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Getting started with meditation is much easier than it may sound. The number one rule in meditation is this: “Nothing is ever wrong.” While there are different techniques, whatever you experience is valid.
First, take a little self test. Put your watch on a table. Look at the time. Now, close your eyes. Sit quietly. Wait and see what happens. Are you still thinking? Are you listening to external sounds? Internal voices? Or nothing. Wait until you become restless. Then open your eyes and see how long it has been. Most people who have never meditated can’t sit for even 2 minutes without “thinking”.
What this little exercise shows most of us is that it is hard to stop our mind. It is like that rabbit in the commercial for batteries… it just keeps going and going.
So, there are some ways to quiet things down a bit. First, sit comfortable. Either in a chair, or in half or full lotus on the floor, perhaps with a blanket under you. It is important to sit comfortably. Otherwise your mind will be thinking too much about how
uncomfortable you are. Your back should be straight, shoulders back, slightly down, but relaxed. Hands can be laying with one palm in the other, or resting on your legs. Again, everything comfortable… but not to the point where you want to fall asleep.
If you are tired before you start meditating you can do some exercises, or drink a slightly caffeinated drink like a Chai tea. In yoga practice the technique to getting ready for meditation are:
1. yoga asana practice (gets the body relaxed and rejuvenated and prepares the muscles for sitting)
2. pranayama (brings fresh oxygen throughout the body and quiets the mind)
3. meditation (with the body and mind both calm yet alert it is easier to have a good “sitting” or meditation practice.)
Gently close your eyes. Some people like to meditate with their eyes open. This is fine, but for most of us eyes-open encourages thoughts as we get distracted by what we see. The advantage to “eyes-open” is that if you learn to comfortably meditate with eyes-open, then it is a lot easier to bring meditation into other aspects of your life when your eyes are open!
Now, start to focus on your breath. Not so much the technique of it (covered in Pranayama), but the sound. Use the Ujjayi breathing technique. Listen to the air enter your nostrils and feel it move through your body. You can start to just listen to the sound of the air going in, and out. The great thing about this sound is that it is easy to find and it has no meaning. When we normally listen we hear sounds and words that have meaning. And this meaning ties them down. The sound of air moving has no meaning to tie us down. It just is.
Comfortably listen and see what happens inside your mind. Are there thoughts that creep in? (usually, right?) The trick here is this. The goal is not to work on thinking “nothing.” The second you say that to yourself you start to think. So, if you do think something, think “nothing” about it. Don’t judge the thought. Don’t let it sit in your mind. Don’t let it create a stream-of-consciousness. “I have to buy groceries…… what’s for dinner tonight….would I like a pizza…. Pizza is easy to clean up….”
As soon as you get the first thought just acknowledge that you are having a thought and let it go away. The same goes for emotions. It’s fine to experience an emotion. Just don’t let it carry you down a long road of emotions. You’re not on a thinking and feeling field trip here. Don’t judge (“oh I am meditating poorly”). The skill you start to develop is to gently, and rapidly slow down, and eventually stop the process of “thinking and emoting” that usually carries a large portion of our day. Enjoy this simple beginning meditation exercise. Play with the technique and see what happens.
A good time to practice meditation is either early in the morning or before you go to bed. Both of these times your mind is usually more quiet naturally. How long should you meditate? Beginning times can be 5 – 10 minutes. Gradually it becomes comfortable to meditate for 30 minutes or longer.
