You might have heard about meditation from television or by hearing your favorite podcasters talk about it, but it’s totally understandable if you feel like you’re pretty out of the loop when it comes to knowing what exactly it is. Meditation is easy to do but fairly difficult to grasp right away, which is why we have these five tips for you.
1. Do It in the Right Place
We’re not sure exactly how the first meditators started their practice, but we’re guessing they didn’t do it while watching television or scrolling through their phones. In this world of constant notifications, it can feel like a foreign concept to be conscious but also be way from any distractions. Meditation is meant to put you in the moment, and that’s only possible if you make the setting conducive to this sort of awareness. Don’t think you need to turn your home into a shrine. Your messy bedroom can be a great place to meditate as long as you’re tapping into your highest self and setting it up in a way that allows you to feel free.
2. Use Apps
Technology does have its place in meditation, as long as you’re using it in a positive way. A frequent item in meditation Q&As will be recommending readers try using apps, such as Headspace. These will guide you through your practice and make you much more aware of how to successfully get through a session. You can also set up notifications to remind you to meditate. The only possible “downside” is that you can’t use “I forgot” as an excuse for not meditating any longer.
3. Keep It Consistent
Meditation isn’t something that you can just do every once in a while and expect any kind of progress. That would be like going for a jog once a month and lamenting that you still haven’t lost any weight. Find a way to integrate it into your schedule every day. Put aside some time every morning and/or evening. If you have to miss a session, don’t start lamenting how your mindfulness has been lost to the wind. Should you really be serious about your practice, you can find time to do it even in less-than-ideal circumstances, such as when you’re on the bus and that sweaty guy is falling asleep on your shoulder.
4. Stay in a Meditative Mindset
There’s the reason they call a daily meditation your “practice.” You’re training your brain to become less reactive and enjoy the moment the same way an NBA star would train their arms to release a ball into a net with proper form. You won’t find any meditation Q&As that will tell you to start mindlessly scrolling through social media as soon as your session ends. You might actually have to, gasp, start being mature and not letting petty thoughts and feelings rule you. Meditation is like doing an X-ray of your personality, and it can expose some alarming conditions. Luckily, you’re also the source of the cure.
When you become a regular meditator, you’ll become much more relaxed and better to the people around you as well as yourself. It can be like unclogging your nose when you have a cold, except you’re actually unclogging your mind. As a daily routine, meditation can be a game-changer for the rest of your life.