A Beginner's Guide to Meditation: Techniques and Benefits
7 Techniques to Make Meditation a Habit
Over the years, meditation has increasingly evolved into one of the most transformative practices. Practically everywhere you look, there’s some mention of its benefits. From mediation apps and programs, the list literally and figuratively goes on.
It has become so widespread that you can access it via various in-flight meditation platforms. Only very few resources address (the elephant in the room) the wave of mental chatter and constant thoughts that will likely arise when you close your eyes.
Despite your best intentions, dropping into the practice will trigger a swirl of unrelenting mental activity that will likely make relatively new practitioners believe they are doing it all wrong. Suppose one is relatively new to the practice. In that case, it’s a commonplace to believe that practice may not be an ideal fit simply because assuming the outward look of meditation differs from experiencing all the unpredictable mental chatter that arises in practice.
If you, by chance, have found yourself wondering WTF it means to practice and how one is supposed to know if they are doing it right, you are not alone. This piece will delve into the techniques and benefits of meditation.
Mindful Awareness
Meditation is the practice of going within to pay undistractable attention to all that is taking place on a moment-by-moment basis. At any given time, our attention is simultaneously dispersed in many different directions, all at the same dam time (i.e., multitasking). According to societal norms, multitasking is a celebrated skill set that signifies agility and productivity, some of the most sought-after essential career skills. In every sense of the word, we as a collective spend excessive time residing in every other tense (past and future) but the present.
We’re either juggling parental responsibilities or attending to our many responsibilities and obligations while working to steer clear of burnout as we do everything possible to maintain some semblance of work-life balance. Even showering leaves space for excessive thinking and contemplation. If left to our own devices, there is little to no time to reclaim control over where we’re placing our attention. By being in a perpetual state of constant doing, we reside more in our heads than in the present moment.
This raises an interesting question, what does it mean to be in the present? So glad you asked. At any given time, variable sensations, feelings, emotions, and the like constantly occur within our physical bodies. The more attentive we are to the external activities and actions outside of ourselves, the less available we are to experience all that flows in, as, and through our awareness.
Why Meditation?
Meditation is paying indestructible attention to all that is unfolding on a moment-by-moment basis. Thanks to the invariable distractions competing for our attention, it is often easier said than done. Most are familiar with the idealized meditative postures and positioning; however, beyond the poised postures, meditation is achieved by settling both the mind and body into a calm state. The practice calls us to pull our attention away from the many things that may distract us from residing in the present.
One would think that simply being able to focus on any particular task equates with being in the present. However, the key to residing in the present moment lies in calming both the mind and body, closing our awareness to all outside of us, and objectively observing all unfolding within the scope of our attention without judgment or attachment to a preferred outcome.
Observation empowers you to transition from identifying your thoughts, beliefs, actions, fears, worries, and anxieties to merely observing and accepting them as something passing through your awareness. Much like the clouds that pass through the sky, our thoughts flow through our awareness similarly. If you observe and accept each moment as it unfolds, without trying to change, force, resist, suppress, or identify with what is passing through, it will simply pass through your awareness unencumbered. When holding on to the things that cause discomfort, we interfere with them freely, passing through our awareness and creating suffering. In essence, what we resist persists. In other words, the more we replay thoughts of discomforting experiences, the more we regulate ourselves to live in the past. Releasing judgment and accepting all that passes through our awareness frees us to reside within the present.
So how do we close our awareness to all that surrounds us? So glad you asked; the key is to direct and lower the gaze to the tip of your nose or close your eyes. Lowering the gaze disrupts and blurs our visual focus, making it much harder to focus on anything outside ourselves. At the same time, closing our eyes to the external world frees us to redirect our awareness instantly.
To indeed center our awareness in the present, we must focus on the very functionality that can only occur in the present, the breath. Unlike thoughts and mental chatter, we cannot thrust our breath into any other tense but the present. With each passing moment, life forces energy fuses with the breath as it courses through our bodies, supplying us with all the essential elements to sustain us to thrive. This functionality is perpetually unfolding every second of the day. Only it goes unnoticed as we are often unaware of all occurring within us. When we redirect our awareness, it empowers us to reacquaint ourselves with all that is happening within. The breath can only occur in the present, not the future or the past.
The mind and body are synchronously interconnected. For every active physical movement, the mind likewise busies itself with mental activity. The busier the body, the more the mind occupies itself with mental chatter. Do you ever notice how preoccupied you are with doing anything you can to remain productive? All the while, you feel more consumed with increasing stress as you contemplate the increasing number of things you have yet to accomplish. This increases stress, anxiety, fear, and every other feeling and emotion that brings your worthiness into question. Regardless of what outside forces may lead you to believe, you were born enough, you are enough, always have been, and always will be.
7 Techniques to Make Meditation a Habit
1. Increase Awareness
Every day some people and things persistently rally for our attention. Whether work, family, relationships, responsibilities, or obligations, it will always seem as if our awareness is better suited to anything other than ourselves. As if contorting ourselves to fit others’ perceptions and expectations of who we are, takes priority over ourselves.
Tuning in to what we experience within each moment increases our self-awareness of what is passing through. Meditation supplies us with the space to journey within to observe all that is actively flowing through our awareness, releasing judgment and accepting all that is observed as is. At the same time, mindfulness empowers us to extend this practice into our day-to-day lives beyond solely residing in the inner spaciousness of our consciousness of practice. Mindfulness equips us to present with walking, exercise, working, menial tasks, and every other thing we do.
2. Sit in the Silence
Listening goes beyond merely using our ears to hear. Our mind, body, and spirit are constantly communicating with us. We just must tune in to what it’s calling for us to do. This message will likely come by way of our intuition as it guides us to our highest good. If a feeling arises that you must rest, do less, or designate time for yourself, listen.
3. Observe the Breath
The breath is an ever-present facility that continuously merges with life-force energy to support us to live and thrive. Unlike the waywardness of our thoughts, the breath can only reside within the present. We are rooting our awareness within its every present flow roots us within the present moment. Allow yourself to sit within the calm stillness and observe the breath without force.
4. Accept What Is
Our minds are in a persistent state of action and activity, replaying past events and experiences at will. Of which there will likely be experiences that you’d rather forget. Thoughts and memories are infused with vibrational frequencies that can either increase or decrease our energetic frequency; making must harder to objectively observe all that flows through our experience.
5. Release Any Guilt
Naturally, there are countless things that you can release. However, whenever you experience difficulty, there will likely be times when your experience feels too overwhelming to find an ounce of mental fortitude to engage in the practice. Guilt will likely follow, as with most things that misalign with what we believe we should feel.
Anytime you feel guilt arising, allow grace and release any feelings of guilt. As with the clouds that float across the sky, any number of things will cross through your awareness that can make you feel guilty. There will be seasons where life is not all rainbows and butterflies as we experience the ebbs and flows of life. Know that it is ok to miss the mark and experience feelings that may not feel comfortable. Permit yourself to release guilt as often as needed, and know this is precisely why it’s a practice.
6. Forgive Yourself
Forgiveness is a practice that is primarily reserved and emphasized as something we should do for others. However, forgiveness first begins with the self. Sometimes, your vantage point is so clouded by the density of life that it may become challenging not to center blame and guilt on oneself.
Know that beyond every experience lies a lesson. As we grow and evolve, we will make mistakes along the way. Release any feelings of guilt, blame, or shame, permit yourself to forgive yourself, and allow yourself to begin again.
7. Let Go of Comparision
You are a divine emanation of the Divine. In other words, you are a spiritual being having a human incarnation. Therefore, you are a unique individualized expression. Hence there is none other quite like you. You are an incomparable being. Likewise, each person’s journey to meditation is unique. No matter how similar two paths may seem, one cannot always peer beneath the surface to observe all that lies beneath the surface. Permit yourself to traverse your path at your own pace.
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