The Beginners Guide to Meditation
Meditation is hard. Most of us have trouble to sit with our thoughts for less than 5 minutes without being distracted. Our mind wonders away so easily in our day-to-day life. Unfortunately it often has become the default-state for our brain to produce random thoughts that can snow-ball one after another. Have you ever started thinking about one thing and then realized that you have gone 100 miles far away from the original thoughts? I’m sure we are all guilty of it at some point of our life.
Modern science has proved that being mindful and attend to the present moment can be a powerful tool to increase neural plasticity. Meditation is a way to practice mindfulness and help us stay away from over-thinking. Like everything in the world, it takes some time for one to develop the skills for meditation. So if you have started practicing meditation and found it a struggle, you are not alone!
I know I have easy days and hard days when it come to practice meditation, which I learned to accept without judgment to myself. Mindfulness is also all about acceptance and being non-judgmental. If you want to start with just a few minutes per day, or once every other day, that’s totally fine! Not everyone can or have the time to meditate for 30 minutes everyday. The key is the consistency rather than the quantity.
More you practice meditation consistently, more likely you find it easier or more enjoyable. You may start with follow your breath and bring your awareness to the inhale and exhale of air passing through your nostril. You can also work on attending your body sensation by scanning through different parts of your body. As you continue practicing, you may notice an improvement of your ability to recognize the random thoughts without being taken away by them.
So start today, for a brief amount of time, to give yourself the permission to sit with your mind and attend to what is going on at the present moment. Reflect on the emotion you experience at the present moment. Your journey of meditation has just began.