How to Meditate

There really is no right or wrong way to meditate. All it is, is a way to get into your flow – into a way of feeling calm, zen and comfortable, clearing your mind of all the “stuff” that is weighing you down with feelings of guilt, shame, frustrations, overwhelm etc.

You don’t even necessarily need to “clear your mind” or visualize anything. You can just sit or lie there quietly. You can even fall asleep if that’s what your body and mind need in that moment. It’s taking you from fight or flight mode to rest and digest.

Typical Set Up:

• Before you begin,
  • Calm your mind as much as possible. – detach from your physical body and be as spiritually driven as possible.
  • Remove any stimulation on your body ex tight uncomfortable clothing, loud noises, potential disruptions, etc etc. You want to try to “detach” from any distraction
  • Get yourself a glass of water and set it beside you for after meditation
• Set Aside Time
  • Set aside more time than you think you would want to meditate, that’s very beneficial for your ability to relax and not have a million thoughts of your day or have-tos rolling through your head about the day and what’s ahead – this will ease those thoughts.
• Sit Comfortably.
  • Sitting is preferable to standing
  • You can lie down just ensure you don’t fall back asleep – if you are meditating throughout the day.
• Stack Your Spine/Vertebrae
  • sit up tall – elongate the spine
  • helps channel the energy from the head to the base of the spine (coccyx/tail bone)
• Do Some Deep breathing
  • From your belly, nice and slow and calm
• Focus Your Mind
  • on your breath
  • This will help to slow and eventually clear your mind
  • Focus versus concentrate. Concentration is very narrowly focused with a strong intent or purpose versus focusing to keep yourself tuned in.
• Calm your mind as much as possible. – detach from your physical body and be as spiritually driven as possible.
• Try to think only positive, loving thoughts during meditation. Anything you are grateful or thankful for.
• Try for at least 5 minutes and slowly increase the amount of time.
  • You will begin to really enjoy the beautiful feeling of being quiet and being slow (especially in the morning if you used to awaken with a shot and fire blast into your day).
• Having Trouble Relaxing?
  • Keep sitting and breathing deeply
  • You will eventually begin to relax further
  • Remember practice makes perfect
• After you have finished, just sit quietly and gently until you feel grounded again
  • You may feel a bit spacey and “out of your body” (depending on how deeply you meditated)
  • Think of focusing energy to your feet, take a sip of water – these will help ground you back to earth