, and assuming the correct posture. While all those things can certainly contribute to the meditation experience, they are not the most important part of it. Meditation is a very personal practice. It's all about you spending time with yourself... no one else. It's a time for you to let go of the world around you and become completely free.

Proper Attire
Loose, comfortable clothing works best - sweats and a t-shirt would work well. You don't want anything tight, pinching, uncomfortable or otherwise restricting your body when you are trying to relax and clear your mind. This is especially true if you want to sit on the floor during your meditation.

Some people, however, like the idea of having "official" meditation attire. If you would like something besides basic sweatpants and t-shirt, why not consider hospital scrubs? They are readily available (you can even find them at your local Wal-Mart or K-Mart) and they even resemble the everyday working clothes of Zen monks. Another suggestion: a karate or judo uniform, called a gi.

Try to go with solid colors, preferably dark ones. Black is a common color for meditation robes. The idea is that anything bright or with busy patterns could possibly distract you from clearing your mind. Dark colors are calming, soothing, and not distracting. I wear black hospital scrubs when leading informal meditation sessions and for my own personal meditation at home.

Where and How to Sit
We've all seen the pictures of the serene figures sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, thumbs and forefingers together. This position, called the lotus position, is a very common one used for meditation. But it's not the only way.

Many people sit on the floor, or rather, on a cushion on the floor. If you'd like, you can get a zabuton (a large, rectangular cushion) and zafu (a smaller, round cushion) to sit on during meditation - but they can be expensive. For someone just starting out, you might consider a large pillow or even a thick blanket or comforter, folded up. Either would work just as well as a zafu and zabuton. You could even take one of the seat cushions from your sofa and use it to sit on the floor.

Not everyone sits on the floor, however. You can meditate just as well sitting in a chair. I suggest a straight-backed chair as opposed to a sofa or an easy chair, simply because sitting upright in a straight-backed chair will help more with concentration. If you settle into a sofa or easy chair, you might be more apt to fall asleep instead of meditate!
The traditional lotus sitting position can be difficult to master. It involves sitting cross-legged and placing each foot on top of the opposite thigh. For beginners, I suggest just sitting cross-legged, without elevating the feet into the true lotus position. Don't hunch your back forward. Try to sit up straight - thrust your chest out to help you achieve the position. This will also make it easier to breathe. If you're sitting in a chair, don't cross your legs. Place both feet on the floor. Again, don't slouch - sit up straight.

Relax the shoulders and allow the hands to fall naturally into your lap. With palms down, place your right hand on top of your left hand and touch your thumbs together very lightly - as if holding a delicate butterfly wing.

Starting the Meditation Practice
Prepare your meditation space beforehand. It should be as quiet and uncluttered as possible. Your place should be special, whether it's a whole room, a closet, a corner, or a small area of your desk. While it's not required, it may be meaningful to have a significant object present - a special statue, a flower in a vase, a picture, a tree, or whatever is important to you. It is sometimes nice to light incense, if the smell does not distract you.

Get into your meditation position and get comfortable. Breathe in and out deeply a few times and "blow out" any stress or anguish. This is a happy, peaceful time. It's time to enjoy the company of you.

Tip: Don't close your eyes while meditating. It easily leads to dozing off. Instead, either gaze at your significant object, or at the incense smoke, or cast your eyes down at about a 45 degree angle and look a spot on the wall or on the floor. Don't look around you. Tune everything else out.

Beginner Techniques
Counting 10 breaths: This practice involves clearing the mind. The object is to keep from following any thoughts that happen to come into your mind. To do this, you count your breaths. Each cycle in and out counts as one breath. Breathe in, breathe out. One (count in your head, not out loud). Breathe in, breathe out. Two. And so on. When you reach the number ten, start back at one again. It sounds deceptively easy. Here's the hard part. While you're sitting and breathing, thoughts will come to mind along with the feelings attached to them. Your challenge is not to hold on to the thoughts. If you happen to recall, for example, that your car payment is due next week, don't follow that thought with a mental rundown of all the other bills that are due. Try to "blow away" each thought with your exhale breath. If you lose count, that's OK. Just start back at one.

What do you hear?: This practice involves awareness. Again, breathe deeply and naturally. Then, try to pick out all the different sounds you hear, slowly, one by one. See how many different sounds you can discern, however faint. Don't attach any emotion to the sound and don't start thinking about the sound, where it came from, what's happening, etc. Simply hear the sound... and nothing else.

Breathing in a circle: This is another exercise to clear the mind. This time, all you will do is concentrate on your breathing, without counting. Breathing through your nose, imagine that you are breathing in through one nostril and breathing out through another - that the air is making a circular path. Keep on with this exercise until you begin to actually feel yourself breathing in through one nostril and out through the other.

Focus word/phrase: This is a concentration exercise. Think of a word or phrase that is meaningful to you. It could be a short prayer or a word such as "peace." Chant this word or phrase in your head with each exhale breath.

How Long to Meditate
As far as how long you should meditate, it's really up to you. I suggest starting off small and gradually working up to longer sessions. 10 minutes is plenty for a beginning session. A good rule of thumb: if your foot falls asleep, it's time to stop. If you find that your thoughts are wandering too much and you're having to fight to stay focused, then stop. Take a break. Try it again later. Don't beat yourself up if you can't sit for very long at first. Meditation is a practice that sometimes takes many years to perfect. Don't give up.

At first, much of this may seem strange to you. It does take some time to get used to sitting in meditation. The rewards, however, are immeasurable. As you continue in your meditation practice, you will find that your patience grows. Your stress levels decrease. Thoughts and ideas become clearer and easier to manage. Life in general begins to make more sense.

Meditation can be a wonderful way to balance your life and rejuvenate yourself. May your meditation practice bring you serenity and peace.