Meditation tips for beginners: where to start

Meditating is a very positive relaxation exercise to connect with your unconscious side to treat different problems of anxiety, fear, or stress, let the conscious side rest and see life more positively. Although the meditation process is simple, it is not so simple to detach yourself from your conscious side to have a pleasant meditation session.

Meditation techniques are as diverse as yoga styles or cake recipes. It is dependent on the individual's preferences, wants, and expectations. Meditation is a very personal and intimate activity that is lived.

To begin with, you should know that meditating requires dedication, discipline, and regularity, it cannot be a punctual practice. The brain, like any other sport, can be taught in areas such as mental calculation, memory, focus, and, for those of us who are interested, tranquility. 

Meditation isn't about having a blank mind; it's about retaining your attention in the current moment and not getting caught up in thoughts. You must be patient because it is a long learning process, but satisfactory from the first sessions.

Facts about meditation 

Starting to meditate is a decision that will improve your well-being, since it can help you in processes such as relaxation, raising awareness, and focusing your attention, among many other benefits. They are techniques designed to generate a change of consciousness, satisfaction, and tranquility in each area of your life. 

Some key facts to know about meditation are:

• There are different types of meditation;

• The contribution that meditation has to health is scientifically proven;

• Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years in cultures all over the world; 

• Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have a history of using meditative practices; and

• It is used for religious purposes as well as therapeutic, mental, and psychological purposes. 

If you want to learn how to meditate correctly, this meditation guide for beginners will help you find the easiest way. In this way, you can acquire the benefits of this ancient technique.  

Beginners’ Meditation tips 

Learning to meditate requires techniques that make the practice a very enjoyable exercise, if you want to meditate to heal your anxiety, focus your attention, calm your thoughts, and have wellbeing in your life, but you are a beginner, try to practice the following techniques at least five minutes a day and increase when you feel safer. 

Here are some easy tips and tricks that will help you start meditating. You will surely love to try this simple and effective relaxation technique. 

1. Be aware of your breath

Mindfulness meditation proposes breathing as one of its pillars, this technique is the most common and basic for the development of meditative practice.  As a beginner, it is advisable to start with it, as it will aid concentration and easy to practice.

When you start to meditate, you may realize that your mind has a thousand thoughts per hour and despite doing breathing exercises, you cannot concentrate easily; this is a normal situation that will improve with a lot of practice.

Meditation for beginners proposes easy techniques for you to learn how to do it:

• Place your hands on your chest, on your heart;

• Close your eyes; 

• Inhale and exhale for 10 seconds;

• Feel how the breath moves through your lungs and how your chest rises and falls as you breathe;

• On the exhalation let the air out through your mouth, and

• Repeat as many times as you deem necessary. 

Being mindful only of your breath is the best meditation technique for beginners and the right exercise to meditate at home, in your office, on public transport, or anywhere else will help you calm your mind and over time you will notice the difference.

It doesn't matter if you get distracted in the practice, come back to it, mindful breathing is a fast track to bring your attention to the single act of breathing, allowing you to relax and clear your mind with meditation.

2. Apply sound meditation

The question about the best way to meditate is frequently asked and there are quite a few answers, there are many techniques that you can use in meditation for beginners depending on your tastes and what is easier for you.

Therefore, if you want to meditate to start your day with purpose, you are one click away from doing it.   Choose the music that you want to start your meditation, the one that allows you to immerse yourself in the sounds, we recommend nature music, ambient music, relaxing music, and preferably instrumental music to avoid distractions. 

How to do it? Close your eyes and listen carefully. For example, each little bird singing, how the waterfalls or how the trees move their branches, concentrate on the music and it will help you create a harmonious mental state, as you practice it you will notice how you are more aware of those sounds that you omit during the day because of a mind occupied by thoughts.    

3. Meditate walking mindfully

In meditation for beginners, mindful walking or walking meditation is one of the most common meditative practices. If you want to start this practice, we recommend that you carry it out in quiet places and without many stimuli, in this way, you will be able to fulfill your task without problems.

Walking is one of the most common activities in daily human life, so this meditation technique will be very easy for you. To start meditating we recommend that you try “walking meditation” for a week or two and then add a regular sitting meditation practice, perhaps with the breathing technique. Learn to alternate between both types of meditation as your possibilities allow. 

How to meditate while walking?

Walking meditation is simply walking with attention, some ways to do it are: 

• Count your steps the same way you did in the breath approach;

• Walk paying attention to your surroundings, applying the mindfulness tips that we mentioned in the basic foundations of mindfulness blog;

• Walkthrough a forest, discover the path, connect with the earth, pay attention to your body, nature, your breath, and

• Try following your steps, how your foot lifts off the ground, you bend your leg and then swing it, walk slowly and if you can, synchronize each step with your breath. 

4. Scan your body in meditation

Meditating with the fundamentals of mindfulness is basic in meditation for beginners and one of the most important in the practice. Mindfulness seeks to get in touch with your whole body and be aware of all the sensations at specific times. 

If this technique is used for the body, you will find that the body scan will help you become aware of heat, pain, happiness, tiredness, and all the sensations that your body and mind can perceive. 

If you want to start meditating with the scan of your body and realize what happens inside it, you should know that this scan carried out through mindfulness will lead you to become aware of possible shortcomings, illnesses, and tensions. to which you do not always pay attention and can complicate your life.  It can also help you fall asleep or rest better while you sleep.

You can do it in the following way: 

• Get comfy, preferably with your eyes closed; it can be sitting or lying down, in any way you wish to be comfortable;

• Take a few deep breaths, inhale and exhale gently, feeling how your chest and abdomen contract, and concentrate on that movement;

• With the breath going, bring your attention to your feet and notice how they currently feel, for example, if they are tired or sore, you can start head to toe or head to toe; 

• Identify what each part of your body feels, and scan each area in the direction you chose, if you feel pain or discomfort focus your attention on it, then continue with the whole body, this will help you release any tension you feel. 

5. Apply loving meditation

The loving-kindness technique is important in meditation for beginners, as it is very easy to execute and generates a lot of awareness in the practice, it is about "opening your heart" and cultivating love and compassion for yourself and others.

How do you do it?   

• Make a picture of the person in your mind;

• Generate feelings of love;

• Imagine sending these feelings to that person and visualize how love grows within you, and

• Transfer everything positive you created to the people you chose. 

Send positive thoughts or wishes for yourself and others, this means that it is enough to think what you wish for others and to cultivate loving-kindness. If you have trouble thinking of specific words for others, or yourself, start with mantras and spend three minutes on each one. 

In the second stage, try to imagine beautiful scenarios to instill the love and peace that is within you. The order in which you should send this love through your thoughts is, first to yourself, then to someone you respect or love deeply, be it a friend or family member, someone neutral, or someone you don't feel anything in particular for, and finally, take your positive feelings to all beings in the world.

Tips to perfect meditation for beginners

In meditation for beginners, although there are many different ways to meditate, practicing them all will allow you to decide the one that best suits your routine, some tips to meditate correctly, regardless of the technique you choose, are:

• Choose a peaceful, distraction-free location. If you're going to do it with music, make sure it's quiet; 

• Set aside a specific amount of time to meditate. If you are a beginner, start with 5 or 10 minutes;

• Meditate in a comfortable place and position, and pay attention to your body and how it behaves the first few times, this will help you find the best way to meditate, sitting, lying down, or walking;

• Focus on your breath, feel your chest, and belly rise and fall in rhythm with your inhalation and exhalation, and

• Watch your thoughts and never judge if you have too many or can't concentrate, if so, let them flow. The purpose of meditation is not to clear your mind, because it will inevitably wander, therefore, to "not think about them" and focus your attention on an object, on your body, or your breath. 

Learn about other keys and methods, and check out our amazing products in our store at Pink Is In.