Meditation Focus (Beginner)

[pushedforfreedom]

For those people who are just getting started at meditation, I wanted to share my advice on how to "quiet your mind". Often, thoughtlessness is the most prevalent obstacle that people face when they start meditating.

When I first started meditating, I was doing everything I could to stop my brain activity. Here are some suggestions that helped me. Keep in mind that meditation is a personal experience and what worked for me, may not work for someone else.

- Control your environment. Dim the lights, don't sit near drafts, wear ear plugs if you want. The less stimulus from your environment, the better (in my opinion)

- Try different positions. Sitting cross-legged for 20-30 minutes may deaden your nerves in your feet or legs. This isn't harmful, but it can bring a bit of discomfort when you start to move again. Sitting in a chair is a decent alternative - just try to keep your spine straight. Laying down isn't the best position in my opinion - I'm not sure why, but I find I'm not able to focus nearly as well.

- Focus on your senses. It's important to go from active thinking to passive awareness. Look at the back of your eyelids, listen to the silence, feel your limbs, just try to be aware of the present moment. Doing this will distract your mind from racing thoughts.

- Focus on your breathing. I find that for the first 5-10 minutes, if I do what I can to relax instead of trying to get "in the zone", it lays a good foundation for the later stages of your meditation experience. I breath in for 5 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, pause for 5 more seconds, and then breath in again for 5 seconds. While you're doing this, listen to your heart rate at the different stages. Also while you're doing this, think of positive energy from the air around you filling your lungs and spreading throughout your body. Every time you exhale, visualize negative energy leaving your body and dissipating in the air around you.

- Don't get discouraged. Every time your mind gets distracted, think about your breathing again. For beginners, this is actually a very useful practice to strengthen your concentration. Every time you bring your mind back to thoughtlessness, you strengthen your ability to remain "in the zone". I remember the first time I meditated, I was happy when my mind was empty for 2-3 seconds at a time. Eventually you'll get to the point where you can go for longer periods of time without a thought entering your mind.

- After you feel you're getting the hang of thoughtlessness, learn about your chakra points within your body. Once you start quietening your mind, learn to move your awareness from your base chakra to your crown chakra. This will take some practice, but when you get the hang of it, you'll notice a big change going on inside of you.

- When you start feeling like you're drifting, go with it - don't fight any natural tendencies your experience takes you. But this is more important for the intermediate stages of meditation.


I'm sure there's more, but that's all that I can think of for the moment. Any more hints would be much appreciated from anyone else that would like to share their experience.

Peace and love.