Meditation is an ancient practice that has been experiencing great popularity in the West in the last decade, because there are many benefits it provides for mental and emotional well-being and it is very useful in these times.
Whether to calm the mind, to find oneself or to reduce anxiety or stress, more and more people are interested in introducing this practice into their daily lives, improving their quality of life.
But meditating is not always easy, especially at the beginning, as it requires discipline and practice for perfection. And as much as it may not apparently be very physically demanding, it also requires effort. Nothing is free in this life, but if you know everything that meditation can bring to your life, it is quite likely that you will feel the need to start familiarizing yourself with its techniques.
The benefits of meditation
In recent years, research on this practice has shown that meditating is effective in improving people’s mental health. What are these benefits? What is the use of meditating? Meditation benefits us for different reasons:
Mitigate the effects of stress
Positively affects the immune system
Improves attention and concentration capacity
It is useful to empathize with others
Increases pain tolerance
Improves memory and cognitive functions
Enhances the appearance of positive thoughts
The 8 steps to learn to meditate
The key to developing the habit of meditation is to find the perfect time for you and the type of meditation and posture that suits you. In the beginning you can experiment with the different types of meditation and the correct posture to find the necessary comfort and the ideal state of mind to carry out this practice.
But you should know that in order to overcome the resistances you may sometimes encounter during the meditative process, it is the practice that really makes you improve. If you want to know how to meditate correctly, follow the steps below.
Put on comfortable clothes
The first thing you should do to meditate and be in the here and now is to wear comfortable clothes: take off your shoes and choose a wide garment is the best alternative to feel ready to meditate. Forget tight clothes and take off your watch or other accessories that may be annoying.
Find a quiet place
It is necessary to find a place that allows you to be relaxed and without interruptions or interferences. It can be a room in your house, the seashore, your garden, an area in the park away from cars…. Any place is good if it allows you to feel comfortable and focus on the practice of meditation without being bombarded with distracting stimuli, totally immersed in the activity you are about to start.
Tips to start practicing meditation
Sit in the right way
Keep in mind that even if you dedicate a few minutes to it, if you stay in a bad posture to meditate, you will immediately feel discomfort because your back is loaded, your legs are asleep or your arms are bent in an inadequate way, and this will distract you.
To meditate you should sit correctly, that is, on the floor with your back straight, but without tension, breathing deeply and keeping your shoulders and arms relaxed. Some people prefer to sit on a chair or on their knees instead of the classic posture, and there is also lying down meditation, but in these cases you should have more practice and know beforehand that in this way you will not feel discomfort right away (each body is unique, after all). Whatever position you adopt, the back should always be straight and the body, especially the shoulders and arms, relaxed.
Focus on one object
Focus on an object or the breath (with your eyes closed) when you begin your meditative practice. For example, you can hold a small rubber ball in your hand, or have a cushion on your lap. If you direct your attentional focus towards the stimuli that these objects transmit to you, it will be easy for you to stay in the here and now through your senses.
In this way it will be easier for you to begin the practice of meditation, because you will have a clear objective and you will not feel the uncertainty of not knowing where your mind will wander. Later on, you can do other types of meditation, such as the “body scan” or meditation focused on sounds.
Accept the thoughts that arise and move on
It is common that, during the practice of meditation, different thoughts arise: our personal problems, the discomfort of the moment or the insecurity of being doing meditation well or not (something that usually happens when we start in this practice). But this is something normal and, therefore, we must accept it.
Meditation focuses on the idea that psychological well-being is a state that emerges from the acceptance of thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations without trying to eliminate or modify them, simply observe them in a non-judgmental way. Therefore, when these thoughts appear, simply accept them and then refocus attention on the object, breath, sound or bodily sensation.
Increase your meditation time progressively.
When you start meditating, you should start slowly and then increase the time. It is ideal to start with a one-minute meditation, to progressively reach 20 or 30 minutes a day that will help you improve your well-being. Take a look at this video to know what is one-minute meditation:
Add it to your daily routine
After reading the above steps, you are now ready to make meditation a healthy habit. With practice you will become a great meditator, which will help you achieve the benefits of this ancient practice.
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