Meditation seems to be one of those things which we all want to try at some point during our lives but many of us are unsure where to begin. The whole idea behind meditating for your health and well-being is to focus on your body and your mind for a short time each day to connect with how you feel and think. It can be a hugely important thing to do and it will often make us feel happier, more in control and less stressed throughout the day. Here are some top tips for anyone who is doing yoga for the first time this year.
Start small
A lot of the time we have it in our heads that meditation is a practice which needs to take up an hour of our time, and this is what puts many people off doing it. However, meditation can be done in any amount of time you have. It could be 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 50 minutes. When you start out, go for small sessions to get you used to the practice of sitting or lying still and you can start increasing the time after this. You will notice a lot of difference in your happiness and attitude by meditating even for a few minutes each day.
Wake up and meditate
A lot of the time when we set ourselves takes to do, we tell ourselves that we will do this new thing every single day without fail, but it often doesn’t work that way. If you want to make meditation a routine in your life, the best thing you can do is to practice it when you wake up in the morning. As soon as you wake up, either sit up or stay lying down and meditate. It will become a habit and part of your morning routine which will make it easier to do it every day without fail.
Check in with your emotions
Meditation is all about being able to connect with yourself on a deeper level and to understand how your body and your mind works. When you close your eyes, breathe in deeply and think about how you feel. Do you have any aches and pains? Are you feeling ill? Do you feel a little depressed or anxious? By checking in with our body and feelings, we allow ourselves to really understand ourselves each day and this can make a huge different in our mood and behavior.
Count your breathing
When you are comfortable and you have closed your eyes, you can bring your attention to your breathing. Let yourself breathe naturally and start to count each breath in your head. This is a great way to focus the mind on one point and to shake away any busy thoughts you might have been having up until this point. Most of a meditation practice is about simply listening to your body move. When you are silent you can hear the blood rushing through your ears to your organs,
You feel your lungs expanding and deflating, and you get a better appreciation for the complexity of your body.
Allow yourself to wander, then come back
When you sit down or lie comfortably to meditate it will be difficult at first for your mind to stay in one place and concentrate on what you are doing. Remember that the practice of meditation is supposed to be fun and calming so you can allow your mind to wander away for a moment as long as you bring it back to the session after a short space or time. Enjoy the quiet time you have with meditating and let yourself think about lots of different things.
Think positive thoughts
When you sit down and take stock of your emotions, you need to bring what you have learnt into your meditation practice. For example if you notice that you feel sad or stressed out due to issues in your life; you need to learn to let them go. Think about happy places such as lakes and waterfalls and imagine yourself enjoying birdsong and running water as you lie in the sun. Thinking happy thoughts can make a huge difference to your state of mine overall and it will set you up for happiness for the rest of the day.
Listen to calming sounds
Listening and getting into the moment can be helpful with meditation, and you can think about letting your hearing take part in the session too. If you suffer with hearing you can learn more about a hearing aid which will make your life easier, and you can find calming sounds such as forest birds or dolphins online to use. This will help you sink into the moment and make your mediation practice easier.
