Meditation: Meditation For Beginners - How to Meditate For Lifelong Peace, Focus and Happiness (Mindfulness, Meditation Techniques) by Price Sara Elliott

Author:Price, Sara Elliott [Price, Sara Elliott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Success Life Publishing
Published: 2014-09-01T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 4: The Meditation Habit

You are now ready to begin your meditation practice on a regular basis. At the set time, go to your chosen place and get ready to meditate. It helps to stretch a little before meditation, as loosening the body will help you to sit comfortably. It is important to be comfortable because only then can you calm your mind. Wear comfortable clothes and turn off all distractions such as the phone or any other device. Only the timer should be used to keep track of time. Keep it out of reach so that you don't compulsively check it to see how much time is left. Take off your shoes and keep them aside. Try to calm the mind and avoid thinking about anything else except the present moment.

Posture

The position you sit in is important but it is not necessary to sit cross legged if you can't do it easily. Sitting on a chair can also work but you have to remember that you must keep your spine fairly straight. Assume a confident and rigid yet relaxed position. If you are sitting on a chair, keep your feet side by side on the floor. Do not cross your feet or raise the heels. You can keep your hands on your lap in a relaxed position.

If you choose to sit cross legged, make sure you are comfortable. The spine should again be straight. You should be looking straight ahead so that your neck is in line with the spine. Keep your hands rested on your knees, facing downwards. If you want, you can turn them upwards with the forefinger touching the thumb to form the traditional lotus position. These little postures are supposed to increase the benefits of meditation but it is not necessary to do them. The most important thing is to be comfortable.

The Practice

To begin meditation, close your eyes and slowly turn your attention inwards. In the beginning, just observe yourself. Start by observing your body; go over each body part starting from the toes and finishing at the head and observe how each part feels. If any muscles feel tense, try to relax them. If you need to, change the position in which you are sitting.

Observe how your chest feels. If it feels constricted, like a weight is placed on it, take a deep breath and expand your chest as much as possible. Feel the weight lift off of your chest. If your thoughts are rushing, don't get frustrated. Instead try to be calm and slowly bring your focus back to the task at hand.

The task at hand is to concentrate on the breath. Just observe the breath in the beginning. Feel it enter your lungs and see how deep you normally breathe. If you observe a newborn baby breathing, you'll see that it breathes from its stomach, but as we grow up, we start breathing from our chests. Our breathing is very restricted and we only take shallow breaths in which our chest expands only slightly.

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