Over the years, meditation has increasingly evolved into one of the most transformative practices, with some mention of its benefits everywhere you look. Its benefits have been extensively studied and well documented, from decreased blood pressure, stress, anxiety, and fatigue to practically every other measure signaling the body’s improved stress response.
Only a few guides delve into what one will likely experience once you drop into practice or address the elephant in the room, which comes as waves of mental chatter and constant thoughts that will arise when one closes their eyes.
If you, by chance, have found yourself wondering what it means to practice, what to expect, and how to know if you are doing it right, If this resonates in the least bit, you are not alone. This piece will outline a step-by-step guide to increasing the beginners’ awareness of what they will likely encounter in practice.
Meditation Demystified
The practice itself can bring to mind any number of postures and stances that is liable to bring about many connotations that elude to embodying a sense of peace, serenity, and tranquility.
With every closed eye, a serene and intentional posture can lead one to outwardly perceive the experience as anything but all that is liable to begin to unfold the moment one closes their eyes.
The truth is, from the moment one closes their awareness to the external world, it opens your awareness to the persistent mental chatter that has been lessened by the constant thoughts that have been silenced by the busyness of each day.
Practically everywhere you look, just about everyone’s awareness is overtaken by distractions. From social media alarm notifications, text messages, app alerts, podcasts, YouTube, and so much more, we as a human race are constantly on the go, persistently doing and doing until we literally and figuratively have no more to give (i.e., burnout).
The drive to persistently go, go, go is liable to throw us for a loop whenever we redirect our attention from the outer world to go within. This can spark many thoughts, feelings, and emotions, calling one to question why they even opted into practice in the first place.
After all, no idealized image of an individual in practice resembles anything that remotely comes close to the wave of uncertainty that arises when one drops into practice. On a side note, dropping into practice is widely used to outline transitioning into another field of awareness.
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). As a collective, multitasking is a valued skill set that signifies enhanced 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, as we’re juggling multiple tasks by attending to our many responsibilities and obligations, all the while working to steer clear of burnout as we do everything we can to maintain some semblance of work-life balance.
This is a tiny glimpse into the many random things we can simultaneously have going on at any given time. 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. Likewise, by persistently being in a perpetual state of constant doing, we reside more in our imaginations (aka our heads) than in the present moment.
Our attention is often so dispersed that it’s a commonplace for our minds to live in our imagination, with our attention bouncing anywhere from the past, back to the future, and back again, all in one fell swoop. We’ve become so accustomed to living in our heads that any attempt to journey within and sit in practice is met with a flood of distracting mental activity that steals our attention away from our intended focus.
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 internal and external distractions, the less available we are to experience all that flows through our awareness.
Why Meditation?
The practice calls us to pull our attention away from the many things that 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 is calming both the mind and body by closing our awareness to all outside our intention. Meditation calls us to go within and objectively observe all that flows through the lens of our attention without judgment or attachment to a preferred outcome.
Nonjudgemental observation empowers one to transition from identifying with your thoughts, beliefs, actions, fears, worries, and anxieties to merely observing and accepting it as is. 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 by creating suffering. In essence, what we resist persists. In other words, the more we internalize and replay discomforting thoughts, 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 either close your eyes or direct and lower the gaze to the tip of your nose. Lowering the gaze disrupts and blurs our visual focus making it that 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 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 to fuse 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. Redirecting our awareness empowers us to reacquaint ourselves with all occurring within. The breath can only happen 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 many 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.
You Are More Than Enough
The fear and pain that comes from observing ourselves lie within the misperception that we are not enough as we are and there is always something that needs to be improved. Self-help books echo this widely held societal belief that something is verbally lacking within us and that the only way to evolve (aka better ourselves) is to seek guidance from outside sources (aka self-help books). This category reaffirms the misconception of self-insufficiency, implying that one is inherently not enough as is. Likewise, it furthers the gap between where we are and where we aspire to be, leaving one to strive to arrive at a perceived better future.
As spiritual beings having a human experience, we are all one with the universal consciousness. We are all connected, as there is no separation. From the moment we entered this incarnation, we were already loaded and encoded with everything we could ever need, as the only limitations are the ones we hold in consciousness. Believe in lack, limitation, and inherent suffering, or that life is a prevailing field of infinite possibilities, with all your needs met, and you manifest a future that is true to your beliefs.
Despite what the world of appearances may affirm, there are no inherent limitations besides what we may impart upon ourselves. Nothing can be added or improved to what is already perfect (your spiritual self), only an unveiling and accepting of our true selves (inherent power). One can be supported and guided by books, resources, retreats, spiritual guides, helpers, and mentors to connect and reveal their highest good. However, the term self-help is a misnomer, as your power is solely sourced from within rather than the other way around.
The Nature of Distractions
Despite one’s best intentions, dropping into the practice for beginners can surprisingly trigger a swirl of unrelenting mental activity that will likely make new and experienced practitioners alike believe they are doing it all wrong. Understandably, it is common to believe that practice may not be an ideal fit simply because assuming the outward look of meditation differs from experiencing all that will likely arise once one drops into practice.
Within our day-to-day lives, we are immersed in the three-dimensional world, which is exclusively experienced by our senses. From hearing, touch, vision, and smell, each of our senses interconnects us to the physical plane. Inherently the moment one redirects their senses to the inner world, it throughs the mind into a tailspin, as this is entirely uncharted territory. So naturally, one’s mind responds by reverting to old habitual patterns that have become so ingrained in the central nervous system that the body does what it does on a day-to-day basis, rehash all it has consumed, by recycling the same thought patterns time and time again.
The only difference is that when you practice, you rest in your natural state of being and not in the usual form of doing, where you simultaneously engage in multiple distracting activities (i.e., multitasking). In other words, the mind and body perpetually engage in the same patterned behavior day in and day out; only the moment you flip the script (i.e., change things up), the body doesn’t know the difference until you change the program. Hence, if one changes their inner programming, they change their life.
8 Easy Steps to Meditate for Beginners
1. Just Do It
Despite anything that you may have been led to believe, forming a meditation practice doesn’t happen overnight. Likewise, in the words of Nike’s world-famous tagline, “Just Do It.” We have collectively been conditioned to believe that there is a right and a wrong way to do practically everything; as we are increasingly acclimated to an err on the side of caution, being attentive to ensure that we do everything in our power to do things the “right way.”. Regarding meditation, there is no duality, only universal principles, and laws. Hence there is no right or wrong, or good or bad practice.
Thankfully, this frees you to release yourself from any limitations that make you feel obligated to mirror your practice after others when it may not fit your individualized needs. Permit yourself to remain open, available, and receptive to exploring different modes of practice, taking what resonates and leaving the rest until you form a customized practice tailored to meet you exactly where you are in your journey. Know that this practice is static as it evolves as you continue to grow and unfold to higher heights.
2. Go Beyond the Silence
Assume a posture that empowers you to close your attention to outside distractions. Select an approach that allows you to feel the most at ease. Whether you elect to close your eyes or lower your gaze, closing your awareness to distractions supports one to go within.
Beyond merely sitting in silence lies myriad random thoughts that can hijack our attention into a downward swirl of mental chatter. Hence the more thoughts we think, the more disconnected we are from the present moment. Feel into the quiet silence that emanates from being in the stillness by redirecting the flow of thoughts by bringing your awareness back to the breath as often as needed.
3. Anchor Your Awareness in the Now
Contrary to popular belief, meditation does not require you to cease the flow of thought. Admit-tingly, it would make dropping into meditation a whole lot easier. However, the mind doesn’t quite work that way, as it does the opposite. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. Likewise, the faster you stop thoughts' rapid flow, the quicker they will flow. In other words, the harder you try to cease its flow, the more forceful it becomes as it rapidly fires one after another until we reclaim volition over our attention.
Understandably this can quickly leave one to wonder what they got themselves into. As spiritual beings having a human incarnation, we control where we direct our attention. Hence our power lies in our ability to shift our attention onto the things that can solely occur within the now moment.
Likewise, the breath is one of the faculties that can only happen within the present—focusing your awareness on the natural rhythm and flow of the breath roots your awareness within the now. When you find your attention drifting, be gracious with yourself by releasing any judgment and redirecting your attention back home to the breath as many times as needed.
3. Acknowledge Any Uncertainty
Anytime you set out to something entirely outside of the norm, the mind will do what the mind does best, fall into old habits. In the case of the mind, within moments of lowering your gaze or closing your eyes, the reason will engage in constant mental chatter, recycling old thought patterns that revert your attention to the past or an unknown future at will.
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 it much harder to objectively observe all that flows through our experience.
5. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
Interestingly, the mind can take on a mind of its own, as it often has thoughts about what we think, feel, and experience. In the case of meditation, thoughts will likely arise that question practically everything you experience. You can have an inner dialogue that can fire off questions, one after another, about why you even believed that you could practice meditation in the first place.
This is the ego’s attempt to rehash every possible barrier to practice, to get you to return to old habits. Hence every time you notice your awareness is in the throws of reverting old habits, bring your attention back to the present moment (aka an inherent faculty that solely resides within the present moment).
6. Non-Judgement
For many of us, self-judgment has evolved into something that has become second nature. Therefore, non-judgment is far from automatic, meaning it requires conscious effort. Habits occur as a result of deliberate, consistent practice and effort.
Therefore, anytime your mind strays during meditation and your experiences don't align with your intention, please release any judgment and redirect your attention back onto your intended focus (i.e., the breath).
7. Embrace A Beginners Mind
As a collective, we are conditioned to use our past as a frame of reference to judge and project our future. Likewise, we can carry this habit well into our meditation practice as we judge, compare, and contrast our experiences to the past. If one has a practice where one spends what feels like an excessive amount of redirecting their attention away from distractions and onto the breath for the entirety of the practice, it can feel like a hopeless task. You can begin right where you are with an open, receptive willingness to experience each session for the first time, regardless of your fear, apprehension, or other limiting beliefs that may threaten to derail your efforts.
8. Begin Again
Mediation intends to root ourselves within the present moment. During meditation, whenever we notice that our attention has shifted away from our intended focus, we can return it to our intended focus as many times as needed and begin again.
If you want to expand your mindfulness practice in a virtual community of like-minded individuals, join our Mindfulness Community Circle for twice-weekly live facilitated mindfulness sessions. We’d love to have you join our rapidly growing global community.
Sign up for your free 7-day trial today.