Meditation. They say it’s the key to spiritual development. But how do you even begin? It sounds theoretically easy, sitting down, quieting the mind and sitting in stillness for 30 mins. But the reality, when starting out it’s more like trying to get a toddler to go to bed after consuming a ton of sugar. Our brains are so overstimulated by the dumping of information everywhere 24/7, that it’s become increasingly difficult to settle the mind down. A hundred years ago, it may have been a bit easier to just sit down and think about nothing or at least focus on one thing at a time. So how does someone start to meditate in a noisy world that promotes continuous productiveness and not aimless wondering and drifting?
Start slow and in small increments. First, gauge where you are on the addicted to screens and distractions scale. Do you at any point during the day take a break from a screen? TV, computer, tablet, phone, etc. If you don’t you’re going to need more patience. If you’re someone that on a daily basis eats a meal in silence, goes on a walk without distractions, or allows their mind to drift away and day dream, it might come a little easier. You’re not aiming to be without technology altogether, we still live in a modern world, but finding a balance where you aren’t reaching for it to fill the silence.
If you’re starting from a point of screen addiction, it could be easier to start with a movement meditation like walking. Try eating a meal in silence with no distractions or going on a walk and the only company you have is yourself. If you want to start out by sitting or lying down, try small increments. Sitting for 5 mins a day with nothing in front of you. You by yourself and your thoughts. It will probably be pure agony, like a child being put in timeout and waiting to be set free. If you can do 5 mins a day every day and then continue to extend the time a bit longer it becomes easier, then you’ll be able to ease into meditation.
Once you’ve established you can sit alone with yourself, then you can experiment with what types of meditation you enjoy and help your mind focus.
- Guided Meditation
- Free Flow Meditation
- Movement Meditation
- Repetitive Tasks
Guided Meditation
Guided meditation is great for starting out, because it allows someone to help guide your mind on what it’s supposed to be focusing on instead of all of the pressure falling on you to wrangle it. Insight Timer is a great free app for finding meditations. They provide guided and unguided meditations.
In a guided mediation, the narrator will lead you through a serene picture as they paint the landscape for you and tell you what you’re seeing and how you should be breathing. They may also do a body scan, which involves bringing awareness to each individual body part and allows you to get out of your head. It’s finding what you like and connect to.
Examples of Guided Meditation:
- Body Scan.
- Chakra Cleansing & Alignment.
- Devotional, focusing on a divine entity.
- Connect with your Spirit Guides.
- Connect with your Inner Child.
- Creating a Visual.
Free Flow Meditation (Unguided)
Meditating by yourself can be intimidating at first, but once you find something you like and stick with it, it can bring a lot of ease. You can do this while sitting or lying down. It’s also great to combine some of the elements you learned from a guided meditation into your free flow.
- Focusing on a single point or image choose something to stare at for as long as you can without going cross eyed.
- Repeating a mantra over and over again, like “Om” or something of your own, “I am loved.”
- Creating your own visualization of a tranquil place.
- Doing a body scan.
- Chakra clearing going to each chakra and cleansing it so that it spins and shines brightly.
- Devotional – Focusing on a divine entity.
- Nature sounds. Birds singing, rainforest, ocean waves, a thunderstorm, white noise.
- Sound bowls: Tibetan metal bowls, have a deeper and more grounded note, while quartz singing bowls are higher and lighter and commonly used to clear chakras.
- Hertz for clearing chakras. Crown Chakra (963 Hz), Third Eye (852 Hz), Throat (741 Hz), Heart (639 Hz), Solar Plexus (528 Hz), Sacral (417 Hz) and Root (396 Hz). A lot of meditations already have these frequencies incorporated.
- Instrumental music. Piano, flute, guitar, wind chimes, bells, drums, etc.
- Chanting. Light Language (a person channeling a language from the other side).
Movement Meditation
Maybe sitting or lying down is not your style, which is perfectly okay. You can also meditate while on the move.
I started by going on walks with music and a paddle ball toy, then progressed to walking with just music and then eventually just my thoughts. I still walk on a daily basis, it acts as a way for my thoughts to keep moving and not continuously build with no outlet, I used to let them compound with emotions and then it would quickly become a disaster.
There are times when I do my sitting meditation and incorporate Kundalini circles, which is moving your torso in a large circular motion. I had no idea that this was an actual thing until I googled it because my body just naturally did it and the repetitive motion would help me calm down my mind. It was a gradual process of being able to be with my own thoughts.
Examples of Movement Meditation:
- Walking
- Running
- Dancing (Flow or Free Form)
- Tai Chi/Martial Arts
- Yoga
- Adding movement to your sitting meditation. Is your body asking to be stretched?
Repetitive Tasks
You may have experienced a meditative state without even realizing it. You can enter such a state when doing mundane repetitive tasks, like washing the dishes, showering, mowing the lawn, reading, etc. Anything, that will tell your brain, “Hey, you don’t need to be around for this”.
Another common time to be in a meditative state or alpha state according to Neuro Health, is when your mind is awake and alert but your body is relaxed, it’s before you wake up and before you fall asleep. To check out their article, click here. It’s also, a prime time for your guidance team to send you information.
You can meditate, now what? What are the benefits?
- Feeling calmer.
- Improved sleep.
- Better emotional control.
- Communication with your higher self and spirit team.
- Growing your intuition.
- A wire transfer of ideas.
Comment below, how has your meditation journey been?