Sleepiness: Many people get sleepy when they try to meditate. This may be because our minds are simply overstimulated, or it may be because our bodies are tired and need some rest. Either way, there are skillful ways to wake ourselves up so we can engage in meditation. Straighten your posture. Open your eyes. Try walking meditation. Instead of using your breath as the anchor of your attention, try listening to sounds.
Or, develop a pattern of sensations to focus on: for example, first the feeling of breath passing in and out of your nostrils, then the diaphragm rising and falling, and then the gentle breeze of air just above your lips. You can even try to control your breathing, taking shorter inbreaths and longer outbreaths.
Most importantly, try not to be too hard on yourself. Pain: You may feel pain when you begin to practice meditation for longer durations. It could be just a sharp, fleeting pang in your legs, or it could be dull cramps or aches in your back. Whatever it is, try to simply notice it and accept it at first. If it persists, try directing your attention to another part of the body. And if the pain gets intolerable, adjust your posture as needed.
Fear: In the rare instance, panic or fear may arise. Should this happen, try to shift the attention toward something outside the body, like the air whooshing in and out of your nostrils, or sounds.
With mindfulness now mainstream, resources abound to help people maintain and deepen their practice. Mindful publishes a bi-montly magazine and maintains a robust website full of stories and instructions. Salzberg has published several books on mindfulness, as has Ms. And there are dozens of other good books on the topic. Just as listening to a teacher can help you stay focused when the mind wanders, finding a group to practice with can help make meditation part of your routine.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is an eight-week course that has emerged as one of the most popular introductions to meditation today. MBSR classes and other basic introductions to meditation are offered in hundreds of cities around the globe, and many other meditation centers provide mindfulness training as well.
Mindful has also pulled together a list of centers here. There are several apps that can help you maintain a meditation practice. Here are a few of our favorite. Geared for those skeptical of meditation, this app features Dan Harris, an ABC news anchor who wrote a book about his grudging embrace of meditation, in dialogue with experienced mindfulness instructors like Joseph Goldstein.
Andy Puddicombe, a charismatic Englishman who was previously both a monk and a circus performer, is the teacher on this popular meditation app. With contributions from several mindfulness teachers, Whil includes audio and video instructions are available for beginners and experts alike.
Insight Timer. Twitter: dgelles. Meditation Exercises What Is Meditation? Meditation Exercises Find a comfortable spot and get ready to relax. The Basics Setting aside time for formal meditation is an important way to establish a routine and get comfortable with the practice. Basic Mindfulness Meditation Learn how to pay close attention to the present moment with this meditation exercise.
When the Mind Wanders An exercise to help you stay in the present moment while you meditate. Mindfulness Meditation Practices You can practice mindfulness meditation on your own anytime and anywhere. Your browser does not support the audio element. Jump backward in the song 10 Play the media Jump forward in the song Body Scan Meditation Download. My Meditation Binge, in a Nutshell April 25, At Aetna, a C. What Is Meditation?
Discovering the present moment. Training the Mind Put most simply, meditation is a way to train the mind. Mindfulness There are lots of different types of meditation.
Mindfulness vs. Think Less, Think Better June 17, Get More Meditation Content From Well Sign up for emails on how to meditate, updates on the latest research and additional resources to help you deepen your practice. Your email address Sign Up Now. Make It a Habit A few tips to get started. Choose a Spot Similarly, it can help to meditate in the same location each day.
Many people pair meditation with a routine habit they already have, like brushing their teeth, to make sure they remember it. Wear whatever you like.
The most important thing is that you are comfortable and relaxed. If you happen to be wearing a tie, belt, or scarf, you may want to loosen it beforehand and also kick off any uncomfortable, tight-fitting shoes or heels. You can meditate inside or outside and can sit on the floor, a cushion, bench, chair, or anything else that works for you.
Unless you wish to do so, you can safely forget stereotypical images of sitting cross-legged by a tree. Sitting toward the front of the chair will help with the correct posture: back straight, neck relaxed, chin slightly tucked in. Rest your hands loosely on your lap or knees. How long you choose to meditate depends on your preferences, life circumstances, and time available.
The important thing is that frequency trumps duration. You can always make the jump to 15 or 20 minutes the more familiar you become with training the mind.
You might as well give it a shot and see how it feels and then build up as your confidence grows. The reasons to meditate are broad and subjective as well as different for everybody. Meditation is a journey of a lifetime, not a sprint to instant progress. Take it session by session, day by day, appreciating that this is a skill that requires commitment, patience, and practice, where the benefits are felt gradually over time.
Over time, the more the mind learns to become less distracted and the more our awareness stabilizes. We meditate to practice our awareness of the present moment. The point of this skill is to make us more mindful and less distracted throughout the day. Imagine a photocopier-style scanner slowly moving over you, detecting any physical sensations within the body, without analysis and without trying to change what you feel.
With your eyes closed and starting at the top of the head, mentally scan down your body, from head to toe. As you scan, notice which parts feel relaxed or tense, comfortable or uncomfortable, light or heavy, and so on and so forth. You are simply building a picture of how the body feels right now, in the moment. Each scan should take about 20 seconds. Thoughts may well arise and distract you. If so, simply return to the area of the body where you last left off.
In making the body scan a part of your meditation, you are familiarizing yourself with bringing awareness to your thoughts and feelings. In time and with practice, all obstacles diminish, and the process will feel easier. The mind is used to being busy. It is not used to stillness. So it will naturally buck and kick until it gets comfortable with the foreign idea of letting go and doing nothing. A regular practice is the most effective, but what does truly matter is that you pick up where you left off and give yourself that 10 or 15 minutes — or whatever duration you choose — to look after the health of your mind.
Feeling sleepy — and perhaps even nodding off — is also normal when beginning a meditation practice. Many first-timers believe a library-like hush should greet every meditation session, which leaves them extra sensitive to every little distraction and sound.
Of course, if you are struggling with this in the beginning, you can always try earplugs or noise-cancelling earphones.
Meditation is one of those practices and traditions that comes with a lot of misconceptions and stigmas attached, built on the back of certain stereotypes that have themselves been built on the back of rumor, myth, and media portrayals. One of the biggest myths out there is that meditation is inherently religious.
Meditation is a skill, not a belief system. With practice, an inner balance develops. In some schools of meditation, students practice a combination of concentration and mindfulness.
Many disciplines call for stillness — to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the teacher. There are various other meditation techniques. For example, a daily meditation practice among Buddhist monks focuses directly on the cultivation of compassion. This involves envisioning negative events and recasting them in a positive light by transforming them through compassion.
There are also moving meditation techniques, such as tai chi, qigong, and walking meditation. If relaxation is not the goal of meditation, it is often a result. Since then, studies on the relaxation response have documented the following short-term benefits to the nervous system:.
Contemporary researchers are now exploring whether a consistent meditation practice yields long-term benefits, and noting positive effects on brain and immune function among meditators. To put it as an Eastern philosopher may say, the goal of meditation is no goal.
In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate benefit of meditation is liberation of the mind from attachment to things it cannot control, such as external circumstances or strong internal emotions.
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