Beginners Guide to MeditationMeditation has become a “hot” thing to do these days, and for good reason --

there are SO many benefits. It’s great for your health and for stress relief, but

my favorite way to use meditation is to connect to myself.

What’s important about connecting to yourself?

When you’re connected to yourself, you’re connected to your own internal

source of happiness and peace. You stop trying to find happiness in outside

things and circumstances. If we believe that our happiness is outside of

ourselves, we’re not free. We’re always giving our power away to other people,

circumstances or life going “our way”.

Conversely, when you find and connect to yourself in a deep way, you find that

you have everything you need. There is no lack in your life. You are complete.

The happiness you seek is already inside of you.

It allows you to loosen your grip on life and enjoy the ride.

When it comes to meditating, we worry that we “can’t do it right”. There is

no right way! Here are some tips to getting started:

1. Start with 5-10 minutes, and eventually work your way up to 20-30. I find that

it takes me until at least the 10 minute mark for my thoughts to slow down,

so longer meditations provide a more profound experience. However, start

with shorter ones to get your feet wet.

2. Meditate anywhere and in any position -- in bed, on the floor, in a chair, cross

legged, feet down, doesn’t matter! As long as you don’t fall asleep. My

favorite way is cross legged in bed, leaning against a big pillow so my back is

supported.

3. Hand positions -- I like to put my hands face up on my knees. It is a position

that shows you’re willing to receive. Or, put your hands in prayer position,

face down on your knees, or on your heart. Again, there’s no right way!

4. Use a guided meditation, put on music, or sit in silence. Do whatever feels

best for you. It may be good to start with guided meditations to get you used

to it. I personally enjoy doing it to music. If you go the guided route, the Calm

app for your phone is great. For music, I like this playlist.

5. Go into your meditation either with an intention (ex. “I’d like to feel more

peace. Please show me how”), a question about your life (ex. “I’m not sure

what to do about this relationship, please help me figure out my next step”),

or just surrender to whatever needs to occur (ex. “show me what I need to

feel or know right now”).

6. Start breathing deeply, however is comfortable. Focus on your breath going

in and out. NOTICE your thoughts are there and try to go into “Observer”

mode, observing them, but not buying into them and getting attached to

them. Just watch them there like you are watching credits roll on a movie

screen. Don’t TRY to get your thoughts to go away. Just focus on your breath

and your body and notice that you have thoughts. Eventually, they may or

may not calm down.

7. Every meditation is different -- sometimes, your thoughts may never stop,

and you’ll spend the entire time thinking about what you’re wearing

tomorrow, and other times, you may find yourself deep in a meditative state.

Whatever happens, happens, and it’s okay. Just keep making a point to try it

again the next day. Even just the ACT of sitting with yourself -- whether you

have some deep meditative experience or not -- will work wonders on your

self love and connection.

8. How often to meditate -- try to create some sort of time to connect with

yourself daily, but if you can’t do a full out meditation everyday, no problem.

Start your day in the mornings with just 60 seconds of silence with yourself to

check in, and if you can do a full on meditation afterwards, or in the evening,

great! Currently, I aim to do shorter meditations daily (1-5 minutes) and a few

longer ones (20-30 minutes) per week. The most important thing is just to

start somewhere.

Happy Meditating!!