Meditation For Beginners: How To, Benefits, Apps & Videos

This article will talk about meditation for beginners -all the how tos, the benefits and so much more.

What is meditation?

Meditation is a practice that involves focusing / clearing your mind and body to achieve a calm state of mind using both mental and physical techniques.

Meditation is the intentional practice of spending time with our mind. We take time out of our hectic days to sit, breathe, and try to stay focused on our breath. To be more specific, meditation is a technique that guides the mind to concentrate and redirect thoughts, frequently toward the breath, which acts as an anchor.

The history

It is often said that to fully know or understand a concept, you must first know its origin. Lets dig in briefly. The concept of meditation appears simple: sit still focus on your breath, and reflect. However, the practice of meditating has a long cultural history that has seen it evolve from a religious concept to something that may now appear more on-trend than spiritual. Though many people still meditate for religious reasons, the activity now joins yoga as a secular and stylish trend.

According to Psychology Today, some archaeologists trace meditation to as far as 5,000 BCE, and the practice has religious roots in ancient Egypt and China, as well as Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and, of course, Buddhism. It is clear that meditation has ancient origins and has been practiced in many cultures throughout history:

• Early origins: Dates back to as early as 5,000 BCE. Hunter-gatherers and early shamans may have practiced some forms of meditation, and passed their knowledge down orally.
• Hinduism: The earliest documented records of meditation are from the Hindu tradition of Vedantism, around 1,500 BCE.
• Taoism and Buddhism: Between 600–500 BCE, Taoist China and Buddhist India developed their own versions of meditation.
• Spread of meditation: Meditation spread to other cultures along the Silk Road around five or six centuries BCE, as the discipline expanded throughout Asia, influencing religions like Judaism. As it arrived in a new location, it would gradually change to fit the new culture. However, it was not until the twentieth century that it began to expand outside the confines of specific religions, particularly in the West.
• Christianity: In the 20th century, Christian meditation focused on Biblical meditation, which involves pondering on Bible verses.
• Modern times: In the 1960s, researchers began to study meditation for its medical benefits. Today, meditation is more accessible than ever, with many people practicing it through apps, online groups, or fitness classes.

Benefits of meditation

Essentially, meditation offers a sense of peace, calm and balance which is beneficial to your emotional and overall health/well being. You can also use it to unwind and cope with stress by focusing on something soothing. Meditation can teach you how to stay balanced and maintain inner calm.

Good news is that these benefits do not end as your meditation session ends. Other benefits include:

• Lowers stress: One of the most popular reasons why individuals try meditation is to reduce stress. Over time, physiological stress signals such as elevated cortisol levels and heart rate can have a wide range of effects on anything from sleep to blood pressure. Studies have shown that regular practice of meditation can relieve stress and improve the quality of life.

• Reduces anxiety: Although anxiety and stress are not the same thing; Meditation can reduce stress levels, which translates to less anxiety. Meditation allows one to cope and react positively to anxiety, whether or not it is brought on by specific stressors.

• Enhances mental/ emotional health: Meditation can promote a positive outlook on life, increase self confidence and reduce negative thoughts and lower depression symptoms – thus generate more positivity in life

• Improve self-awareness: Regular meditation can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself. At the end of the day, meditation lessens feelings of  loneliness and promotes contentment.

• Increases concentration and attention span: People who meditate tend to be more focused and precise when performing tasks. Even after just 13 minutes of meditation every day for 8 weeks, attention and memory improve.

• Reduce memory loss: Improvements in attention and clarity of thinking may help keep your mind young. Studies have showed that people with age-related memory loss have shown it improves performance on neuropsychological tests.

• Generates empathy and kindness: People who meditate appear to be more empathetic and friendly to others. These people have a tendency to spread positivity, forgive quickly, and move on with their lives. Overall, meditation enhances interpersonal interactions and leads to cheerfulness.

• Improves sleep: If you have trouble sleeping, meditation can help you get into deep sleep sooner and stay asleep longer. Moreover, the sleep is restful and free of distracting thoughts. Also meditation has been shown to relax the body, relieve muscle tension, and bring about a peaceful state, all of which are important for great quality sleep.

• Lower/ help control pain: Some research suggests that incorporating meditation into your routine could be beneficial for controlling pain. The perception of pain is closely linked to the mind and can be elevated when you are under stress. meditation can help increase the pain threshold and/or reduce the perception of pain in the brain,

• Lower blood pressure: Meditation can also benefit physical health by relieving stress on the heart. High blood pressure causes the heart to work harder to pump blood, which results in poor heart function. Studies have shown that regular meditation can slightly lower blood pressure or reduce the need for blood pressure medications.

• May help with addiction: Meditation can help you break dependencies by strengthening your self-control and awareness of addictive behaviours.

• It is accessible: People practice many different forms of meditation, most of which don’t require specialized equipment or space. You can practice with just a few minutes daily. If you want to start meditating, try choosing a form of meditation based on what you want to get out of it.

Types of meditation

People make use of meditation to experience relaxation and heightened awareness in a stressful world where senses often become dull. There are a variety of meditation techniques, you have to find that which suites you:

1. Transcendental meditation: is a form of silent meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day.
2. Mindfulness meditation: This form of meditation is about staying aware of what’s happening at the moment rather than letting your mind wander and worrying about the past or future. An example of this is deep, slow breathing while staying still. A lack of judgment is critical to this process. Mindfulness meditation is something that can be done practically anyplace. For example, when standing in line at the grocery store, a person may calmly observe their surroundings, including the sights, sounds, and odors they encounter.
3. Breath awareness meditation: Breath awareness is a form of mindfulness meditation which emphasizes conscious breathing – breathe slowly and deeply while counting your breaths. The idea is to concentrate solely on breathing and avoid any other thoughts that come to mind.
4. Loving-kindness meditation: This form is often referred to as Metta meditation. Its purpose is to build a loving and caring attitude toward everything, even one’s rivals and sources of stress. While breathing deeply, a person prepares their mind to receive loving kindness. They then send messages of love and generosity to the world, specific people, or loved ones. In most forms of this meditation, the key is to repeat the message several times until the individual feels benevolent.
5. Guided meditation: The voice of either a live person or a taped recording can act as a guide in directing various types of meditation. This differs from forms of self-guided meditation that an individual’s own mind directs. A live guide may be available in group settings, while a recording is available via videos, podcasts, apps, and audio recordings.
6. Mantra-based meditation: Mantra meditation is the continual repetition of a series of syllables, phrases, or words, either vocally or silently. A person may do it with or without religious content.
7. Body-centered meditation: This is sometimes called self-scanning. Doing this involves focusing on the physical sensations you can feel throughout your body.
8. Visual-based meditation: This kind of meditation involves focusing on something you can see (either with your eyes or by concentrating on a mental image).

How to meditate

With so many types of meditation to choose from, it might be difficult to tell which one you’ll like most or will be most beneficial to you. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to narrow it down. However, there is no “right way” to meditate, meaning someone can explore the different types until they find one that works for them. This is a beginner friendly how to meditate:

• Make out time: Set aside time in your day for meditation and make it a part of your routine. Regular meditation is the key to getting the greatest benefits out of this practice. Day or night, choose which best works for you. You can start small – say 5-15 minutes daily/whenever you can.

• Get comfortable: Find a comfortable position – Sit or lie down in a comfortable place with little to no noise and close your eyes. You can use a meditation cushion or chair if you have one. We don’t need complete silence to meditate. Total silence in meditation may be too daunting for beginners. When everything is silent, we become hypersensitive to every sound. Life is rarely silent. We can always try earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, white noise machines, or soothing music.

• Shut your eyes: When you’re comfortable and centered, you can start meditating. With your eyes closed, simply breathe – follow the sensation of your breath as it goes in and as it goes out. Your aim is to focus on this circular breath and the simple words in your head as much as possible. Do this for as long as you can.

• Be kind to yourself: Your focus will eventually shift away from the breath and toward other things. When you realize your mind has wandered—in a few seconds, a minute, or five minutes return your focus to the breath. Don’t judge yourself or obsess over the thoughts’ content you find yourself lost in. Just come back. When you’re ready, softly open your eyes. Take a moment to observe any sounds in your surroundings. Observe how your body feels right now. Be aware of your ideas and feelings.

And it is a wrap! That is the standard practice. You concentrate, your mind wanders, you bring it back, and you try to do so as gently as possible (as many times as necessary).

Alternatively, you could try out guided meditation and once you are familiar with it, you can try unguided meditation, which is by yourself – Guided meditation is a type of meditation in which a teacher explains what to do. They instruct you on when to open and close our eyes, how to breathe, and how to perform other meditation practices. Since they are experts on how the mind works, they provide friendly motivation and practical advise that beginners often want, such as recommendations for applying meditation techniques in real life.

Videos to aid in your journey

1. A Sigh of Relief

2. Take a moment to lower your stress

3. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 CALM

4. Stress Breakdown with 4-7-8 Breathing

5. Find a moment of relief from stress

Apps for meditation

• Best Overall: Calm
• Best Budget Service: Ten Percent Happier
• Best Guided Meditation: Core Meditation
• Best Audio Selection: Headspace
• Best for Beginners: Waking Up
• Best for Sleep: Aura
• Best for Short Sessions: The Mindfulness App
• Best Free Service: Insight Timer
• BIWOC-Focused: Exhale
• LGBTQ+-Focused: Sowl Mate
• Best for Consistency: Unplug
• Best for Mindfulness: Simple Habit
• Best for Mantras: Sattva
• Some helpful websites are: https://www.nhs.uk/, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/, https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/, https://www.mindful.org/

Conclusion

Meditation is a practice, not a magic pill. While meditation can help you manage stress, sleep better, and feel better, it should not be used in place of good eating habits, weight management, and regular physical activity. It is also not a substitute for any medication or medical treatment that your health care team has prescribed. Try different styles of meditation to see what works best for you, and then incorporate it into your healthy lifestyle on a regular basis.

Our mind will wander. Even the pros get distracted by thoughts during meditation and forget to follow their breath, because no matter how practiced we are, the mind is always going to think.

Remember, there is no such thing as perfect meditation. If we catch ourselves becoming frustrated because the traffic in our minds is flowing too quickly or thinking, “Why is this so hard?” we can show ourselves some compassion. Let out a huge sigh to bring our attention back to the breath.

You might feel tired. Please do not be concerned if you fall asleep. The mind is becoming trained to distinguishing between slowing down and shutting off.

All the best, I am rooting for you!