Meditate

I wanted to take some time to discuss meditation and how it has been helping me so far. I started meditating more often this year. Not in response to the pandemic per se but just as a way to work on my own issues regarding mental health. I’m the type of person that likes to share the wealth when it comes to experiences so once I found this practice useful for me, I took to the streets and began letting all my close friends and family know about it. I would often receive the same response regarding general inability to meditate for any host of reasons. Some being unable to clear their mind, some being unable to sit still for any amount of time, etc. So, I decided I would share my process and experience and then go into some of the benefits of the practice as well. I hope this post is useful for those that have been having difficulty meditating or for those that were looking to get started doing it.

My first-time meditating wasn’t too bad. It was a short meditation session, roughly 10 minutes. I searched YouTube for meditation sounds, chose the first video, found a comfortable seat, set my timer and closed my eyes. I wasn’t going into the experience expecting anything other than a sense of relaxation afterwards and I believe that I achieved that. However, I didn’t do it again for a couple of weeks. The next time that I actually meditated was when I began to use the app Insight Timer. This app provided me with various meditation sounds, whether it be music or nature sounds, and a timer as well. So far it has been a great addition to my meditation routine. Now for me, my meditations are usually between 15-30 minutes depending on what I need to do afterwards. During the meditations I allow my mind to wander in order to best allow myself to calm down. My thoughts tend to run on a normal basis so incorporating meditation in my daily routine it gives me a time period where my thoughts can run in a more structured manner. After the meditation I often feel extremely calm and level-headed enough to complete whatever tasks await me for the rest of the day.

Now I know that meditation isn’t for everyone and I don’t expect every person who reads this to experience the same sensations that I feel afterwards. But some I have found some tips that I feel could be useful for those who have been having trouble meditating or have been unsure of their own process. According to mindful.org they provided three tips, plus a 7-step process on how to meditate. For this post I will focus on the tips but feel free to read the entire article for the process. The three tips that were listed on the site were to get comfortable, focus on your breathing and follow your breath. The last two steps may seem similar, but it is slightly not. Focusing on your breathing is to really focus on every aspect of your breath. On the inhale how deep do you breathe in and on the exhale how much do you breathe out? Does your stomach grow immensely on your inhale? Following your breath is to focus on this process for an extended period of time. The site says 2 minutes, I try to do it as often as possible. This way it helps to keep me focused and lessen the chance for my mind to wander. And getting comfortable is pretty straightforward. When you meditating you are stationary, so it helps to find a comfortable seated position to allow yourself to meditate with no problems.

I hope everyone who reads this finds this useful and it helps their journey with meditation.