How to Meditate (My tips!)

Meditation?

For me, meditation is about mindfulness, where I completely focused my mind in a particular thing and not let my mind wander elsewhere. I once had a wrong impression that meditation is all about emptying your mind and let your mind rest. But actually, your mind does not rest. We are constantly thinking of something, especially in our fast-paced life, we have so many things to keep track of. Hence, meditating narrowed down the thing we should prioritized at the moment, which is the present.

Why you should do it

Now there are many reasons to meditate and here they are! When you meditate, you can relieve your stress by not thinking excessively and just for the moment, let go of stress-causing thoughts. When you do this, you are giving yourself more time to grasp and assess stressful situations better. You can also get into the mood to sleep faster and improve your sleeping quality. Through meditation, you are able to calm yourself emotionally and allowed you to control your emotions. Physical health benefits include reducing resting blood pressure and resting heart beat. 

Here's how

Finally, we get into the process! Here I prepared 4 simple steps for you to grasp on.

First, find a suitable space. 

It can be on your bed, on a yoga mat or on the grass. As long as you feel comfortable, anywhere is possible! But not just that, there should be no distractions especially your smartphone near you, at least for your first time. If you meditate long enough and gain experience in doing so, this become less of a concern to you as you can meditate anywhere, anytime even with distractions around you (in the street, in a traffic jam or in a room full of people)! 

Next, get into position.

Just like choosing a suitable space, you will also need to get into a comfortable position to start meditating. You may start with a typical sitting position but there are others like lying down, standing or even walking if you want to try. Just remember, whichever position makes you relax, choose that.

Then, focus you mind.

Now the key to meditation is again, not about keeping your mind blank but to focus in one thing in your thoughts. One thing you can focused on is your breathing, count your breath one by one, in... out... in... out... in... out...  This is also what I always do when I meditate but in addition, I focused on my nose too! I feel how my breath enter into my body through my nostrils, slowly reaching my lungs (just imagine how it enters your lungs is fine). Besides, you can think about your daily life: what time did you wake up, what did you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, who did you talk to, what other events happened today etc.

Also control your breathing.

Another thing to keep in mind is your breathing. Control the rate of breathing to be as smooth and slow as possible. You can do this while you are counting your breaths. Each time when you count, lengthen the time of the count. This will gradually relaxes your whole body and when it does, you enter into state of mindfulness and relaxation.

Extra tips

Have some music. 

Some people prefer to meditate in complete silence, but having some kind of soft music soothes certain people (like me!) which makes them better at focusing their thoughts rather than making the mind wander endlessly. I recommend listening to Lo-Fi music which you can easily find on Youtube.

Change the place you meditate. 

Of course you should do it in a comfortable place with a comfortable body position like for example meditating in the park where you are most close to the nature might help you train your mindfulness. In my case, I like to meditate on my bed in a crossed-leg sitting position.

Vary your meditating style.

There are many styles of medication that you can practice. You can incorporate some movements like how it is done in Tai Chi and Yoga. You can also chant a mantra or engage in prayers. The possibilities are endless. There is no one true of style meditation so meditate however you like as long as you achieve what you intent to!

Do it together.

You can also try to meditate with your loved ones, friends or just with anyone in a group. Sometimes, this can help to motivate each other to meditate better. Plus, you can form deeper bond with your loved ones! You can think of your loved ones while you meditate, how did you spent the time with them, what are the activities you did with them and perhaps how you are going to spend quality time with them in the future.

Conclusion 

I know this may all sound tedious and long however there is no need to get everything right in the first run, or better do you it your style! These are my methods and they helped me get into the 'zone' but it may be different for you so be creative and explorative and most importantly enjoy the process. Thank you!