Meditation

This post is a meditation guide for beginners. First of all, I’m really glad you decided to develop a meditation habit. This practice can positively transform every area of your life. I hope my post can give you all the necessary information that you’re looking for. I’m going to talk about core basics of meditation, three different techniques, and lastly, benefits and obstacles that people experience with meditation.

I’m going to say right off the bat that developing a meditation habit is quite difficult.

It takes a lot of determination and discipline, so be warned.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a technique of direct observation of one’s mind and external circumstances. In this practice, we train our minds to be more present, focused, clear and happy. Meditation can be used to realize certain benefits and insights. It can also be used to enter specific states of consciousness. Meditation allows us to acknowledge the content of the mind (thoughts, emotions, urges and memories) without identifying with them. It’s an objective way of seeing these things.

Posture during meditation.

Meditation should be practiced sitting down with your spine upright the whole time. Ideally, one should be sitting in full lotus posture, however, meditation can as well be practiced in simple cross-legged position. For absolute beginners or people who might suffer from severe back pains, meditation can be done while sitting on a chair. It’s important to keep the spine straight the whole time.

Meditation can be practiced throughout the day while walking or doing regular activities. However, it’s more difficult to keep an ongoing awareness of your mind while performing some other actions.

The position of arms depends on personal preferences. Place them as you see comfortable.

Whether you should have your eyes closed or opened depends on the specific technique you’re trying to practice.

What to Think About During Meditation.

Meditation is a very special state when your internal talk, as well as all feelings, should be perceived objectively. If you look really closely at a thought or an emotion you will realize that they have a substance and a content. Thought, for instance, can manifest either visually as an image we see or audibly as a sound we hear. These perceptions are no different than any sound or an image you experience from “the outside world”. The content of the thought, however, is just an abstract idea with no reflection in the reality. A story that can be believed or disregarded.

Emotions follow a similar pattern. They are collections of bodily sensations, mental talk and images and a sense of resistance or submissiveness. We tend to resist negative emotions such as anger or sadness, and we surrender to emotions like happiness or joy. During meditation, all internal phenomenon should be seen as equal or neutral. You have to let go of the dualistic way of seeing them. There are no negative nor positive emotions, only perceptions. Thoughts become sounds and images in our minds.

With this attitude, it becomes irrelevant what you’re thinking about during the meditation, as long as you are able to recognize it as another perception. You have to be aware of the substance and not buy into the story it carries.

How Long Should You Meditate For?

The duration of meditation is a matter of personal preferences. Some people like to meditate for 30 minutes per day, and some like to meditate for hours. In the beginning, it’s good to shoot for at least 20 minutes per day. As you get more practice and experience you should be trying to meditate for longer periods of time. The duration of a session isn’t as important as practicing meditation on a daily basis. It’s much better to meditate for 20 minutes every day than 1 hour twice a week. 

Important Things to Keep in Mind Regarding Meditation.

Acceptance. During your meditation sessions, everything is alright. Don't try to resist anything. Don't fight sticky thoughts, don't get mad at yourself for failing. Accept everything and allow it to happen.

Not every meditation session will be good. The truth is that most meditation sessions will be difficult and anxious. Don't buy into the idea that if you're not blissing out like a Yogi, you're failing at meditation. You can only fail by giving up to try again, not by stepping off course a little. As long as you try to meditate, you're doing just fine. If you can persevere and sit through all these hardships, eventually, you will be rewarded with great benefits.

Don't try to reach some kind of state or goal during one session. Meditation practice is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't focus on entering a flow state during your sessions, instead focus on the meditation itself. If you will be going after some kind of goal and idea, you will fail. In the long run, however, you should have some goal or idea that you're going towards, just don't get frustrated and beat yourself up over not being able to reach it as fast as you want to.

Have more than one type of practice. Meditation can be practiced in many ways. There is a seated practice, motion practice, daily practice and micro hits of mindfulness that you get throughout the day. It's very important to cultivate at least two of them. For instance, when I'm going to my meditation spot (which is quite far away from my home) I always practice meditation in motion. Then, once I get to my spot, I do my seated practice, and on my way back I do motion meditation again. Also, consider using micro hits of mindfulness. Whenever you're doing something and it doesn't require your entire focus, you can practice some technique for a little bit. For example, when you're doing the dishes or cooking or driving a car. Use that time to practice instead of daydreaming and wasting it. If you can practice that consistently, you will see some massive results in your base level of mindfulness.

Bring your insights and wisdom into your daily life. Remember that you're not meditating to be calm and focused only during meditation but also throughout the rest of the day. You have to take what you learn during seated sessions and use it to improve the quality of your life, otherwise, you're not progressing.

Everything passes. If there is some obstacle that you can't seem to overcome, don't get discouraged and accept it. It certainly won't help to resist or fight it. Most of the times, these problems are just ideas and stories in our heads, they can be overcome by seeing their true substance. Next time it occurs, pay really close attention to it. See the internal talk and images, see the bodily sensations and recognize that your problem is just a collection of perceptions connected to a certain story. The perceptions are no different than any other ones,  and a story can be let go of quite easily. Don't give in and sit through it.

Breath Concentration: Probably the simplest meditation technique out there. During this practice, you sit down in a meditative-like posture and you bring yourself to the present moment by focusing on your breath. This technique is extremely simple yet it can create very powerful concentration states. It’s often advised for absolute beginners to start with this one since it’s so straightforward. It can be used to calm before or after a stressful event. It’s also nicely suited for a daily practice. Bare minimum of the practice should be 10 minutes or more, depending on your abilities. You start the technique by sitting down cross-legged, then you focus your attention on the sensations of breathing. As you breathe, pick one specific sensation such as the feeling of air going through your nose, and count up to 10 of these. Once you hit 10, reset and start from 0 again. Keep your attention on the act of breathing all the time. As soon as you notice that your mind wanders off, bring it back to the breath.

Do - Nothing Technique: In this practice, we train our minds to drop all the resistance of the present moment and all the effort to change anything about it. Throughout the day, our minds constantly run away from the present moment in order to look for happiness. Often, “right now” doesn’t look too exciting or attractive, so we think about last night or this amazing event which will happen in a week. We seek fulfillment but we seem to forget that happiness is right now, and only now. Do - nothing allows us to bring our minds back to the present moment and accept it as it is. Whenever you get an urge to do something, just acknowledge it and then let it go. We drop all the desire to work and do, just for the duration, so that we can simply enjoy being here and now.

Vipassana/Insight Meditation: Meditation technique that focuses your awareness on internal perceptions such as thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Your goal in this practice is to see these things for what they really are. Practicing this meditation will give you true insight into the nature of existence and the self.

There are three elements to this practice. Concentration, mindfulness and clear comprehension. All three must be present in order for the meditation to be successful. In this practice, your concentration should be very fluid and attentive. Instead of fixing your mind on just one thing, have your awareness observe things as they arise and pass. It should feel like watching everything and nothing at the same time. The second element is mindfulness. It’s a kind of attention that is bare of four three: attachment, judgment, and engagement. Our minds are going on about something all the time. And we often listen to them since we think they have something important to say. But that is never the case for our mind is saying the same thing over and over again. The internal talk is based on the past and is projected towards the future. Instead of following the story, detach from your thoughts and perceive them with right mindfulness. The last thing is clear comprehension. During Vipassana, we want to see things directly. Clear comprehension means seeing the true nature of things, which is impermanent, unsatisfactory, non-dualistic and selfless.

Mindful Sitting (Vipassana family): In this practice, we use the same type of awareness as we use in Vipassana/insight meditation. It has three elements to it: fluid concentration, mindfulness bare of attachment, judgment, engagement, and commentary, and clear comprehension of things. In this technique, however, instead of focusing only on internal phenomena, we expand our awareness to everything that happens around and to us in the present moment. You watch not only your internal talk and emotions but also external perceptions such as sounds, images and smells. This technique is a great way to calm your mind and prepare it for vipassana meditation. Mindful sitting will teach you how to apply awareness in a right way before you move to more difficult techniques. It's also very well-suited for daily practice.

Attaining emotional mastery.

Deeper understanding of the self.
Deeper understanding of reality.
Improvement of a mental and physical health of your brain.

Huge boost to willpower.

Attaining peace of mind and clarity
Improvement of focus and efficiency.
The direct cure to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
The best source of eudaimonic happiness.
Helps with dropping harmful habits.

Spiritual enlightenment and insights.

Equanimity.

Concentration.
Less worry, stress and negativity.
Expands your awareness.
More self-control.

Meditation is emotionally difficult. At first, you will struggle a lot. Your mind will not want to sit still and focus. It will rebel against you, it will play tricks on you, it will do anything to get up and start doing something again. You will have to go through this process of fighting your mind in the beginning, however, with time things get easier. Don’t get discouraged and quit because it’s hard. You train your mind during meditation so that you can have an easier life later on.

People think that meditation is about being calm all the time. This one is big. A lot of people think that they are supposed to feel calm and peaceful the whole time, and if that’s not the case then they’re doing something wrong. Regardless of how you feel during meditation you are doing it right. Meditation is about the quiet parts and the noisy parts, it’s being laser-focused and completely distracted. There is nothing wrong about getting off track briefly, as long as you try to center yourself constantly.

Not meditating consistently. Meditation has to be done on a daily basis. There is no other way around it, you have to meditate every day.

Taking your thoughts and emotions too seriously. Meditation is a time when you let go of control and worry. Stop taking your thoughts so seriously. They are just perceptions trying to trick you into believing a story. Don’t be too concern with the thoughts and emotions that occur during meditation, they are natural and you have to accept them. Don’t be judgemental of yourself for thinking about something because it’s going to happen anyways.

Thinking that meditation is a waste of time. Meditation is a training for your brain and mind. It makes it strong, peaceful and clear. It’s going to support you in anything that you’re doing. It’s really like a skill above all skills. With powerful mind you will be able to learn other abilities much easier, you will work more efficiently, you will be happy and fulfilled no matter what. I don’t think working for such results is a waste of time considering that everything you’re doing, you’re doing it for the sake of being happy. The only difference is that meditation is a direct way to do it.

Thinking that meditation is not for me. Everyone is capable of meditation, it’s not some special talent. With right determination, you can be as good as Zen Masters or Yogis.

Not accepting thoughts. A lot of people make a mistake of resisting thoughts and being judgemental of them. You have to accept that you cannot control your thoughts at all, so resisting them is just getting in your way.

Trying to meditate when you're tired or sleepy. Meditation should be practiced at your mental clarity peak. It's a different time for everyone, however, try to avoid meditating right after bed or right before it.

Not being acceptive while meditating. During meditation, it's your job to accept the present moment, as it is. If you have a headache - accept that, if you have some problems at work - accept that, if you fail to meditate properly - accept that, if you're anxious and scared - accept that. Allow everything to be as it, don't resist it.

Trying to reach some state during meditation. You're practicing meditation to increase awareness, focus, happiness, presence and clarity. With the development of these traits, other things will come such as flow states or enlightenment experiences. You should never think "today I'm going to reach this peaceful state" or "this session I will try to reach enlightenment". Meditate just for the sake of meditation, let go of any expectations or goals. With practice and time, these cool things will come to you, don't worry about them during your sessions.

Now that you know how to meditate properly, go to the second part of this guide and learn how to start off a meditation habit on the right foot.