For most of us, trying out meditation for the first time will often bring us more questions than answers. To help answer some of those initial questions, as well as the more complex ones that you are likely to ask later on, here is a long list of the questions most commonly asked about meditation:
How do I start meditating?
There are a wide array of methods to get started with meditation. Some of these include: taking an online course to learn the basics, get a meditation app that teaches you the basics and provides you with a library of online courses, or visit a meditation studio near you to learn from someone in person. When starting out, remember that meditation is a practice and a skill, and it will require time to get better at it. Like everything else, developing the habits that are involved in meditation requires regular practice and discipline.
Do I have to be thoughtless during meditation?
The simple answer to this question is no. Meditation is all about quieting the thoughts of the mind, however, being truly thoughtless is something that very few people in the world ever achieve. For 99% of meditators, meditation is the practice of exercising focus, and as thoughts come into our awareness or distract us, intentionally bringing our minds back to focus. Thoughts will always arise during meditation, and that is absolutely normal. The goal is not to become truly thoughtless, but to change the relationship we have with our thoughts. The relationship we want to change is the importance that we give to our thoughts. By learning how to detach from thoughts in order to return to focus, we are learning how to detach from the meaning and the control that we give to them, which allows us to become more intentional with our focus and our attention.
Can children meditate?
Yes, children can meditate, however, meditation usually looks very different for children. Being a kid can often be an emotionally volatile experience for children and their parents. Teaching young kids the importance of observing their thoughts without allowing them to be controlled by them can be an important skill for maintaining their confidence and keeping them engaged with the real world, and not in the world of thoughts inside their head. There are a wide variety of meditations for children available through apps, on YouTube, and across the web, including meditation classes and courses for children and parents. Meditation for children can often be much less intense, as long as it teaches children the art of self-observation, detaching from thoughts, and acceptance of reality. Developing these skills can help children become resilient and happy from their early years onward.
Do I need to concentrate on my breath while meditating?
Whatever you concentrate on during meditation is called an “anchor”. Whenever you lose your focus and find yourself lost in thoughts or distractions, the goal is to simply become aware that you are distracted again, and re-focus on the anchor. Your anchor does not have to be the breath in meditation, although meditation is probably the most common object of awareness selected as the anchor in many meditations. Focusing on the breath is the key theme in the majority of meditations you will find, as the breath is a consistent source of stimulation to focus on and is body bodily, mental, and automatic in many ways.
How do I start a meditation session?
The best way to start a meditation session is to dive into a state of calm with several deep breaths. By taking 4 or more deep breaths with slightly longer exhales, we can ease ourselves into a relaxed physiological state that will facilitate the relaxed attention that is usually the end goal of meditation. Another popular way to start a meditation session is to intentionally reconnect with the present moment. This often looks like shifting focus after 30 seconds to a minute from the smells of the present, to the bodily sensations of the present, to some sounds you are hearing, and some of the tastes you are experiencing. The goal is to run through the senses and pay close attention to whatever version of those the present moment has to offer up.
How do I meditate at work?
To meditate at work, you will first need the ability to take an intentional break from your tasks to be able to offer yourself the time needed to dive into a meditative practice properly. When it comes to meditation at work, you can do it the same way you meditate anywhere else. You will need to find a comfortable place where you can rest assured that you have a low chance of being disturbed, and begin a guided or unguided meditation session. Many professionals choose to meditate before the workday, and partway through the day for 15-20 minutes at a time. For most of us, we cannot afford to block out an hour of time for meditation in the middle of a workday, so the easiest solution is often to break out meditation into smaller sessions. Any meditation is still better than none, so no matter how limited your time may be, meditating at work can be a very good tool for controlling stress, refocusing, and being productive throughout the day. In an ideal world, you are able to work for a company that supports a culture of corporate mindfulness, which will help you to be able to meditate at work much more easily.
How to meditate for anxiety relief?
Nearly all meditation has been shown to help with anxiety relief for most individuals. With this in mind, you can try out most meditations to achieve the end goal of reduced anxiety. Keep in mind when meditating for this purpose, that to experience the neural benefits of meditation, you will need to meditate daily or close to daily for 4-8 weeks. It is this level of consistency that reshapes the physiology of the brain in such a way that the mind becomes more resilient to anxiety, and will begin experiencing less and less of it. This may sound daunting at first, but if you really think about it, it only takes about 15 minutes of meditation a day to improve nearly every other hour of your day by reducing anxiety, improving rest, and improving mental performance.
How to change my life with meditation?
You can change your life with meditation by adopting a daily meditation practice. Daily meditation for 15 minutes or more has been shown to improve memory recall, cognitive performance, compassion & empathy, and rational thinking, all while combating depression and anxiety by making the brain less likely to even experience stress in the first place. One thing most people are surprised to learn is that meditation is a daily practice of most of the world’s highest functioning people, including people like Lebron James, Steve Jobs, Arianna Huffington, Will Smith, and Kendrick Lamar to name just a few of the hundreds and thousands. Meditation is a great starting point to begin creating changes in your life for the better.
Am I actually meditating if I still have thoughts during my session?
If you are intentionally sitting with the purpose of maintaining your focus on the guided or unguided practice of choice, yes, you are meditating. The most important part about meditating is blocking out the time to focus on your own wellbeing, and intentionally taking that step. Everything else is part of the practice. Even if you are distracted for almost all of your meditation sessions, you are still slowly learning how to observe and detach from your thoughts. That is simply part of your practice and it’s where your ability level is at right now, and that is completely ok. You will get better with more time and more sessions. Sometimes sitting through those distracting sessions is the building block of a solid practice where you can identify your thoughts and detach from them more effectively.
Can you meditate for too long?
Every individual person has their own unique limits. One of the most common meditation retreats around the globe is the Vipassana 10-day silent retreat. For many people this retreat pushes them to their limit, others will meditate for an hour, or sometimes a month at a time. Whether you can meditate for too long depends on your individual mental health, your enjoyment or hatred of meditation, and your own desire for the fruits of meditative practice. For a rare subset of society, too much meditation can push their mental health to the edge, although for most of these people they possess underlying conditions that are the root cause of these issues.
Is meditation healthy?
Meditation is very healthy for several aspects of health primarily due to its ability to drastically reduce stress and therefore cortisol levels in the body. Stress is the root cause of +70% of diseases known by modern medicine. As a result, reducing the acidic chemicals of stress directly reduces anxiety, depression, illness, aging, and a wide array of detrimental diseases. Meditation strengthens the mind’s cognitive processes, improves resilience to stress, and facilitates positive mental health.
Why can’t I empty my mind during meditation?
If you cannot empty the mind during meditation, that is completely fine. Even for the most advanced meditators, experiencing thoughts during meditation is normal. Some meditation sessions will be easier than others, and progress is rarely linear or simple to understand. If you are new to meditation, keep in mind that it is a skill that requires practice to develop. The more regularly, and the more often you meditate, the better your ability to control thoughts will be. For most meditators, the art of meditation is not about emptying the mind but changing the relationship between our thoughts and ourselves. Learning to observe thoughts can help us experience thoughts without letting them control or impact our emotions negatively. In this way, thoughts stay as just thoughts, and they do not need to mean anything more than that.
How can I find the time to meditate when I am so busy?
Just like any real practice that provides a good roster of health benefits, meditation is something that requires some form of time commitment. With that being said, most research to date indicates that the majority of the benefits of meditation are available to anybody who meditates 15 minutes or more per day. Meditation can also be done in 5 minutes or less and does not need to require any amount of time that would noticeably affect anybody’s daytime schedule. Simply closing your eyes and paying attention to your breath, or your anchor of choice for any amount of time will still have a positive effect on stress, blood pressure, and focus. The way Emily Fletcher put it, the author of Stress Less, Accomplish More, is that meditation is a simple practice that requires 15-20 minutes of your day, but it makes all the other minutes of your day calmer, more focused, and more productive. In this way, even 15 minutes a day of meditation is still a great investment in your time.
Will meditating make me so stress free that I will lose my ability to perform under pressure and get results?
Contrary to popular belief, we perform at our best when we are not stressed. The flow state, also known as the state of a perfect balance between tension and relaxation that allows us to perform optimally requires focus and attention, without pressure and stress. Neuroscientists have proven time and again that stress slows cognitive processes, memory, learning, and adaptability. Meditation allows us to remove that stress, and allow each of these to perform more effectively. If you perform well under stress, chances are you will perform better when you meditate or begin managing stress effectively.
Can I meditate in a chair or lying down or do I have to sit cross-legged on the floor?
Meditation can be done sitting up in a chair, laying down, or cross-legged on the floor. For the vast majority of meditations, the position you choose is not as important as the mental activity itself. The ideal posture for your meditation is simply whichever allows you to feel calm, relaxed, and alert. The mistake many people make is to lay down, or to find a position that is too comfortable to remain alert, which makes it more likely that they will fall asleep during their meditation instead of exercising their focus, attention, and therefore mind.
What should I do about the restlessness or discomfort I experience in meditation?
Restlessness is a common side effect of meditation, and is most commonly experienced by new meditators who are not yet used to sitting for long periods of focus or attention. The best thing to do with your restlessness or discomfort during meditation is to utilize it as a tool within your practice. With this in mind, whenever you begin to feel restless or uncomfortable, you can observe the feeling, observe where it is coming from, and simply pay attention to it. Experience it fully, and focus on exercising equanimity, also known as the art of allowing something to remain or to occur, without impacting your experience. This can be a powerful exercise in accepting the way things are without needing control, or to change them. For newer meditators, it is usually a good idea to start meditation with shorter sessions to slowly adapt and become more comfortable with the concept of sitting for prolonged periods of time. If you are truly uncomfortable and are unable to meditate as a result, perhaps finding a more comfortable position or place to meditate could solve your problem.
What should I do if I keep falling asleep while I meditate?
If you keep falling asleep while you meditate, the best thing to do is to begin meditating in a position that makes sleeping more difficult. At the end of the day, unless you are practicing sleep meditation, the goal of meditation is usually to exercise your focus, attention, and presence. With this in mind, we want to meditate in a position that facilitates this end goal. If you continue to fall asleep while meditating, the other thing to consider is that perhaps your body is just telling you that it needs more rest before it can engage in a task such as meditation, which can require a good amount of mental energy.
How do I know if I’m meditating correctly?
The real answer here is that there is no correct way to meditate. If you are taking the time to engage in mindfulness practice, and are giving it a chance, that is a practice in itself. Many of us get caught up in a belief that we are failing at meditation that only serves to block our practice. Even advanced meditators will often find themselves distracted by thoughts throughout their meditations very often. It is not realistic to expect that we will not have thoughts of any kind while meditating. Meditating is not about this, it is about noticing when we have been caught up in a thought and bringing ourselves back to attention. When we catch ourselves like this, we are doing a mental bicep curl for our ability to focus. In this way, distractions and thoughts are actually tools that help us improve our meditations. It is only over long periods of regular practice that we become masters at meditation. As long as we sit down and start meditating with some level of intention, we are meditating the right way. Everything else will come later on.
Can I meditate while I am doing another activity like working or driving?
I will say first and foremost that you should not meditate while driving. This can be unsafe and is not condoned by meditation teachers. With that being said, for most other activities, by bringing an intense focus on the present moment, you can turn it into a meditation. Mindfulness is about practicing full presence in whatever we do. Meditation is an exercise were we are fostering mindfulness as powerfully and intentionally as we can. Many people practice walking meditations, yoga, or other forms of mindful activities as a form of moving meditation during which they focus all of their attention on the activity of choice. Many different kinds of activities can become a meditative practice when done in this way, free of distractions and mental chatter.
Do I have to give up my religious beliefs to meditate?
Absolutely not. Although meditation is a practice that has traditionally and is still often used for religious purposes, the activity itself is simply a mental exercise that does not need to be religious in any way. In the modern world, many people who utilize meditation do so for reasons that are entirely different from religion, such as stress management, cognitive performance, and mental clarity. People from all walks of life, and all forms of different religions are utilizing meditation to take care of their mental health, and they are not giving up their religious beliefs to do so.
What should I do if my loved ones don’t support my meditation practice?
If your loved ones do not support your meditation practice, you may want to first begin by having a conversation with them about it. For many of us who meditate, we do so because it is an important part of our self-care routine, and a practice that allows us to be much better in the other areas of our lives. It is a common question to ask how to request for alone time to meditate from a spouse or partner who may not be used to offering you much time in your days, or may have to take care of children/chores/a business while you do so. My best suggestion would be to communicate the importance of your practice to them, as well as to offer something in return. This may be a simple act of cooperation, or it can be an explanation of how meditation will allow you to show up for your responsibilities more effectively, which can of course be a benefit to your loved ones as well.
Can meditation really improve my health?
The simple but straightforward answer to this question is yes. Meditation has been associated with reducing cortisol levels, lowering blood pressure, and calming heart rate. Each of these physiological benefits is associated with large reductions in disease and deterioration of the body. By reducing stress and strengthening key centers in the brain, meditation has been proven to help slow the aging process, slow age-related brain decay, reduce a wide range of diseases, and improve mental health. Meditation is both a good mechanism for eliminating stress in the moment, as well as in reducing the consistency of stress on the whole. As a result, it is a healthy practice for the mind and the body in hundreds of ways.
How long should I meditate for?
The majority of the science currently tells us that any amount of time in meditation is measurably better than none. However, is it relatively clear that to receive the majority of the health benefits offered by meditation, a minimum amount of time of 12 minutes of meditation per day is necessary. For most people, 12 minutes is a relatively short amount of time to receive improvements in stress levels, productivity, mental clarity, and creativity. To sum it up simply, the cost of buying back hours of efficiency each week is a short sit of 12-15 minutes a day.
Does it matter when I meditate?
No, it does not matter when you actually take the time to sit for your meditations. Meditating at any time is beneficial. However, the best time to meditate during the day is first thing in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, your pituitary gland begins secreting a collection of hormones that will have a notable impact on the rest of your day. If you can begin your day with a meditation practice, you are able to hack this system for your own benefit. This will set you up for a day filled with the brain chemicals of stress resilience and mental clarity.
Is there a particular posture I should use for meditation?
The ideal posture to utilize during meditation is an upright posture that offers you alertness and comfort. For many people, this position is realistically in a chair or a comfortable seat of some kind. For many experienced meditators, the ideal position is sitting cross-legged on a cushion, or in some kind of chair/bed. Unless you are looking to fall asleep or potentially do so, I would not recommend meditating lying down. This posture is often too comfortable to remain alert and lends itself to rest much more than it does to a calm experience of alertness. Unless you are partaking in a traditional meditation where posture is a part of the exercise, feel encouraged to find a position that is comfortable for you, especially if you are new to meditation.
Do I need a special place to meditate?
Having a special place to meditate is a nice bonus to help any meditation routine, however, it is not completely necessary to start meditation. Many people meditate in their bedrooms, family rooms, or anywhere else in their space where there is comfortable seating. Some people even meditate in waiting rooms at doctor offices, at their workplaces, or in cafeterias. Although it can be really nice to create a specific space, or “zen den”, for your practice, you can meditate anywhere you are comfortable. It is ideal to select a place that is noise-free, or at least somewhat quiet and relaxing. For example, sitting for meditation at your work where you experience a lot of pressure and rushing may not provide you with enough of a detached location from your busy daily life to get the most out of your sit. Something many people are adopting is the usage of either noise-canceling headphones or construction sound protectors over top of headphones to create an artificial quiet space wherever you may be. Keep in mind that there are always risks of not being able to hear your surroundings in the case of an emergency, so plan that out accordingly to be safe and secure while you meditate.
How do I know what to use as an “anchor” while meditating?”
When it comes to guided meditations, the teacher will usually tell you what to utilize as the anchor of your practice. This can often be the breath, the sensations of the body, or a variety of other things. For solo meditations, or for meditations with undefined anchors, you can choose whatever you would like as your anchor. An anchor must be something that is consistent and you can always come back to recenter your focus whenever you are distracted. As long as your anchor meets this criterion, you are in good shape. The anchor is flexible, as long as you are able to utilize it to bring yourself back into focus.
Do I always keep the same anchor during meditation?
Not necessarily. If you are listening to a guided meditation, your anchor will be whatever the teacher is having you focus on next. This anchor of choice may change throughout the practice. For example, many meditation teachers like to end their practice with a loving-kindness exercise, which would have the anchor shift from whatever they were guiding you to prior, to the loving-kindness exercise. With this in mind, for solo or unguided meditations, you likely do not want to change your anchor up too much as this may defeat the purpose of a meditation, which is often to rest your attention on a single object or experience.
What if I follow a thought while meditating? Can that be helpful and what do I do?
Sometimes during meditation, it can be helpful to follow a thought. Doing so can help us develop a better understanding of who we are, how we think, and even the patterns in why and when we think certain things. Doing this can be a great exercise for self-awareness. Although following thought is not always encouraged during meditation, there are certain meditation practices during which the goal is actually to follow thoughts with the purpose of diving into them more deeply. If you choose to follow a thought during regular, focus-based meditation practice, that is completely fine. Just keep in mind that there is a place and a time to do so, and if you follow a thought, once you are finished observing it, simply bring yourself back to focus and continue with the meditation. As long as the focus you are exercising is intentional, meditation is still beneficial. There is no single way to meditate, so fortunately we are all free to evolve the practice to best suit our needs and preferences, within reason of course.
When do you use metta loving kindness meditations?
Metta, or more commonly known in the west as loving-kindness meditation can be utilized whenever someone is seeking a more heart-centered meditation. The benefits of this type of practice are that they help to cultivate more compassion, empathy, and understanding in the practitioner. They are often utilized during times of high stress with other people, to remind us that we are all connected, and we are all alike in that we face personal, emotional, and professional challenges albeit in our own unique ways. Many people choose to use loving-kindness meditations as a regular or daily practice to improve their gratitude, appreciation, and understanding of other people. Strengthening the compassion centers of the brain help us communicate with people more effectively by allowing us to understand and empathize with their unique experience. In this way, these forms of meditation are good to practice at any time and help us in more ways than simply during our sessions.
My mind is always lost in thoughts. How do I quiet it down?
One of the best quotes to describe meditation is the following from renowned meditation teacher Sam Harris: “the habit of spending nearly every waking moment lost in thought leaves us at the mercy of whatever our thoughts are. Mindfulness is a way of breaking this spell”. To explain this more simply, meditation and mindfulness are tools for specifically breaking the spell of being governed by the thoughts we have. By meditating, journaling thoughts, or taking the time to intentionally and mindfully observe the patterns of our mind, we can become conscious of the tendencies it has to become consumed by thoughts. These exercises allow us to become more and more aware of our thoughts, and to become more intentional with our attention. Meditation is one of the best ways any individual can, over time, develop the ability to quiet their mind, or to at least remove the importance they offer to the mental chatter that is meaningless at the end of the day.
What can I do if I get sleepy during meditation?
If you get sleepy during meditations, there are two things you may need to do. The first is that you may simply need more rest. If you are very tired, your ability to concentrate will be hindered, and it may be best to simply take a nap or get a good night of sleep. The second is that you may be sitting or lying in too comfortable of a position for a meditation session. Unless you know that you can stay focused, or you are doing a meditation where laying down is important, it is usually best to sit in a position that allows you to be both relaxed, but focused and attentive. The goal of mediation, after all, is to exercise our attention, not to fall asleep. Relaxation is simply a really nice benefit of meditations and attention exercises.
What if I get bored while meditating?
Getting bored while meditating is a normal experience, especially when someone is new to meditation or mindfulness. Meditation is actually an exercise in focus and can strengthen one’s ability to focus and pay attention for long periods of time. With this in mind, someone who is new to the practice of meditation will often find it boring once they are a few minutes or several minutes into the exercise, but that is all part of the process. Every time you push through the boredom a little bit further and focus in just a little bit longer, you are strengthening the mental muscle of focus, and it is very similar to a bicep curl for the arm, only in the mind. Meditation gets less boring and more rewarding over time, and feeling boredom during your practice is nothing to worry about. Simply exercise your focus and end your practice when you have hit your attention limit. With time, your threshold for boredom will grow and strengthen.
When I meditate I experience a lot of fear and anxiety, how should I deal with that?
For some people, sitting in meditation can cause them a lot of mental discomfort in the form of anxiety or fear. This is usually because for most of us, we are not used to sitting still. Stillness for many of us, is associated with anxiety and stress, which does not need to be the case. For others, removing distractions may force us to confront things that we would rather not observe, even if it is healthy for us to do so. In this way, meditation is a powerful way to process emotions, experiences and ideas. Creating a safe space to both process the events of our lives, and to simply rest in calm awareness is, at the end of the day, very healthy for the mind. If you are experiencing fear and anxiety during your meditation, do your best to utilize that as a tool for your practice. Pay attention to the fear, and allow it to show up however it needs to be. Pay attention to why you are experiencing fear, what is the root source of the fear, and recognize the importance you are giving it. Meditation can be a great exercise in equanimity, which is the art of simply allowing your experience of reality to rest however it is showing up, and accepting it fully. Though new meditators may experience this often, the experience is usually temporary or means that there is something that needs to be processed inside the psyche. Take this as an opportunity to observe your fears, and let them be. Let them go and rest in the present moment. The present moment is where all acceptance occurs, and where real life happens.
How do I deal with back or leg pain while meditating?
Bodily pain can be absolutely normal while meditating. For some of us, it can be a tool we use to observe the discomfort and to still choose presence or focus on the anchor of the meditation. For more novice meditators, it is best to start meditating in comfortable positions where the pain is not going to hinder the practice in any way. When meditating for longer periods of time, it can sometimes be difficult to avoid stiffness or pain in the body, but for shorter practices, a comfortable seating option can be a great solution to this. Many people who meditate are beginning to buy specific seating and cushions for their home which can help them meditate more comfortably and improve the quality of their practice.
Is it helpful to meditate with other people or in a group?
Meditating in a group or by yourself is a personal preference. Many people enjoy group meditations because they provide the chance to discuss the practice with other people both before and after the exercise. It can also be a way to tap into the knowledge and experiences of other meditators while joining in on an experience of group consciousness. If a distraction or sound occurs, you can know that that distraction is a shared experience, which can help you to feel more comfortable and accepting of the experience you are having. When you have the opportunity to meditate with others, you learn quickly that every single person has their own experience and their own challenges during meditation, and that each meditation session will be different. This knowledge can help you to be more understanding with yourself when your own solo meditations include struggles or challenges.
What is the best time of the day to meditate?
The best time of the day to meditate is in the morning. Meditation is beneficial for the mind and body at any point during the day, however, when done first thing in the morning, it has the ability to influence the brain chemicals that we will be able to utilize throughout the rest of the entire day. Meditation during the day will have a slightly more subtle impact on this process. Managing stress before it even has the chance to arise is always going to be more powerful than counteracting it once it has already shown itself.
How do I start meditating again after a long break from practice?
As every meditator knows, regular meditation is a practice and a habit. Once we have let the habit slip, it can require a lot of energy and patience to re-align with. To start meditating again after a long break, start the same way you did when first adopting meditation – slowly, and in small doses. When not having meditated for long periods of time, focusing on will often feel challenging and even boring. You can work around this by meditating in small doses, regularly. Over time, you ideally will want to grow the length of your sessions incrementally. As human beings, many researchers believe that we only have the capacity to change our habits by 20% at a time. With this in mind, reinforce your meditation practice slowly but with consistency to achieve the best results.
Is there a specific way I should breathe during meditation?
Some meditation techniques will dictate how you need to breathe during your session. For example, tummo breath, Wim Hof meditation, or 4-7-8 breath meditations require you to breathe in ways that are specific to the technique utilized. Unless you are practicing a breath-specific meditation, or you are listening to a guided meditation where the teacher is specifying the breath pattern, you do not need to follow any specific breath flow as you meditate. The best way for most people is often to allow your breath to flow naturally and to observe and be aware of your breath throughout the meditation however it occurs. With this in mind, if you notice that you breathe in a very shallow way throughout your meditation, it can be good to consciously focus on breathing more effectively during and outside of your practice in the future.
Can I meditate to fall asleep better?
Yes, meditation can help to calm your heart rate and help you rest into sleep more easily. For people around the world, meditation has become one of the most effective tools for improving sleep and reducing insomnia. Although laying down is not often ideal for meditation, when practicing meditation for sleep this may be the perfect posture to help you immediately relax into the perfect rest.
What should I wear to meditate?
While meditating, the ideal clothing to wear is attire that is comfortable, breathable, and allows you to be flexible in your seating. You can meditate in whatever you want to wear, however, the most ideal clothing for meditation is whatever is the most comfortable for you. If you are wearing clothing that is cozy and relaxed, it will allow you to feel more comfortable and rest into awareness more easily and effectively.
Should I always use guided meditations?
If you are a novice or beginner at meditation, it can be good to continue utilizing guided meditations for a long period of time. Guided meditations provide you with an easy anchor to focus on, and they give you the practice you need to be able to sharpen your focus to the level where you can meditate without an audio track. Most meditators will utilize guided meditations for a couple up to several years before shifting their practice to meditations without a guided teacher leading the way. This is a more advanced form of meditation and can require lots of experience working with the mind’s attention mechanisms.
Where did meditation come from?
Meditation is a truly ancient practice that dates as far back as we can imagine. Many people know that meditation is a practice rooted in Buddhism, but there is actually historical evidence that meditation was practiced by a wide range of cultures across the globe, for thousands of years. These ancient practices were often rooted in religion and ceremony, and it is quite clear that these pre-scientific communities were also very well aware of the benefits that meditation, mindfulness, and contemplation offered to their people.
What are the benefits of meditation?
With the recent boom in scientific research on meditation and mindfulness, the list of known benefits of meditation is growing rapidly by the month. Meditation has recently been found to strengthen the grey matter in the brain, along with several other brain regions associated with creativity, rational thinking, compassion, and stress resilience. Meditation is also associated with higher levels of self-awareness and productivity, as it provides a unique opportunity to relieve stress and observe the mind. These benefits are helping people around the world to reduce anxiety, depression, to be more effective at work, and to communicate with the world around them more effectively. In addition to this, reduced stress has been associated with large drops in disease and illness.
How is meditation different from mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the broad term that describes the ability to remain present and aware of the present moment. Meditation is in fact a term to describe the practice of sitting during a session, with the goal of achieving and exercising the skill of mindfulness. In this way, mindfulness is the quality one is looking for while we sit to engage in a meditation practice of some kind. They are intertwined and highly related, but they are terms to describe different things.
How is meditation different from hypnosis?
Meditation and hypnosis are very similar in the sense that they are both practices utilized to achieve specific brain-wave states that are helpful for achieving relaxation and calm attention. Meditation is a practice used for achieving a state of focus on the present moment and can be done either in groups, alone, or with a teacher. The main differences between meditation and hypnosis are that hypnosis is done with the purpose of working with, and potentially reprogramming the subconscious mind, and is done specifically under the guidance of a hypnotist. They are both methods for working with the mind, although the medium, the purpose, and the techniques are different.
What is meditation?
Meditation, according to The National Institute of Health (NIH) is defined as: “Meditation is a mind and body practice that has a long history of use for increasing calmness and physical relaxation, improving psychological balance, coping with illness, and enhancing overall health and well-being.” Meditation is a practice utilized to achieve calm, presence and focused attention. There are thousands of different techniques used for meditation, including breath awareness, vipassana body scan, and metta loving-kindness meditation.
Should I use music while meditating?
Calming background music can be a very useful tool for meditation. It can act as both a calming backdrop and an optional anchor for your session that you can bring yourself back to whenever you find yourself lost in distracting thoughts. With that in mind, most meditators, (especially beginners) will achieve the best results by using guided meditations, which often already include background music and audio for you to follow along to while meditating.
What is a mantra and do I need one?
A mantra is a motto, a word, or a phrase that is the central anchor of mantra-based meditation practice. During mantra-based meditations, the key goal of the session is to repeat the selected mantra to yourself either softly, or mentally as your point of focus. Whenever you have realized that you have become distracted or have forgotten to continue with the repetition of the mantra, simply bring yourself back to attention and continue repeating the mantra. While some meditations will provide you with a mantra, when involved in a session where you choose your own mantra, it is often best to choose a mantra that represents a quality that is important and meaningful to you. There is no need to overthink this selection, simply choose the first meaningful mantra that comes to mind that is easily repeatable and important to you. The word does not need to be perfect, and you can always use another one next time.
Where can I learn to meditate?
You can learn to meditate almost anywhere these days. You can use an online course to learn meditation, or you can watch videos on YouTube, or you can learn meditation from an in-person teacher at a meditation studio or retreat center. When learning meditation it is often beneficial to try out a wide variety of meditation avenues to learn which ones are most rewarding and beneficial for you specifically. Every person is different and each of us has a unique set of meditation styles that work best for our mind, especially when first starting out.
