A GUIDE TO MEDITATION FOR BEGINNERS
Sitting still and concentrating on your breathing can work wonders for some people. There’s a reason meditative and Dharma practices have been around for thousands of years! That said, if you’re a beginner finding it hard to let go and ground yourself, there are a few ways you can find a little more focus.
READ TIME: 3 MINS
Why is meditation so hard?
Often, when we’re told to sit and meditate, we’re instilled with a deep fear that we’re doing it wrong. You tense your stomach, clench your jaw, and knit your eyebrows together. The more you try to focus, the more annoying everything outside of you seems to get... There’s that bloody leaf blower again, and now someone’s honking their car horn. The cat’s nuzzling your leg for dinner, and you’ve suddenly remembered you forgot to defrost the Fricken. That’s all before your legs protest from sitting cross-legged, and your mum starts face-timing... for the 5th time that day.
Gosh, that was stressful. And it's only been 34 seconds.
Meditation is a practice
Meditation shouldn’t be stressful. However, it’s also not meant to be easy. It’s a practice. It’s okay if it doesn’t ‘happen’ immediately. Remember, we have to be a beginner before we can be anything else. Read on to discover 3 meditation ideas for beginners that you can try at home.
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Body Scanning
Finally, Body Scanning is a great way to draw your awareness within and improve mental clarity. You can do this wherever and whenever; sitting at your desk, at home in bed, on the sofa after a Netflix binge; whenever you feel you need to check back in with yourself and your body.
How to body scan
Start by sending your awareness to your toes (not looking with your eyes, but with your mind; send your thoughts to your toes).
Without looking, maybe remember what they look like (without judging! Who cares if you haven’t pedicured them in years).
What are they touching? Can you feel the ground beneath them? Is there a tingling or pulsating sensation as you focus there? What is the temperature?
Work your way up the body in the same way. So, going through the ankles, to the calf muscles and shins, up towards the knees and beyond.
Try and maintain a non-analytical yet observant mind.
When you arrive at the crown of your head and you’ve completed your scan, take a few moments to just appreciate the wholeness of your body.
When you’ve finished, take a few moments of stillness to acknowledge the impact of your body scan on the mind and body. How does it feel to have so intently and intimately connected with your body? Hopefully, you feel calmer and more collected.
Top tip: if any negative or critical thoughts come up along the way, particularly triggered by certain body parts, know that that is perfectly human and nothing to be frustrated about. Be kind to yourself. As soon as you feel the mind being led astray by unhelpful or hurtful thoughts, breathe in deeply and then exhale those thoughts away.
Nadi Shodhana
Also known as alternate nostril breathing. This is a great one to do if you’re finding it difficult to still the mind as it technically gives you something to ‘do’ while you meditate. Nadi roughly means energy line and shodhana means purification or elimination. The idea is that when you practice Nadi Shodhana, you’re clearing out any stagnant energy and calming the mind by controlling your breath.
How to do Nadi Shodhana
Find a comfortable seated position and sit up nice and tall.
First of all, to visualise this, you’re kind of making a figure of 8 or an infinity symbol with the breath as you direct the flow of air.
Take your right hand (you can just relax your left in your lap) and use your thumb to press down your right nostril as you inhale through the left nostril.
Release your thumb, and press your right ring finger down on the left nostril as you breathe out through the right nostril. Then, switch and exhale out the opposite nostril.
Inhale again like this before releasing your ring finger and pressing the thumb on your right nostril again. Exhale from the opposite left nostril.
It can sometimes be helpful to give your breath a colour to help you to visualise it as it flows.
Repeat for a few minutes.
Start with your eyes open and then when you get the hang of it, close down your eyes. Enjoy from a comfortable seated position (usually with the pelvis a little higher than the knees), heart over hips, and head over heart.
Trataka
Trataka is ideal for people who struggle to meditate with their eyes closed. Trataka traditionally uses your Drishti, your gaze, to focus the mind by choosing one object, usually a candle, to observe. While you observe, however, you need to keep your eyeballs still. It’s not what you’re looking at that matters, it’s the quality of your gaze and how it makes you feel that counts.
You’ll find that the longer you look at your candle or object, the more blurred and out of focus everything around your focal point becomes. We become fully connected and tuned into that one thing, and slowly disconnect ourselves from what doesn’t serve us at that moment.
How to do Trataka meditation
Find a quiet spot.
Light your candle and place it where you can see it clearly (or, simply choose another object you’d like to focus on).
Find a comfortable seated position. Make sure your airways are open and the breath isn't restricted by your posture (sit tall and relax your shoulders down your back).
With your candle or object, try observing it for as long as you can without blinking.
FYI: it’s not a competition! It’s not about looking until your eyes ache and water, just until it feels like you need to blink.
When you need to blink, close your eyes. Keep the eyes closed for a few moments and observe the flickering flame or object image imprinted on your mind’s eye.
When you’re done, take a few moments to simply observe how you feel before rushing back to whatever you were doing before. Give yourself time to digest the effect of meditation on your body and mind.
Observe, but don’t judge.
For any meditation, it is important to remember that our experience will change daily. Sometimes, we find meditation accessible. Sometimes, the mind is scattered, and it feels impossible to hold still. That is okay. You are not alone. Make whatever you are working with that day a part of the experience. Learn from it. Embrace it. And don’t be so hard on yourself.
Give the above three meditation techniques a go and let us know how you find them!
If you are looking for guided meditations in the workplace, we offer bespoke meditation classes and corporate wellness packages. Drop us a line and we’ll be in touch ASAP!